Since I'm getting a Samsung LNT4065F I finally decided to use $320 worth of Sony points to get a PS3. First time I'm heading to the HD world, so I'm pretty excited. I read this thread for most of my information, and a lot of my questions were answered. I just have some questions and things to clear up.

Does upconverting mean regular DVDs get enhanced from 480i to 1080p?

Is it better to get the 60gb over the 80gb because the 60gb has the Emotion Engine while 80gb is emulating PS2 games?

How does it connect to a computer or external hard drive to access media files?

If I play PS1/2 games can I save on the hard drive instead of the memory card or will I need an adapter to use my old memory cards?

Do PS2 controllers work on it?

Thanks for any input.

Yes
I believe so, but the compatibility on your specific games is the main issue.
Don't know yet...
My understanding is that you need the adapter to move old saves onto the PS3 (or off for backup). Once they're there, I don't think you need the adapter. If you start a PS1/2 game on the PS3, you likely don't need the adapter as it *should* create the file directly on its HDD.
With an adapter.

1) Yes, it will upconvert your DVDs to 1080p resolution and it looks nice, but it pales in comparison to real HD discs.

2) Considering you save $100 and get the EE chip I think the 60GB is the only way to go. You need more storage later spend that $100 on a 160GB HDD and change it out yourself. It is easy and the console is designed to let you do it.

3) You can put media files on a FAT32 portable HDD and connect by USB, or by putting files on a flash card (CF, SD or memory stick) and using the media slots on the system. You can also network it with Windows Media Player 11 and stream music and some video to it.

4) You can get by with just saving to the HDD (it makes virtual memory cards on the HDD), but I honestly think it is worth having an adaptor and memory card since you can transfer back and forth to it now to back up your saves. There have been games like Odin Sphere that have had the saves on the HDD get corrupted for some unknown reason. I back up my saves just in case though it hasn't happened to me on any of the PS2 games I have played.

5) There is a third party adaptor to use PS2 controllers, but I have no idea if it works well.

As of now, there's still no way to play all the video files at once :(

a video play list would be nice... anybody know a way to get around this?

The adapter for PS2 controllers still does not let you use rumble on PS2 games.

Yes it does.

Doesn't with the one I own. If you could explain in detail how I can set it up so that it uses rumble on PS2 games, I'd really appreciate it, because it's the reason I bought the damn thing.

Got the most recent PSM magazine and I was expecting favorable reviews since it is a Playstation focused mag. Not the case at all.

First of all they reviewed two of the most anticipated PS3 titles and the freaking game of the month was Naruto Heroes on PSP.

Lair 5.0
They note control issues as their major gripe, but they have many other complaints as well. They call Lair a shallow tease.

Warhawk 6.5
Again they gripe about sixaxis control (which at least in Warhawk can be turned off) and call the game mediocre. They complain about game balance and the cost which they feel is too high. They do note that future patches may fix some of the balance issues.

I will say that I did not enjoy playing Warhawk, but there were many that raved about it in the forums. I think it is like any multiplayer game experience. It will depend on the group you put together to play with.

My concerns are still about so many anticipated PS3 games getting such average scores. Lair, Heavenly Sword and Warhawk (granted $40 online without headset) are going to have $60 price tags on them in stores. Would many people really pay $60 for games getting reviews this average?

Speaking of sixaxis control. I played the Folklore demo and that game has motion control features I like. Very good demo with two pretty decent levels to play to get an idea of the game. Again, not sure I see a $60 game here but overall a good demo.

noob questions:

1. Why does my controller shut off everytime I boot up a game or quit out to the XMB?

2. Is there no way to do DVD upscaling over Component? I don't have HDMI on my set. Would it be worth it to get a HDMI -> DVI converter? I do have one free DVI port.

The controller thing is annoying and I don't know a workaround.

No DVD player is allowed to upscale over component. Some stupid rule from the DVD forum. I would take a shot at the HDMI to DVI cable.

Thanks. No work around on the controller? That's pretty weak. Very annoying.

Hmm... odd. I have a Momitsu that I'm pretty sure upscales over component. Maybe it slipped through... or maybe I don't know jack about it. :lol: I had it hooked up via DVI.

Half-life 2 uses 93% of Xbox 360 power, PS3 power usage unknown even without SPU's being used.

http://www.psu.com/PSU-Interview--Ha...--a1108-p2.php

Since the link does not seem to work anymore here is the quote from the interview.

