Author: Adam

For all new PS3 owners

Updated 27th June 2009

Want inspiration for what to do initially as a new PS3 owner?  Step right this way… I’ve jotted some points down covering various areas that might be of use, and tips that I’ve found helpful to get up and running quickly, but also to provide the most enjoyment:

  • The first switch-on– immediately get connected to the internet either by a wired or wireless connection.  You might need a system update for a start, and it’s pretty much essential for updating your games with the latest patches/improvements.  (See http://ps3explained.com/ if you want clear and detailed guidance.)
  • Sign up to the PlayStation Network (it’s free!) and get yourself a PlayStation Network ID, which will give you access to the PlayStation Store, the ability to start collecting Trophies, PlayStation Home and most crucially perhaps, the ability to play against other people online.
  • Try a great game– Now is the time to try a great game that will show off what the PS3 is all about: personally, I’d recommend Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, LittleBigPlanet, and Metal Gear Solid 4, to name but a few.  Visuals like you’ve never seen before.  At least rent one of these titles!  If you’d like a wider selection to choose from, and you’re in a bit of a hurry, you can’t go far wrong with No Fuss Reviews.
  • Stay in the loop– If you want the inside scoop straight from the horse’s mouth, than you can do no better than paying PlayStation.Blog.US and PlayStation.Blog.Europe a visit.  For regular news, there’s Joystiq and TheSixthAxis.  Or for a more personal take on everything there’s always good old reliable Los Havros.  Ahem.
  • Go beyond– The beauty about gaming on the PS3 is that the experience is as deep and rich as you want it to be: sample free demos or purchase extra content on the PlayStation Store, mix and mingle with people in PlayStation Home, go it alone in-game, or go out and play on the PlayStation Network.  For those feeling a bit philanthropic, then do some good with your PS3 and number-crunch protein folding for Folding@Home that is contained within Life With PlayStation.
My top tip: Want to chat to other gamers online, but don’t have a PlayStation headset?  If you have a bluetooth headset for your mobile phone lying around, charge it up and sync it with your PS3.  Sorted!

E3 Interview – PlayStation.Blog.Europe Tracks Down Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

E3 Interview – PlayStation.Blog.Europe Tracks Down Uncharted 2: Among Thieves– I’m still amazed by the footage shown at E3, but as ever, I want more, as I’m a huge Uncharted fan. The interview is very insightful, and has a link to a trailer: all of which you see is either actual gameplay, or cutscenes rendered using the same in-game engine.  Oh yes.

PlayStation.Blog.Europe now live

PlayStation.Blog.Europe now live– These guys are my new best friends in the world of PlayStation news.  Billed as “Your daily fix of PlayStation news from across the SCEE region”, I look forward to reading all the great content that’s going to be hitting my screen from now on.  Fantastic.

Hands-on with Bejeweled 2 for the PlayStation Network

I was given the wonderful opportunity to try out Bejeweled 2 , which has been ported to the PS3 and has been available on the PlayStation Network for just a couple of weeks now, joining the Xbox 360 version on the Xbox Live Arcade.  What am I doing looking at a relatively small PlayStation Network title?  Well, if you know where to look on the PlayStation Store, you can find a few gems.  Ahem.

The real reason I couldn’t pass on trying this game is that I am a total Bejeweled addict.  I’ve played the flash version on my PC, I’ve got it on my iPod Nano, my iPod touch, and now, the PS3.  This actually gives me a unique perspective from which to look at some finer details in the game.

Continue reading Hands-on with Bejeweled 2 for the PlayStation Network

Gaming on the rise

With recent talk of gaming slumps reverberating across the blogosphere, I read them and can totally relate, having to effectively abstain from any meaningful amount of gaming for the past few months and feeling my self-worth as a gamer shrivel.

So I tried to rack my brains for the antonym of ‘slump’ and the best I could come up with, with the help good-old Google, was ‘rise’.  To me this conjures up images of well, rising: a return, upping the ante, stepping up to the plate etc.  I think you get what I’m trying to say!  I trully believe that this summer I will in fact be stepping up to the plate, and seeing what I’m made of, gaming wise.  After an abence of months from the gaming world, my appetitie for gaming has not diminished, but altogether increased, becoming positively insatiable.

Continue reading Gaming on the rise

Access to Uncharted 2 Multiplayer beta with inFamous

Access to Uncharted 2 Multiplayer beta with inFamous– Well, this confirms the Uncharted 2 multiplayer rumours.  Still, I’d have much rather had a single player demo of Uncharted 2.  I guess this is better than nothing.  See also: all of Kotaku’s Uncharted 2 coverage.

PlayStation Home: The next chapter?

Welcome to the final article in my series on PlayStation Home.  Over the past couple of weeks I’ve looked at different aspects of Home, but I’ve dodged answering what exactly Home is, and where it might be heading.

People have been complaining that PlayStation Home simply lacks things to do, content etc.  And we’re all told that to attract consumers, ‘content is king’.  So where is it?  Well, in the article ‘Sony: Home is the “perfect storm” for publishers‘ by gamesindustry.biz, Sony describe Home as a platform upon which third parties can engage directly with PlayStation gamers with their own content.
Continue reading PlayStation Home: The next chapter?

PlayStation Home: We’re all going to Xi

As the penultimate article in my series on PlayStation Home, we now delve into the mysteries of Xi which pushes the limits of what you’d think possible from a virtual world merely for socialising.

What gets me most about Xi, is the sheer genius of it all.  PlayStation Home as a cohesive online world has the potential to have lots of secrets, some of  which Xi is exploiting fully, creating it’s own mythology around Home which I find very compelling.  The first glimpse of Xi you’ll see will be through a secret Home area called the Hub.  It’s worth reading what Joystiq has to say both about Xi in general and about the Hub in its article, ‘Xi infiltrates Home- and it’s kind of neat‘.  My own thoughts echo Joystiq’s: why aren’t other Home spaces this cool?  Quickly followed by the demand: let’s have more of this!

Continue reading PlayStation Home: We’re all going to Xi

PlayStation Home: Capitalism at its worst?

Following on from the previous article in this series, ‘It’s good to be back Home‘ I’m now going to address the availability of clothes, furniture, and even ‘personal spaces’ for a modest fee, known as a microtransaction.  I must admit, I felt a little sick when I saw the rows of virtual t-shirts, jeans and trainers, each priced at a few pence each.  I just could not understand why anyone would want to pay for stuff like this!

Being the intrepid reporter that I am, I felt I had to try using the system in order to comment on how it works.  I picked up a reasonably cheap yellow t-shirt from some kind of brand that I’m not going to give airtime to here, some jeans, and some trainers.  The whole experience left me feeling a bit hollow inside.  We’ve run out of clothes to buy in the real world, and now we’ve been reduced to paying good money to clothe an avatar?!  Seriously?

Continue reading PlayStation Home: Capitalism at its worst?