they are color by numbers but it is easier to review based off of visuals than it is to review for plot; even when something is highly rated for its plot, it hardly sells because most buyers are just looking for something to play for a day or two before going back to COD & TF2 instead of a deep narrative.

many of Sony's exclusives get high marks because their games are huge on pretty environments, which makes the reviews almost write themselves.

...... not to say that they CAN'T a good plot too, as some of them do, just that Sony knows what tickles a reviewer's desire for an easy article to write up.

Heh, that does explain it.

I will say this though: Demon's Souls is amazing. But Killzone, Uncharted and Resistance 1-2? Meh

Resistance 3 is great though

For the BIG ps3 exclusive I've been quite disappointed by god of war. I really don't understand why people call this series awesome or a master peice and I finished all the 3 games, God of War 1 was cool, the 2nd was dreadfull (too many puzzles and QTE for me) and the third better. But there are no gameplay improvements at all between episodes, its a beat'em all with easy combat which kinda destroy the purpose of the genre, the platforming is conventional, the whole story (besides the ending the of 3rd) is just an excuse to kill stuff and fairly immature (Not even mentioning the stupid sex scenes...) I think the only things that actually made the games for me are its gorgerous gigantic visuals and the fact that despite its a pretty standardized experience it plays well, almost like a good action movie you watch without any expectations.

Great game. Beat it & own it for 360. I also give a vote for Enslaved, Get it.

slight bump, for the other Cheap asses out there: Mechanarium is up as the new "Free" game on PS Plus, which is cool except that I already own it on PC.

additionally, three surprise titles showed up that were not announced before hand: Uncharted 3, Xcom Enemy Unknown, and Little Big Planet Carting.

Xcom is a major surprise as most other titles that show up are typically a year old or so.

Awesome. >.<

So my friends gifted me a PS Plus membership for a whole year for my birthday. That's cool. Only problem is that I only have the 12 GB flash memory inside, I do have an adequate HDD lying around though. So I opened the PS3, discovered that the "mounting bracket" is missing, so I ordered one (should be here today or tomorrow). Still, I tried to attach the HDD without it (since many people seem to do it) but gave up because I just couldn't hit the SATA port.

Okay, so I decided to wait, reattached the PS3 the way it was and guess what - no signal. I was still getting audio from my Hi-Fi receiver which was attached via component but not getting any video via HDMI. So I reset the audio/video settings by holding the power button and now I'm not getting any signals, neither from component nor HDMI. This mother fucking rocks! >.<

Any advice?

Edit: Okay, fixed it. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the PS3 to connect in either way to the TV. However, ultimately I tried connecting the console to my PC screen (a ViewSonic 28" screen with all sorts of supported connections) and that one instantly detected both the HDMI and composite signal. I set the PS3 to HDMI, got a clean picture on my screen, connected the PS3 to the TV and voila, for some reason the TV got an HDMI signal. Insane, I know. But at least it works now. >.<

So apparently my Samsung TV is to blame, not the console.

Edit 2:
Also: Trying to shove a 9,5mm drive into your PS3 Super Slim - not a good idea, despite what Gamespot says. >.<

I'm intending to get a Playstation 3 also. Used probably, as I don't really want to spend it all on the hardware. SONY have some exclusives that I really want to try. I'll eventually pick up a uesd XBOX 360 as well for their 2 exclusives.

Playstation 3:

Infamous Duology
Killzone Trilogy
Reistance Trilogy
Siren: Blood Curse
Uncharted Trilogy

Dust 514

I see that the Playstation 3 has had 4 design revisions. Do you guys prefer the new 'slim' or the old 'slim' (the 160GB one)?

I would get a PS3 too if I already had an HD TV. But I don't have an HD TV and don't feel like buying a new console and a new TV on top of PS3 games etc. I also move a lot so console gaming is not a good option for me.

I forgot about Last of Us, and I just went window shopping for it the other night. Thanks for the reminder!

I've only had my PS3 for a few weeks but I'll use this occasion to pretend to be an expert. :B

Infamous is totally awesome. My favourite sandbox game on PC to date was The Saboteur and I must say that Infamous is surprisingly similar to that one. There's no driving but but climbing and the super powers are awesome, also some of the tasks are pretty cool. I'm about to finish my first run through the game (I'll probably go for an "evil" run on hard mode soon after) and I'm loving it.

Resistance 1 was also one of the first games I got for the PS3 and I must say, it was incredibly disappointing at first. First it looks and feels like a poor man's Call of Duty (a VERY poor man's CoD as the graphics are really bad for a next gen game), later on like a poor man's Halo but once you get the hang of all the weapons it's REALLY fun. The plot is mediocre but the scenario is cool (basically WW2 with aliens, yay!). Also it has split screen coop adding to the fun (removed from the sequels, though).

