For the past year or two I've been debating to get a PS3 or not. On the one hand I'm a movie and game junkie, and with Blu-ray winning the high def dvd war all the hd movies will be coming out there. Also, there are several games that are PS exclusive that I haven't had a chance to play, or have only gotten to play for a few minutes. On the other hand I don't really have that much to throw at a system right now. Especially with PAX and such right around the corner. So I figured that this would be another PS3less year.

But then my friend got back from Iraq and wanted to get a place. Being that I like a good deal we got a better place then my last one for almost as much as I was paying for the smaller one. This comes with the added bonus of him owning a PS3. Unfortunately his playstation was with his personal belongings, which, for some god awful reason, have taken three plus months to get back over here. Maybe it's some distance or something, but anyway:

Yes, it's finally happened. I now have sitting besides my Wii and my roommates 360 a BS3. My 360 is still sitting somewhere waiting to be sent back to Microsoft because I'm a lazy bastard. Back on topic, so I finally have got to play on it. And you know what?

I'm really not too terribly impressed.


Egads men!

Now, before you go jumping on me screaming tribal chants and Anne Rice quotes, let me explain. I think it's a nice system. I can see getting one for myself for blu-rays and some of the games. I...I just don't know, I don't love it like I did the PS2 or PSX. It's not blowing my mind like the other systems did. Maybe it's because I kept expecting it to be so much cleaner or crisper, or whatever descripting term you'd like to use, but it just isn't blowing me away. Hell, maybe I fed into the fanboy hype before playing it. Bottom line is that it just isn't really doing anything special for me except plays PS3 games and has a funky controller. Seriously, what the fuck is up with the L2 and R2 buttons?

That being said, MGS4 is the best damn game I've played in a long time. And I HATE being stealthy. It's why I've never gotten into the Splinter Cell series, and why I couldn't get into MGS3. I just loathe waiting in my games. Standing, or lying, or crouching, waiting, watching, waiting, going, getting shot, having to start back over. That's what I do in stealth games. Until this one.

I will admit that this blows pretty much everything else away from a looks perspective, and also a story perspective. I thought I'd be pulled away from the game by the long cut-scenes, but they've actually put me in a place where I'm paying more attention due to the flashbacks, perspective changes, and camera switching. Now I mentioned my dislike of waiting earlier, but when I play this I don't mind the fact that I have to stand (or sit or lie) around. This gorgeous eye candy all around, having multiple access points, and the background action constant is really a pleasure. I can't wait to finish it so I can discuss it, and replay it again.

The other games I've touched were Ratchet and Clank and Heavenly Sword. Both game look fantastic, but, I don't know, after playing for about twenty minutes I wanted to go back to my new save on Mass Effect, which is still friggin' awesome btw. Maybe I wasn't in the mood for a platformer or a hack'n'slash though, and I'm willing to go back and play through them to see if it was just the initial impression or not.

So don't take this as a Sony bash-a-thon. It's just not what I was expecting. I'm sure if I take some time and get some more games and hop on the interwebs I'll find more fun stuff, I'm just not there right yet. I do love my xbox, but I also still like my Wii, which is becoming rarer and rarer these days. Then again, maybe that's due to me getting the internet hooked up to the Wii and discovering that holy shit there's old vidja games on there. Anyway:

tl;dr Like the ps3 alright, but love the MGS4.