PSU: What is the primary advantage with the technologies for next-gen? Are there differences between the 360 and PS3 that you found aided you in the game?

Valve: We defintiely feel next-gen technology aided truly in our development process. You know---you have complexer AI, you have more characters to work with, an enhanced ability to work with the animations on a higher scale--all that stuff. The only difference between the 360 and PS3--which both as a collective helped us develop The Orange Box is definitely there. For the 360 version of the game, we can probably say we are using around 93-94% of the console's power given our current optimization. With the PS3, we can't exactly say what power cap we reached, since no developer really knows where the boundary is for the PS3. We can tell you that in terms of the whole game together on the PS3, we are not even using the SPU's and it is purely built on the graphics card and Cell. We're still optimizing for PS3 more because we can, which can explain the slight delay to you. But no worries, everything is going smoothly to put down any rumors.

I am going to take that with a huge bucket of salt. Half-life 2 is 3 years old. It ran on the original Xbox (albeit on the equivalent of minimum PC settings). There is no way that Half-life 2 takes 93% of the 360's power. Half-life 2 is a great game, but the game is showing its age. The graphics are starting to look dated.

Half-Life 2 on the 360 also has Episode 1 and 2, along with Team Fortress Deathmatch.

Episode 1 is just a basic expansion pack using the pre-existing graphics. There were a few graphical tweaks but nothing major. If your PC could run the base game, then it could also run Episode 1 at the same quality.

Episode 2 is not out yet, but I seriously doubt that it will have any major graphical overhauls either. It is another expansion pack using the pre-existing graphics, so it most likely will run decently on the same 3 year old PCs that ran Half-life 2.

I never pay attention to multiplayer games like Team Fortress since I am not into multiplayer, but doesn't Team Fortress also use the Source Engine? No way is it going to approach the level of Unreal Engine 3.0. The 360 was designed around the Unreal Engine 3.0 so any Source Engine game should be easy to handle.

I think the Source engine has improved more then you think since the original Half Life 2 was released.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_engine

Quite a lot of new features have been added.

That and just because the 360 can run more powerful engine's like the Unreal Engine 3 doesn't mean that developers can't take advantage of the extra power to enhance performance or features on an older engine, whether it be to enhance physics or frame rate or whatever, as essentially i imagine they're saying that they're not letting the 360's processors sit there idle.

The new version of Half Life 2 is going to use HDR lighting among the other enhancement used in the new episodes and will look much improved from the current PC version. They talked about it on the current GFW and it sounds like they did a lot of work updating it.

DL'd the Folklore demo over the weekend. It's a pretty awesome action RPG, the half-assed motion controller is not all that bad. Fishing the souls out of the monsters is pretty darn fun. Adult version of Pokemon...

Please forgive the videogame ignorance, but I've been out of the loop for a long time. :)

I used to play survival horror games all the time on the older systems I had. I also liked playing games like Zelda.

What, if anything, does the PS3 have that's survival horror or Zelda adventure?

(I just pre-ordered Resident Evil Essentials PS2 to play on a PS3.)

Thanks.

Yeah, I like it quite a bit, although I died during both of the demo levels.

I thought Folklore was ok. Although, I don't like RPG's that much. I enjoyed Fable and Oblivion a bit, but something was off with Folklore for me. I think the art direction annoyed me a bit or the controls. Basically, launch Folk here, launch folk there, lalala.

Folklore is pretty much like Pokemon... catch the Folk's soul and viola, you can do the "i choose you Pikachu" thing. The four PS buttons can be customized to call out the assigned Folk. Obviously, the demo shows you a limited number of Folks... The big Folks are awesome to look at, but the little bubble blowing leprechaun thing is plain weird.

The visuals are great, Folks are pretty interesting, but it's not a game to get a PS3 for...

Sony will be distributing the downloadable version of Warhawk on Tuesday August 28th at 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time (9:01 PM PST) for $39.99 USD/$42.99 CAD/£19.99 UK or €29.99.

Hmm...at $30 I'd be tempted, but $40 seems like a bit much. I think I'll pass for now, especially with all the other excellent games that just came out and that are coming out in the next few weeks. Maybe if sales aren't too hot, they'll drop the price down the road.

Compared to Shadowrun which was multiplayer only as well and cost $50 for PC and $60 on 360 its not bad at all.