The Semi-Official PS3 Thread

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Scott

By the way, that did it, Nachos. Thanks.

And thanks for the recommendation Dan, but that headset costs as much as the official headset costs here in the states. Sure is slick looking, though.

Aw, yeah it's half the price here. But nachos' suggestion also applies here - the official headset can be found cheap in the SOCOM boxset but I found it ridiculously uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by Electrichead

Hey nachos, how did that beta thing of MAG turn out? Is that game going to be worth a shit?

I wish I could even have been bothered to sit through that stupid 3GB patch. I tried 3 times without avail.

[Electrichead]

Originally Posted by dontEATnachos

RE: MAG

Um, I haven't hardly played it lately (been working through a bunch of real games ... Uncharted 2, Prototype, InFamous, Batman, Halo 3: ODST). As I said before PVP isn't really my preferred game. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be picking it up but it seems decent enough if you enjoy objective-based team multiplayer. Having never played more than an hour or so of COD4, Halo 3, or Resistance competitive multiplayer I'm not sure how useful of an opinion I can provide though. The skill trees seem decent enough and the two factions I played as weren't bad ... it just isn't really something I'd have even considered if it weren't free.

Thanks for the tip. I'm sure I'll be a little too wrapped in MW2 and the other shit that I have sitting on my shelf that I never seem to have the time to get into.

Also, I'm pretty satisfied with the big team multiplayer in BF:BC and with BC2 coming out, I'm sure I'll get my fill. I also have Warhawk, Resistance 2, RSV2, and Killzone 2 online to fall back on.

MAG just looked interesting because of the big firefights. Sometimes that gets so heated that you can't even tell what's going on. I don't even want to imagine going through that kind of shit IRL.

[DJ Dylan]

Picking up FIFA 10 tomorrow...definitely looking forward to that one.

[mongycore]

The demo baffled the shit out of me. I could run the ball and do some decent weaving on the field. But when it came time to shoot at the goal I had no control whatsoever. Hold the button down for a blast - it just goes flying off into oblivion. Tap the shoot button quickly - it just goes flying off into oblivion. I had no sense of control on the power or direction of my shots, but passing the ball in the game felt alright.

wtf was I doing wrong...

[Parker]

Anyone know when Abbey Road is available on the PSN?

I heard the 20th, but it wasn't up yet. Then I heard today. Now I'm hearing next week. What the hell?

[dontEATnachos]

DLC usually shows up on the Thursday evening after the 360 gets it.

[grubstreeter]

My PS3 has died. I loaded up Fallout 3: GotY version - long load, played fine for a few minutes, then complete collapse. My PS3 won't stay on for more than a few seconds before shutting off again. The fan came on at one point, incredibly loud. It's an old 40GB model - I think I'm screwed.

It has worked just fine in the two years or so I've had it - I don't think I can blame overheating - it had been on only for a few moments. I've read that F3 is buggy - did the game kill it, or was it just its time? An I giving up to soon? Should I explore repair options?

Sign. This sucks.

[Kriegaffe]

The last 12 months for the PS3 have been quite awesome.

[Bruce Wayne]

Originally Posted by grubstreeter

My PS3 has died. I loaded up Fallout 3: GotY version - long load, played fine for a few minutes, then complete collapse. My PS3 won't stay on for more than a few seconds before shutting off again. The fan came on at one point, incredibly loud. It's an old 40GB model - I think I'm screwed.

It has worked just fine in the two years or so I've had it - I don't think I can blame overheating - it had been on only for a few moments. I've read that F3 is buggy - did the game kill it, or was it just its time? An I giving up to soon? Should I explore repair options?

Sign. This sucks.

It's going to cost you about $150 (unless they changed it), if you've had your PS3 longer than a year. I hope you backed up your game saves because unless they send you the same PS3, you are going to lose them. This happened to me last year. Fallout 3 didn't kill mine, I doubt it killed yours. On the bright side, Sony has a quick turnaround, so you shouldn't be without your PS3 for too long, maybe 5-10 days. Sorry this happened to you.

[grubstreeter]

I did not back up my saves - damn.

$150 - half the cost of a new one. Hmm

ty for the info and sympathy. I'll call Sony and in the meantime I'll have to, I dunno, read a book or something.

[dontEATnachos]

Well, for those of you who have a PS3 that is still functioning. Netflix has announced instant streaming for the PS3. Yes, that's awesome!

Wait ... this is the PS3, what's the catch?

