My Wii Pisses on the PS3

If you're not into Games you may want to skip this post. Don't say you weren't warned :).

If you read my previous comments you will see that I bought a Wii and also wrote of how Kiyomi has totally fallen in love with the thing. I haven't seen her enjoy any piece of electronics like she has the Wii and it is totally hilarious to see her jump around and play with it. The Wii is a tightly designed very specific functional device. Really it is about entertainment, through games mostly and has forgone a lot of the on-line experience.

I didn't mention that I had also bought the PS3 (60GB version) and am using that now. I couldn't imagine two more different systems competing in the same space. Were the Wii is small and compact, the PS3 is heavy and cumbersome. The Wii fits anywhere around my TV, the PS3 is hot and needs to be in a nice ventilated area. When you crack open the PS3 you see a boring brown box that had very little other than the base unit in it. Certainly nothing with any color on it at all.

When you crack open the Wii you see a colorful well laid out box.Something that would be friendly to the novice and first time buyers. I am hardly a novice, and just find that this attention to detail is nice when I buy an expensive item. It was much more friendly and easier to setup. Now, the only saving grace here is that that perhaps the solution from SONY is more environmentally friendly... I don't know for sure though, there was a lot less ink that is for sure.

Hardware. Both of them come with the main unit and one controller. The PS3 was physically easier to connect, but not really impressed with the charging solution for the controller. I would prefer to see something like a vacuum clear power cable that comes in and out. Although the USB solution is very easy and universal. I know I can buy these roll up ones as an extra easy enough. Nice big power cable, and connected to my DTS decoder for surround sound. All this was easy enough. I am not a fan of the look of the PS3... I prefer Mat finishes to glossy, and I don't like the cheesy plastic silver bit they used for the front of the DVD/Blueray. I think that this bit looks extremely cheap. Do like the memory card reader though. That is really handy for photos.

The Wii didn't have much more to hook up, but with an external power brick a little more of "where do I put this huge cable". Once I had decided that had to clean up around it and placed it. It is tiny... and has a stand so you can place it vertically or horizontally. Basically it looks like an older external DVD/CD drive. Actually I don't like thelook of the Wii either. Again it is glossy, and less impressed with white. Still it has some pleasant blue lighting on the drive slot, and is small enough that you can tuck it anywhere. This is NOT the case with the PS3.

The next step was hooking up to my wireless LAN. On the PS3 this was simple enough, basically the same as a PSP, and found that I immediately needed an update. Amazing... never impressed with Day one updates. Doesn't seem like you released a "Gold" product. Was not also happy with the account you need to create at this point. Asked way too much personal detail and would rather not give SONY my credit card details from the start. Have not heard anything about how secure it is. The Wii was a lot easier, and offers a lot less. But what it had was fairly functional Got Opera downloaded and installed on it, as well it sets up a default Weather information channel. I find the weather information really cool.

Launch games. Aside from Wii Sports (really fun, but long term will be a showcase piece) and Zelda I think that the Wii Launch games are not that impressive overall. Nothing else available in Japan really makes me want to buy more. Having said that the PS3 games are absolute junk. For all the new power of the system none of them do anything new. Okay the graphics are better, but really not that impressive. Fall of man is getting good reviews, but I played it and found the controls irritating
and gave up quickly. My other friends seem to think is fun, but Iwouldn't bother. They had better get things together quickly and sort out the titles as they are pretty shit. Aside from that they are REALLY REALLY expensive. I can buy cheaper English PC games than I can local Sony PS3 games. That is not impressive at all. As good as Fall of Man might be, I think it is still well behind Half Life 2, F.E.A.R. and even Prey on the PC. Not only do they look sharp, but the controls are way way easier. Not to mention... if I was going to think of that kind of game on a console I think that would have gone for the XBOX and gears of
war.

Anyhow more than anything else a game consol is defined by its games. Right now the offerings on the PS3 are dreadful. But I believe that will change, and really do look forward to the day there are games that I am excited about the release! For now the Wii is just a cheaper, more fun package with fun games.