Sony PlayStation 3 (80GB)

Pros: Media capabilities make it great even for people who don't play games, killer tech specs, standardized rather than proprietary components, sturdy and reliable track record

Cons: Contributions to global warming are felt within minutes of use, would have been nice to have included an HDMI cable

Summary: I have really great friends; one of them gave me this console on the day after Thanksgiving. Not even Christmas, mind you, but Black Friday. Just gave me one... Wow.

The first thing I noticed upon unboxing it was familiar desktop and laptop computer parts; the SIXAXIS controller had not some weird Sony proprietary parts, but an ordinary USB cord, with a standard small end and big end. My research beforehand also showed that even the hard drive is a standard laptop SATA drive; if I wanted to, I could swap it out for a 250 Gig Western Digital drive, just like the one I put in the laptop I'm using to write this review. Sony did a complete 180 degree on this, as their historic use of proprietary parts instead of interchangable components is legendary. (The PS3's sibling PSP's reliance on UMD and Memory Stick instead of regular SD cards, as well as limited support for common video formats, was a deal breaker.) I'm really glad to see Sony changing its ways here. The USB ports have great plug-and-play capabilities, too; I plugged in a standard USB keyboard and without any additional buttons to push could type entries on registration forms and name blanks.

My console came with the game "Motorstorm," which is a fun racing game, but I got a better taste of the true capabilities of this console when my already nice friend also threw in "Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction." Playing the first level showed off both the rendering capabilities of the cell processor itself and some of the fun gadgetry capabilities of the console, such as the motion-sensing controller. I know, it's not the same as the Wii's tennis and bowling prowess, but it's still cool to control a character through motion wirelessly with a handheld controller.

The menu-driven interface is convenient and simple, making this device, as powerful as it is, accessible to novices as well as experts. However, the former might have a hard time getting used to PlayStation controller conventions. Since I'm not myself a heavy gamer, aside from the visual shock of going into a seventh generation console, I did have to get used to using a game controller to navigate system settings such as wireless networking or to browse an online store.

But, even people who never play a video game may want this console for its remarkable media capabilities. Aside from being one of the cheaper and yet one of the better Blu-Ray consoles, a firmware update recently also made it one of the best 1080p upscaling DVD players. Coupled with a user-replacable hard drive and USB expansion ports, one could use it as a digital media hub. (Granted, the remote control is sold seperately and is bluetooth-based, meaning adapting a universal remote means going with third party infrared work-arounds). User replacability of the hard drive aside, I still recommend this console over the 40 Gig for media purposes because of both the extra two USB ports and the memory card readers--both Memory Stick and SD, and even CF are included. (For gamers, I would absolutely insist on this in lieu of the 40 Gig model because of the lack of PS2 reverse compatability in the latter. My wanting to play "Okami" was a reason for rejecting the 40 Gig Spidy 3 version in my research even before my friend got wind of my interest in this console.)

Another selling point for the PlayStation 3 is that its hardware is durable and sturdy. Early models of the XBox 360 are having enough problems with permanant failure that they have their own special name for it. (Not a good thing for Microsoft, which is still recovering from a reputation created by the legacy of Windows 98.) The internal power rather than an extra transformer brick is nice. That said, one should note that the console tends to warm up the room pretty quickly when it's on. The high end inards also tend to need more wattage, making this the most power-hungry of the new gaming consoles, or for that matter any gaming console short of a Falcon Northwest Mach V with rediculously unneccessary extra GeForce 8850 graphics cards stuffed in for bragging rights. But, you have the console itself to remind you to plant a tree to offset its carbon footprint, by raising the temperature of your own environment a few degrees.

All in all, its a superb piece of hardware. It's a killer game console that, while lacking very many of its own titles, can play a lot of PS2 titles (if you make sure to get the right one; for you die-hards, you might want to backtrack and look for the 60 Gig model that achieves PS2 backwards compatibility by having rather than hardware emulation a tiny, shrunken down little PS2 physically stuffed inside) until the gaming industry catches up. It doubles as a Blu-Ray player, and its Cell processor's multithreaded nature makes it one of the best 1080p DVD upscaling systems out there. It triples as a hard drive media player that, with minimal work and a trip to Best Buy, could hold over 200 Gigs worth of mp3s, videos, and pictures. And, appearantly soon it will quadruple as an online social networking tool that, unlike the XBox 360, doesn't require a monthly fee. (I'll have to see whether or not that works out.) If you're building a bleeding edge home theater system, it's almost a must--if you're going to spend $500 on a Blu-Ray player, why not get the one that also has a built-in hard drive and just happens to play games like there's no tomorrow?