About Uncharted - well, I've played the first one at a friends place (about half-way through) and I was very disappointed. The "adventure" part is trivial compared to other action adventures, the shooting is awful compared to "real" shooters and the plot is absurd. And not like "over the top, but cool!" but more like "the writers are friggin' stupid!".

And Dust 514 - well, I've played two matches and I was so disappointed that I instantly uninstalled it (after many hours of downloading, installing and patching). IMHO it's trying pretty hard to hide the fact that it's just a mediocre Battlefield clone with ridiculously complex character customization (which may swallow much more money than you'd pay for BF, as far as I can tell). I thought that despite the mediocre reviews I'd enjoy it but I just didn't. Heck, I even had more fun playing Resistance 1 multiplayer. :P

Anyway, another exclusive you may want to add to the list is God of War. I've only beaten the first one so far but I was having a great time - it also reminded me a lot of the Sands of Time trilogy which I loved. Can't wait to check out the rest of the series.

Well, I've got the new Super Slim (the one without an HDD, only 12 GB flash drive but you can easily insert any 7,5 mm HDD with 5400 rpm if you get the "mounting bracket" which costs about 10 bucks). Anyway, I must say that the new designs got uglier and uglier. I really liked the looks of the original PS3, also the Slim was still okay, the Super Slim on the other hand is quite an ugly box and it has a top loader, which is a little awkward since you have to manually close the drive and you need space above the console if you want to see where you're putting the disc. :P I'd recommend going for the Slim.

You mean an HDMI switch, right? I'm considering to get one eventually. Would be cool if you had some advice.

Basically yes, a HDMI cable is of course less expensive than a TV monitor, try to get a good one though. For making both PC and PS3 work together I followed this tutorial that helped me greatly to set things up : http://variableghz.com/2010/06/gaming-how-to-connect-your-ps3-to-a-pc-monitor/

About God of War games I've a different opinion... go for the first or the third and skip the rest, if you feel like you want more of the same thing then play the others.

It's interesting because it's SO not how I'd do it. :D Also I'm a little confused as the guide states that 16:10 is the more common aspect ratio while among all people I know I seem to be the only one owning a 16:10 PC screen, everyone else seems to have a 16:9 screen.

Anyway, my method to avoid an HDMI switch would be connecting the PS3 via HDMI to the monitor and the PC via DVI and I'd route the audio of both systems to my Hi-Fi audio setup. This way I'd just have to switch the input source via the presses of two buttons. Would be cooler, though, to route both systems via an HDMI switch to the HDMI port of my screen and then route the audio from the screen to the Hi-Fi system.


And now for something completely different:
I just learned that there's the Gigawatt Blades DLC for Infamous (also I just beat the game with the "good" ending on normal difficulty). Before starting an "evil" run on "hard" I'd preferably get the DLC but I'm wondering how I can do that as a European gamer. The Gigawatt Blades are only available in the US PSN and that download doesn't seem to work with the European version (I actually tried, with no success). Then I read something what suggested that I'd actually have to buy the digital version of the game if I want to play with the DLC.

So does any other European gamer know here how to get the DLC? I'm wondering whether maybe the retail version from the Esssentials series or the one included in the Infamous Collection comes already equipped with the DLC (oh yeah, also I just noticed that the Collection is US only, at least in the retail version - shit).

Mine too :). My recommendations:
1. Uncharted Trilogy Pack - You can find first-hand for like $30. It's a corridor shooting but writing is pretty good and I had a great time during these circa 10-12 hours per game.
2. Red Dead Redemption - My favorite Rockstar game so far.
3. Heavy Rain - A lot of QTEs; if you hated Fahrenheit for its QTEs, this might discourage you but on the bright side the game never punishes you for failing. You just cut yourself off certain story branches.

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If you look for something unique, Ico/Shadow of Colossus and Catherine might tempt you. They are part of PSN Plus collection right now together with Demon's Souls and Amalur. I don't recommend them though because I played them for a short amount of time.

My advice regarding your picks - Check Let's Play or demo. Many exclusive games are overhyped and it helps you to decide if it's up your alley or not.

Actually I liked Fahrenheit's QTE's (in fact I don't think that QTEs are a bad thing in general, it only sucks when they require insane reflexes like in God of War >.<). What I didn't like about Fahrenheit was the writing which became absolutely ridiculous half-way through. And I'm afraid that I will dislike Heavy Rain for being pretentious and lying about the freedom of choice and stuff. But well, only one way to find out. I'm still really looking up to playing it.


Yeah, I know, as mentioned further above a few friends gifted me a one-year subscription for my birthday a few days ago. Already installed all the games that were included (aside from Uncharted 3 as I'd rather want to get the whole trilogy and play them in order - although I'm REALLY not a big fan of the series after having played half of the first game).