Originally Posted by Netflix

To watch instantly on your PS3™ system, you need the following:

• A high speed Internet connection
• A Netflix unlimited plan
• A FREE Netflix instant streaming disc for PS3

Click here to order your FREE Netflix instant streaming disc for PS3. Already have your Netflix instant streaming disc for PS3? Click here to activate your PS3™ system.

Oh, it turns out I need an instant streaming disc? Does this install or do I have to put the instant streaming disc in the system every time I want to play Netflix?

I'd assume it's some way to get around the MS exclusivity deal but gah, disappointing that it works like that.

ETA: Apparently it's actually just a Blu-ray disc that uses BD-Live to connect to the Netflix service. I'd have thought that this would work on ANY BD-Live enabled Blu-ray player but maybe they do some lock-in with the disc.

[Trevor]

If the disc is just a nutty loophole for a broken exclusivity deal, that's hilarious.

[Electrichead]

That sounds cool. I was just talking to someone about that. He has an Xbox and he was asking me if I could stream Netflix. Maybe I'll order that disc and give it a spin.

[dontEATnachos]

Yeah, it's free so why not check it out. I'm sure that the terms on the Xbox deal have an expiration date in the not too distant future and at that point it'll be possible to install it to the hard drive.

[Dan]

We don't get Netflix over here, but how's the streaming - SD? 720p? Good bitrate?

[Jake]

Great to fair to middling depending on the connection quality - that might just be my shitty DSL though, and most of the stuff I've watched has been fullscreen.

[dontEATnachos]

Yeah, it seemed like a lot of the Starz movie stuff (which is generally the newer content on there) is full screen which makes it really frustrating to watch.

[Trevor]

I almost always get four bars when I stream. The Starz stuff looks shitty, but that's not the service's fault.

[bendrix]

I don't count pixels or anything, but the HD movies via our Roku Netflix player look fantastic. The pan-and-scan offerings are a letdown (albeit easily ignored, given the quantity of HD/widescreen offerings).

[Justin Clark]

Theyre finally starting to pad out the HD section a bit more, but for the most part, nothing on the service has looked what I'd call terrible.

[Pop Zeus]

So the HD content Netflix does bother to stream looks good? Consider me pleasantly surprised and elated. Getting BRDs from Netflix is a pain. So many of the new releases are on wait.

[Trevor]

I've been pleasantly surprised with the HD output. Now, don't get me wrong, there are occasional artifacts, and it's not Blu-Ray quality, but it's good, especially for a streaming service. When compared to TVersity's "HD" output, it's really, really good.

[DJ Dylan]

Is there a way to get my roommate's username on my PS3 onto PSN?

[Jake]

Just register them for a PSN account.

[Sleeplesslumber]

Originally Posted by Justin Clark

Theyre finally starting to pad out the HD section a bit more, but for the most part, nothing on the service has looked what I'd call terrible.

Just watch A Boy and His Dog and you'll see terrible. The compression quality of it is almost worse than MPEG-1.

[Thunderbird]

how do most of you have your PS3 connected to the internet? I have cable internet to my computer then use a wireless-G router to connect up PS3. I'm worried that I might lose some speed by going wireless which would affect things such as Netflix.

[jmub]

Wireless works fine.

[billylove]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

how do most of you have your PS3 connected to the internet? I have cable internet to my computer then use a wireless-G router to connect up PS3. I'm worried that I might lose some speed by going wireless which would affect things such as Netflix.

You might gain some latency going through wireless, but you'll be ok.

[Polygon_Wizard]

Yeah, I've got my PS3 hooked up through wireless, and it usually works fine.

[Electrichead]

I run mine wireless too. I have some lagging issues sometimes, but nothing too bad.

[gravedigger]

Another vote for wireless. I used to have a lot of trouble with the machine getting errors and logging me out of PSN but that hasn't happened in quite a while (and it was apparently due to the PS3 not liking the linksys wrt54g). I very rarely experience lag in online play.

[dontEATnachos]

So I've been playing Borderlands a ton lately (got the PS3 version of the game and really enjoying it) but I'm having the friends list issue that they supposedly resolved. I've seen Bruce Wayne online playing it several times but he never shows up in my friends list. Anyone else having issues with this?

The only suggestions on the Borderlands forums are to delete and re-add your friends. Has anyone else tried the game noticed an issue like this?

[The Rocka-Who?]

I got my PS3 streaming disc from Netflix yesterday. My wife and I decided to try it out with Casablanca. Picture quality was solid and there was no lag or stuttering or anything. Pausing/rewinding was less than 100% fluid, but nothing too unreasonable.

