Sony - PlayStation 3 (80GB)

To me this was the best console i have ever bought. I had to wait in line for 10 hours to get my Wii, with poor game selection at the time, so i sold it, then i got the Xbox 360 and it was good for a while but Halo 3 being over-hyped and paying for online functionality on top of paying for internet from my ISP i said enough. I got some money together and i bought myself this PS3 80gb Core Model. Enough about of my console history. If you are thinking about getting a PS3 now is a great time, I've had the chance to play GTA 4, Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, Heavenly Sword, Soul Caliber 4, Uncharted, Warhawk, and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. And since I've bought this beast of a machine i've never put down my controller. I come home from work you'll see me play GTA4 like its crack. Take the leap of faith dish out the money you WILL NOT regret it. Those crying over no backwards compatibility, think about it, if you play PS2 so much you already have a PlayStation 2. I look towards the future and not games that I've played a thousand times and don't want to touch again. Plus when you play in 720p you don't to touch a 480i again. My reasons why I don't like Xbox 360: Initial cost is low, but when you add on wireless adapter, Hard drive if you bought arcade version, subscription fee for Xbox live, all the AA batteries you go through for the controllers. My reasons why i don't like the Nintendo Wii: Its built for casual gamers who do not care for: Graphics, great story/plot, "Complexer controls", online games. The Wii is made for the people who think its exercise, and fun. I work at a department store that sells video games, that I'll keep anonymous - And every person who buys Wii Games are 5-12 years old. Exactly the types of players i do not want to play with or against online if the Wii actually excelled at online games. PS3 is the future and it works for me.

the 360 elite system is 399 now and the ps3 is 399 but the ps3 has built in wi fi (360 doesnt $99 for add on) ps3 has free network (360 is a paid service) all ps3's include an ungradeable hard drive (360 arcade has no hard drive and to buy 1 is bout$100 also it has to be a 360 hard drive) ps3 can accomidate many hard drive makers in the 2.5" ps3 has blue tooth controllers 360 plain old wireless ps3 has usb ports 360 has microsoft specific ports ps3 has built in bluray 360 had hddvd drive --bluray is better google it ps3 can output 1080p 360 only 1080i can add blue tooth accesories to ps3 360 still outdated wireless ps3 can use almost any usb device -keyboard-flash drive-headset-racing wheels so on 360 has no usb ports -microsoft uses its own conects meaning you have to get microsoft endorsed addons the list goes on fro ever the ps3 has no red ring of death !!!!!

You can do any and everything with this system. It's well beyond just a gaming system. I use it as a storage device for pics, videos, and files. It has a great blue-ray player! It even looks great with an SD tv or computer monitor! Its like a a high end desktop such as a Dell XPS. I installed Linux and it works great, better than windows vista! For $400.00 this is a steal for all that it does and since it is a playstation 3 you know sony will continue to support it for ten plus years. Just look at the PS2 still going strong. I recommend you get Grand Theft Auto IV, NBA 09, and Madden 09 for your first 3 games like me.

I purchased this finally so I cna have the best of both consoles. Basically it's the same as the 360 Graphics & all, only thing it has over the 360 is free online & built in Blu-Ray player other than that they both are the same neither one is better than the other...Well 360 has XBOX Live which I don't mind payin for unlike other people that cry about having to pay for XBOX Live $45-$50 a year to play online is nothin'....I'm enjoyin' both systems even tho I haven't played my PS3 nowhere near as much as I play my PS3, then again I only have 2 games on my PS3 compared to my 30 on XBOX 360 LOL

Well I've owned since the first week of October of 2008. It's awesome, excellent graphics & sound. So far no problems yet. Well the movies that i watch on it is perfect. the xbox 360 as some people were saying it's better, but it's not. That console is not even worth your money & time. The PS3 is the better choice in my opinion.

Buy an Xbox 360!!! For the people who say that PS3's network is so much better, think about this. yes its free, but there are nowhere near the updates and games as Xbox, its free because it's trash. for those of you who think the Network is better, you probably dont realize that Playstation just released that they will be monitoring and recording ALL conversations, messages, etc etc that go through the network from user to user. So much for privacy. All to enforce SCEA. hmmm. i like my privacy, and i dont want a video game that will devulge itself in every little aspect of my life it chooses.

