Believe it or not there is some evidence that they are. The Job positions that were advertised included a micro architecture specialist at a guess they are at least getting their hands dirty and being involved with all stages of design this time

You don't necessarily hire a micro architecture specialist to design a chip, but a company like MS might hire one to be their "interpreter" between the software guys at MS and the hardware guys at IBM, ATI, etc. Large companies like MS do things like that all the time; hire someone who's sole purpose is to fill in a knowledge gap.

Okay let me explain why I used a 600 Price point.

If I was to get a PS3 it will be the Move Bundle so thats 400$
Added on
1 Move Controller
1 extra Reg Controller
Charging stations
+ Games
so that's where the 600 price point came to in my mind.

Edited: I do have a 360 and love it I'm just looking to broaden my gaming experience because I've never actually owned any PS's and I do want a Blue Ray player.

Several early XBox demos were run on Power Mac G5's, if I remember correctly.

Okay Rezzing this thread.

So I'm currently on the look out for deals on Playstation 3 Consoles and currently I can get the basic PS3 Console 160g for 299.99$ at Fred Meyers coupled with there 20$ off coupon coming in at 279.99$

I've looked and called around to all the other Fred Meyers looking for the COD Black Ops bundle and or the Killzone 3 Bundle but none of them carry it currently.

My question to you guys is Should I just bite the bullet and get the basic Console without the game? or wait for the bundle and waste the 279.99 sale?

Consider the possibility to get a 320g PS3, and a cheaper older game (like Uncharted 2 or GoW 3).

That's funny, I'm so not like you. I bought Playstation (PSX) and later PS2 only when they were already quite mature and old.

The reason for this is that I buy a console (or gaming PC) for its games, nothing more. When the console is "old", I already have a pretty good idea what titles I'd like to buy for them, and what's even better, those games can be already found in bargain bins. :)

Maybe now I'd feel that PS3 is also ripe enough for picking, with a good selection of games. The only reason I haven't done so is that I still have plenty to play on PS2, even PSX games. I could have bought PS3 earlier for a Blueray system, though.

Oh, that reminds me. The real reason why I haven't bought PS3 yet is that I still have an old non-flatscreen TV (not HDTV) that I am still quite happy with. I feel PS3 power would be wasted on old TV, or so I believe. Maybe if this TV breaks down and I am forced to buy flatscreen HDTV, at that point I will buy also PS3.

Another reason is that frankly I have no idea if there are currently any PS3 games I'd really enjoy. At least the games I see most in the gaming news, like L.A. Noire, Heavy Rain etc., remind me too much of the dark years of PC gaming, ie. "interactive movies". Gameplay is toned down, simplified and in the background, and the beef is "long movielike scenes" with big-name voiceactors. No thanks, I rather watch a real movie.

I bought my PS3 and hooked it up to a 32 inch flat trinitron tube. I fired up a PS3 football game and could barely make out the names of players or plays in the playbook. Gaming looked good, but small text on screen was unreadable and the overall look and feel was very bland. Replaced the TV with a 40 inch (also 47 inch... long story) HDMI TV and WOW! What a difference. Can't describe how amazing it looks.

As for games that play like movies... you are correct for some titles. Sounds like you just prefer a different genre. Check out different types of games like Drake's Fortune to see what the PS3 can do.

Sadly, the PS3 was much better when it was released. Backwards compatibility and linux support have been removed and the online services have been revamped with a EULA that claims full user tracking.

The one nice thing is that the HD is still a user serviceable part. If you get the 120GB version, you can replace it with any size compatible disk. I put a 500GB in mine and it was very easy. They also work very well with external storage (USB devices both thumb and full disk drives work very well).

I'm pretty sure Amazon regularly has a 50 dollar instant credit for buying a PS3, that makes it 250 bucks. You can turn around the day the console ships and buy a couple games off Amazon (or one new release) with your credit.

Alright so I went ahead and bought it, it's the 160g PS3 Slim, gonna hook it up to my 32 inch Sony Bravia in a couple days (House Sitting to finance this purchase :D) Games that I've picked up for this are and the costs of everything to get this system up are below.

PS3 160g $279.99
Demon's Souls $19.99
GOW Collection $20.87
Final Fantasy 13 $19.99
GOW 3 $15.00
HDMI Cable $2.00

Grand total of $357.84


I'm pretty satisfied with the whole purchase. The only reason I didn't get the PS3 online was because I'm afraid of how FedEx/UPS handle there packages and didn't trust that it would work on arrival. But I have to say I'm happy with what it cost.

Exactly my experience. I had the PS3 installed on an older 32-inch 720p LCD TV for a while, and it was so-so; I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't overly impressed either. However, when I upgraded to a 46-inch 1080p LED TV, it was fraggin' amazing. Doubling the surface area (give or take) and raising the resolution by 50% made it ridiculously better.

I don't think you will be disappointed. I don't know much about the games your bought, except what I read about them. However, I know I do love my PS3. :P

Well, actually, I did play God of War I. I had no trouble playing through the game until the final boss, at which point I quit without finishing. Maybe I was 'doing it wrong' the entire time, but that final boss battle seemed to rely on a completely different skill-set than the rest of the game. I think I tried to beat it for a few hours then quit in disgust, fully intending to come back to it in a few days. I just never got around to 'getting back to it'. This isn't to say it a bad game (I DID play it to the end after all), just that it is one of the few games I have played that I never finished.

Or a 40GB PS3 (do they still make them?) or 120GB Slim (I think that's as low as the Slims go) , and upgrade the drive yourself and save.

Hey I'm probably going to need to purchase a new ps3 soon. Where were youy able to get one for $280?

No, they don't make the 40GB PS3 any longer, though maybe it is still for sale? They would probably be expensive, because those would be the old style, non-Slim, PS3s. Those older ones still allow for running Linux and such, as long as the OS firmware isn't patched. The newer Slims don't allow this.

As for slims, I think they come is 160GB and 320GB flavors; at least they did last year when they were released. A person is certainly better off, price-wise, getting the 160GB and upgrading it themselves, if they anticipate needing more storage. Unless a person is downloading tons of games/movies or using the system as a multimedia hub, I don't think the extra space is required. I got the 160GB Slim just for gaming/blu-ray, never bothered to upgrade the drive, and haven't come close to needing any more room.

I got to at Fred Meyers for that price because they had a 20$ off coupon is you made an electronics purchase over 150$. Not the best deal but 20$ is 20$.
This was my thinking my Xbox is my media hub, the PS3 is my blue ray player :D really excited for next Wednesday to hook it up and try it out.