The way it works is that you manage your instant queue on the neflix site and those films almost instantly pop up on your PS3 Netflix menu, where you select from there. The integration between the site is kind of cool, but at some point it might be nice to be able to browse the online library right at your TV.

Overall, though, this is pretty great. I imagine this will be the main way we'll end up watching most movies from now on.

[Pop Zeus]

I had little trouble browsing their streaming content from inside the PS3. The menu's cache doesn't quite work right though. LOST looks fantastic, near broadcast HD quality over a 54g wifi connection.

[Anderson]

I like the Netflix menu better on the PS3. But, the 360 version loads better. It's weird to say, since comparing the two I find an almost 50/50 split.

The PS3 version doesn't have as many breaks to keep reloading HD content. Plus, the ability to go laterally between episodes of a TV box set is nice. Instead of having to do it the 360 way.

[gravedigger]

Can you use the blu-ray remote with the Netflix service?

[Pop Zeus]

Yessir. Play and pause actually work, which is more than I can say for some Universal blus.

[Electrichead]

So, have any of you received the chain message going around the PSN about Sony starting to charge for the service? What's this BS about?

[Anderson]

It's BS. They won't charge.

[Dross]

Yeah, I get that message all the time. I also get the "send this to everyone on your friends list and Sony will get Left 4 Dead for the PS3!!" one.

[dontEATnachos]

There are plenty of other devices--TiVo, Roku, Samsung and LG Blu-ray players, etc.--that don't charge for Netflix access that it seems stupid that Sony would as well. I know MS requires the 'gold' XBL subscription but the Netflix stuff isn't really any cost to Sony (or MS) besides developing the software so I don't really see Sony charging for the functionality.

[Thunderbird]

Using wireless, I could stream Netflix at around 4-5 mbps. Yet, going wired I would get around 2mbps. I would have guessed that wired would give me a better and more consistent picture than wireless.

[Dross]

Originally Posted by dontEATnachos

There are plenty of other devices--TiVo, Roku, Samsung and LG Blu-ray players, etc.--that don't charge for Netflix access that it seems stupid that Sony would as well. I know MS requires the 'gold' XBL subscription but the Netflix stuff isn't really any cost to Sony (or MS) besides developing the software so I don't really see Sony charging for the functionality.

No, the spam I get all the time is about Sony to start charging for online play itself. Like a Live membership.

[dontEATnachos]

Well, they can't really do that until they start offering developers the same thing MS does which is a completely integrated and built match-making service. I almost wish Sony would do that since most of their multiplayer issues are related to the fact that there are so many third party servers in the mix.

It's pretty obvious how much better the matchmaking on first party games (like Resistance, Uncharted and Killzone) is to most third party games that use Gamespy or whatever.

[Rich Straceski]

I've got a quick question about the nextflix service on the PS3 for anybody who can help clue me in. I'm pretty sure I'm missing some tiny detail... but I can't get it to work. I got the disc friday and put it in the system. It told me to go the the website and the website said to enter my e-mail, and it goes to a 'coming soon' page and says I'll get an e-mail when it's ready. I just thought I got the disc and the service wasn't ready yet... but apparently I screwed up somehow. I know I'm gonna feel really silly, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

I've got it running on the 360 already, but it'll be fun to mess with it here as well.

[Anderson]

http://www.netflix.com/InstantStreamingDisc

Go there. If you've got the disc. Load the disc. Wait. It'll ask for a code. Go back to that site. Put in the code. Netflix'll update and you'll be fixed. If it's worst-case scenario, Netflix double-dipped on code. Call Netflix, they'll fix.

[dontEATnachos]

I think Trevor tried it out so he may be able to give you some guidance.

[Rich Straceski]

Originally Posted by Anderson

http://www.netflix.com/InstantStreamingDisc

Go there. If you've got the disc. Load the disc. Wait. It'll ask for a code. Go back to that site. Put in the code. Netflix'll update and you'll be fixed. If it's worst-case scenario, Netflix double-dipped on code. Call Netflix, they'll fix.

Thanks! I'll check it again tonight when I get home. I got the code from the disc on the PS3, but the site they directed me to was netflix.com/ps3 or something like that, and I never had a place to put the code. The link you gave me had it all right there. Groovy.

[Parker]

Any idea why when I go to request the disc, Netflix tells me it'll be ready "later this year?" Are they just out for the moment or something? Popular demand?

[Trevor]

Look for the link in a MCP article I posted a few weeks ago.