Just so anyone looking at it knows, this particular model of PS3 does NOT play PS2 games. This is a mistake by Best Buy, and although it is a flagrant error, it is an understandable mistake. There are several sku's of PS3's, most of them are not sold anymore. This is the short breakdown: 20GB version. Full BC compatibility, but did not have wifi. 60GB version. Has everything. These two sku's were available at the initial release of the system, and the 20GB was discontinued first. Eventually, they added some new sku's. An 80GB version which included MotorStorm, did support PS2 games, but did it by a combination of emulation and original PS2 hardware. I can't remember if it was the PS2 graphics processor or the PS2 cpu that was omitted, but the missing piece was virtualized by the PS3. This worked with a good portion of games, but not all of them. (even the 60GB version would not play EVERY game, just the vast majority, this was improved over firmware releases but some obscure titles did not work) Eventually, the 40GB version was out, and while there were some other changes to the system (it did not come with a game, it was a lot cheaper, it had fewer USB ports, and it came with Spiderman3 on Bluray, one of the things it sacrificed was the ability to play PS2 games. The 80GB motorstorm version was then discontinued. Some time later, a new bundle came out, bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4, and a dualshock3 (rumble) controller. This was effectively the exact same system as the MotorStorm bundle, so it was very popular and sold very quickly on its own merit, not to mention that Metal Gear Solid 4 was an extremely popular game. There was also a limited edition 40GB version of a Metal Gear PS3, which had a cool finish, it was gunmetal gray or blue or something. This did not play PS2 games. Both of the Metal Gear versions were discontinued, so retailers were back to only selling the 40GB version. Where it gets confusing, is that this new sku has the 80GB hard drive, the PS2 compatibility is also omitted. Many people thought that you just needed a larger hard drive in order to play PS2 games, this is not the case at all. The PS3 is EXTREMELY easy to upgrade the hard drive, and it does not even void your warranty. You can do this with just about any laptop hard drive out there, provided it is the right type. That being said, since many games require an installation file on the hard drive, and the PS3 has numerous advantages for acting as a media device, many peoples 40GB hard drives were quickly filling up. Presto, there is an 80GB version. Personally, I have a 320GB hard drive in my PS3, mostly because I store a lot of music in it, as this allows me to play all of that music to any television or audio equipment it is connected too. For me, it is convenient. The other thing that is new in this sku, compared to the 40GB model that many people are familiar with, is that it includes a dualshock3 controller, instead of the original sixaxis. Just so you know! I'm sure Best Buy will eventually change the features description. If you don't believe me, when this is available for sale, go into the Best Buy store and look on the back of the box. It will have the same disclaimer about PS2 compatibility that the 40GB version does. It is not likely that a future firmware update will ever incorporate PS2 emulation, but many people speculate that popular PS2 titles will eventually make it to the PSN network to be available for sale, much like certain PSX titles are. However, PS2 titles are still selling, quite well in fact, so I personally don't think this is going to happen for a while.

this is the FIRST ever piece of gear i've bought in which i felt no buyer's remorse whatsoever. i am 100% confident that i made a good choice when i bought this. i agonized for, literally, 2 months as far as whether backwards compatibility (b/c) was really important enough to warrant the $100 price premium between the MGS bundle and the 'vanilla' ps3. then, when the new 80gb with the dualshock controller came out, i still was on the fence. i never owned a ps2, but the catalog of 'kid-friendly' games for ps2 FAR, FAR exceeds that of the ps3, and i have a 4yr old daughter who loves gaming with her old man, so the idea of b/c was compelling to me. in the end, i took the less expensive route, and used that price difference to justify a 2nd dualshock controller, the blu-ray remote, and a blu-ray movie. granted, i am a VERY new owner of this system, but wow, i don't think people realize just how amazing this thing is. for what i paid, i got: - arguably the best blu-ray and upconverting dvd player on the market - a media extender that allows me to stream movies and music from PCs on my home network (in hi-def, dolby digital, hdmi-goodness) - a REALLY good game system that shows signs of (finally) blossoming over the next year or so, AND offers/encourages user-upgradeable storage (that alone caused me to stop seriously considering the xbox 360 for myself and my family. i HATE proprietary hardware.) - online access to game demos, SD and HD movies, and TV shows i very quickly forgot about ever caring about b/c. the ps3, as is, rocks. it's great that the 'old' ones had an extra bell and whistle (the additional usb ports and card reader were nice, but you can get the nyko extender CHEAP and achieve that for your 'gimped' ps3). it's great that a lot of people got in early and get to enjoy b/c with ps2 titles, but honestly, i don't think i will ever look back or care in the least. in ONE piece of gear, i have the equivalent of 3 or 4 set-top boxes, at a fraction of the price. i will never, ever complain about not having b/c. maybe i'm the rare 'satisfied customer' or something, but i'm thrilled with what i got, and i'm thrilled with what it does. if you're inclined to do so, it has built-in support to install an alternative operating system (various flavors of Linux). show me another console that can even begin to claim that. sure, you can hack one of the others maybe, but it's an option, out-of-the-box with the ps3. i've only owned nintendo consoles in the past, and i was an avid pc gamer, but i am so happy with the ps3, i may never look elsewhere again.