PS3: Want a Hassle-Free Gaming Experience? Then Don't Fall for PS3.

Today's blog deals with experiences on PS3 Slim that I bought in November.

We were stupid enough to believe that the fun we had with PS2 and Wii would continue on PS3.

These previous-generation consoles had ready-made, easy-to-use, hassle-free content and peripherals. I believe the main reason for this is that the content producers can't rely on content being "updateable", so it had to be "ready" and thoroughly tested when shipped.

We wanted to continue these nice experiences with an updated platform to see what our new Bravia telly could do. I noticed a bargain on PS3 Slim + 5 games in November and went for it.

Functionality / ease of use: no game disks within the bundle. 5 games, but no disks in the box. What a fun and joy:

1. configure PS3 to work with your WLAN
2. download all these games from Playstation network in one session, which was to last for 10 hours (yes, all games had to be downloaded in one session)
   
3. a couple of hours more to download and install updates to content that was just downloaded.

My ADSL connection of 8/1 Mbps might not be up to date, but in most of Finland this is the practical maximum.

I bet some families had a nice Christmas evening with children yelling when the games can be played :)

Another great "benefit" of this approach: you can't sell the games when you're done with them.

Peripheral issues:

• charging wireless controllers is awkward. They have internal batteries and must be plugged to the USB port to charge. On top of that, you must keep PS3 on to charge them. Not very energy-efficient. Compare this to Wii, which allows you to use normal AA-sized chargeable batteries. Back to the drawing board!
  

Other issues:

• privacy concerns with Playstation Network as your data can be transferred globally
  
• Sacred 2 / Fallen Angel has an issue with trading between characters; sometimes it works, sometimes not
  

Functionality: What, no Blu-ray playback? During Christmas I got some Blu-ray discs just to find out that this PS3 refuses to play them, just shoots me an error code 800299AE. This might indicate a faulty unit.

Now I'm trying to contact the Finnish PS3 support to make them acknowledge there is a problem.

I have called the number Sony gave me for 3 days in a row, but no one is answering the phone on the hours that were given. Let's see if I get any response on e-mail.

There is very little on this on the Internet and Sony's Finnish customer support has proved less-than-adequate, so I feel being left alone here. Anyone fancy a bargain? :)

Lessons learned on PS3:

• there is inadequate support and user community [at least not in English or German] , so you can't "help yourself" out of problems
  
• you can't rely on error- and hassle-free performance any more, so:

Alternative solution #1: Get a Wii!

• if you want that "put the disk in and start playing right away" -experience, you can still achieve that with Wii. However, it is only 480p/576p, so you need to give up the graphics.
  
• On the bright side, the games are suitable for the whole family and the various controllers available give you an unmatched gaming experience.
  

It is fair enough to say that I have no experience on Xbox 360, so I can't recommend it.

Alternative solution #2: Get another PC!

• if you still want awesome graphics, you would be better off by buying a(nother) mid-range PC, setting up a LAN and playing PC games with your family
• also, PC games have free content and editors widely available, so you don't have to sign in to some vendor-controlled network to buy more content to games
• it is likely that the time spent on configuring the PC would be needed anyway with PS3 and, with hand-picked components from vendors with good reputation, you are less likely to have "issues" suddenly appearing out of nowhere. If something fails, that can be replaced with off-the-shelf products.
  
• flawless Blu-ray playback can also be obtained with a BD Drive and you can buy a DVI<->HDMI-cable to connect the PC to your TV.