Well, so far none of the listers are selling anything other than the garden variety 80gb PS3's as all of them (so far) have said they purchased them with the last 6 months. The few "extra featured" PS3's that I have run across (especially the BC ones) in the past have been priced well more that $450!!

Went to pick up a Killzone/MGS bundle but the BB I went too was out of stock. Supposedly the 2 bundles they had in stock were sold int eh 10 minutes it took me to get to the store after the phone call.

My guess is that the asshat that said they were in stock didn't bother to check that what they had was the Wall-E/LBP bundle instead.

Update:

Picked up a bundle at another BB and got it all hooked up and updated. So far, I like what I see. Killzone is great fun on and offline. Messed around a bit with Home and downloaded a few demos.

I think the biggest hurdle for me will be the controller. The dual shock has never felt as tight as the Xbox/Xbox360 controllers. Something about the way the analog sticks feel. And, I don't care what anyone says, FPS controls for the Wii are something I will always wish for in other console shooters! Way more accurate (for me that is) than the PS3/360 controls.

Anyway, I think I will really enjoy the PS3 (already played some Divx movies and am watching Indy on BluRay).

Was playing RB2 tonight and the game froze just after we finished a song. Had to reboot the PS3 and when it came back up it's not recognizing any discs. Looks like my drive has crapped out again. First one lasted 11 months, and this one went 9. Looks like I'm out $150.

thats exactly what happened to me. Your console still works, so you can back up your HD and get back most of your game data (EXCEPT RB2).

Note that when you back up the HDD using their backup feature, you can only restore that backup to the same system. You'll have to just copy the game saves manually to a flash drive (although some are copy-protected ). After you get the new system, you'll have to re-download your extra content, and re-install and re-patch the games.

I was able to run the official backup utility and restore it on a different system (and different model). It didn't back up any "protected" files such as game data, and RB2 save data, but all my other save data and media files were backed up and then restored fine.

I had forgotten RB2 was copy protected. That's going to be a bitch if they don't send me the same system back. Of course, since the blu-ray diode has blown out twice in less than 24 months, I'm not entirely sure I want the same one back. It would suck to lose the 4 USB ports though.

My wife tried putting in a PS3 game this afternoon and got it to read and start loading for about 5 seconds before it stopped. Now I'm wondering if it the lens just needs cleaning? I've got one of those CDs with the brushes on them, but I've heard that's not a good idea to use on the PS3 (and I've heard that it won't hurt it also).

Maxell sells which is a bladeless Lens cleaner. Anybody ever used anything like this or had success in cleaning a PS3 lens? Am I being way too optimistic that this might help anything?

Did you try a can of compressed air first?

I tried a can of compressed air last night and had no luck. It even stopped trying to read the disc whereas before the little spinning icon in the upper right corner would spin until I ejected the disc.

Yeah Sony

Ok, now I'm paranoid. Is drive failure common on the PS3? Having passed over getting another 360 due to their issues (and my specific experience with them) I hope these are isolated cases rather than something common!

Also, what are some good two player (co-op) games I can play with the wife. I just picked up Lego Indy.

I think everyone would agree they are much more isolated than the 360 issues.

much much much more isolated AFAIK.

Update: IGN just received word from a Hothead Games representative confirming the North American and European release of Braid for PSN. The spokesperson could not, however, comment on when the game will be released, but expect to hear more news in the coming months.

Hello

I'm one those out there that's going back-and-forth on this getting a PS3 or not. I've asked numerous uestions mainly the BD, DVD and audio realted. One question I did have and was semi-answered was the playback quality (upconversion) of normal DVD's. I also was wondering if morewas out there on the so-called upcoming release of the PS3 Slim if it had upgraded parts (like chips, connections and such) and should I hold off?

The other was audio connections to HT receivers especially those without HDMI switching. My current receiver has (2) optical, (1) coax and5.1 analog. It's obivious to get True-HD and DTS-HD one has to use the HDMI connection. However I read a article on sound test involving the different codecs from True-HD to DD5.1. The results were the sound wasn't that distinguistable from each other.

Other than that I'm pretty much sold on it as I intend it for mostly BD &DVD use but there are few games I wouldn't mind playing. However I'll continue mostly with my 360 with more popular titles on both consoles when it comes to online.

As far as the PS3 Slim, it popped up on Amazon Germany this week briefly for preorder. Don't know for sure, but it would seem more and more likely that it is indeed coming. No official word yet.

The German Amazon listing was user created, but yeah, the Slim does seem to be coming. That said, I seriously doubt it will add anything...and if anything, I suspect it would lose some stuff.

The PS3 is among the best upconverters for DVD that I've seen. It's the only video player in my home theater right now.

I have mine set up with HDMI directly to my plasma and the sound running via optical to my receiver. It sounds as good as I ever need it to, and I doubt my ears would be able to distinguish in a blind test.

^ this is the answer

I too was stunned at the upconversion of (good) 480p material from the PS3 to my plasma - there's definitely a difference between these and true 1080p, but a lot of times you'd be hard-pressed to tell if you didn't have them side by side.

All I know that the slim will be losing is the ability to install Linux as a second OS. Also, to cut costs they're putting on an actual power button instead of that touch sensitive thing the current PS3 uses.

I've replaced a couple of my favorite movies with Blu-Ray, and honestly, I've been kind of underwhelmed with the difference from upconverted DVD.

I think it greatly depends on the disc.

Of course, the bigger the television the more difference you'll notice. The improvement is often negligible on my 32" LCD but on my Sony 60a3000 the difference is substantial... depending on source material, of course.

The movies I'm replacing are largely recent higher profile action and sci-fi movies, which already tend to have pretty good DVDs. FWIW, my plasma is a 50 inch, and I sit about 8-10 feet from it.

It may just be my perception, but I think plasma tends to handle SD stuff a bit better than LCD, so that might contribute as well.

definitely. even on my 60" plasma i can't tell a huge difference, but on my 120" projector it is obvious

I think the most important factor is the relationship between screen size and viewing distance. I can see the difference more easily on a 24" computer monitor than I can on a 50-inch TV, because I'm sitting much closer to the monitor.