On May 16 2005, the Sony Playstation 3 was unveiled to the public. Games all over rejoiced at the best Playstation console ever. Despite the steep price tag on November 17th 2006, the official United States release date, the units sold out in less than 24 hours and were the hot item on EBay for Christmas.
Sony Playstation 3 has many great features to fill the desires and needs of any hard core gamer. One of the new innovations was the built in hard drive. This took the console to a completely new level with no need for memory cards and a computer like functionality. Sony also added Ethernet connections, USB ports and in some models Bluetooth capabilities. These entire features combine to make a game console that many agree is not only great at the outset but also has potential that has not been tapped yet. Even detractors who complain of lack of compelling game titles will agree that the Playstation 3 has massive potential.
Personally, as a parent, I think one of the greatest aspects of the Playstation 3 is the player's ability to download and play game demos. Used to be you could buy a disc with several demos on it but then you were stuck with a useless disk and out several dollars in the process, with the new feature once you have played the demo and decided if you want to purchase the game you can then delete it and not be out one red cent.
Playstation 3 comes in a variety of hard drive sizes each with its pros and cons let's look at the different sizes and their functionality:
- 20 gigabyte- This was one of the originally released sizes, it is no longer available retail. The 20 has 4 USB ports, and backwards compatibility with the Playstation 2. The unit is no longer in production.
- 40 gigabyte- This unit came in a wider variety of color; piano black, ceramic white, gunmetal gray and satin silver. In this model, they trimmed the USB ports to 2 but added wifi and lost compatibility with the PS2.
- 60 gigabyte- Probably the cream of the crop as this unit had it all. 4 USB, WiFi, flash card readers, SACD for superior audio, and PS2 compatibility. As with the 20, this unit is also no longer in production. If you can find one you will likely pay a hefty price for it, however if you are a Playstation fanatic and own many of the PS2 games this is probably the unit for you.
- 80 gigabyte- There is some confusion on this model as the early release had all of the same capabilities of the 60 but later releases are scaled back. If you find an 80 gig with 4 USB ports it will have all the great features of the 60 listed above. On the other hand, if it has only 2 USB ports you lose the WiFi, SADC and backwards compatibility.
- 160 gigabyte- This is the latest installation of the Playstation 3 family and is expected to release around the holidays this year. It will have the 2 USB and Wifi capability to go with the monster size hard drive; one can only assume that there are some serious upgrades coming to warrant the production of this console.
Playstation fans will not be disappointed with this console. In addition to the internet, blu-ray and internal hard drive players become unhooked with the wireless controller capability that is standard on all models.
