Toybox & Games Room

Do you enjoy your computer games?
If you do chances are you’ve checked out Sony’s Playstation 3 game console & Blu-ray Disc player (at least superficially).
Why would you be considering the Sony Playstation 3:

• It can play almost all disc formats (don’t try to force a vinyl, old laser or non-circular shaped disc into it, but otherwise…)
• It is up to true HD (1080p video/7.1 audio) compatible.
• It can upscale standard definition movies/games to High Definition (it’s not true 1080p but any improvements are worth it if you’ve got a big screen TV or have very good eyesight).
• Its compatible with most formats and popular codexs (the latest model doesn’t support Super Audio CD, and none of them support HD-DVD, but then even HD-DVD doesnt support that anymore).
• It can allow you to browse the net from your computer screen (at a lower definition than on a computer, but do you really want to ever have to get off that couch?).
• It is easy to upgrade the systems firmware to provide additional functionality.
• There are a huge number of PS3 Games and Blu-Ray movies for you to watch on it (well there aren’t yet, but since the extinction of HD-DVD you can expect a lot more)

1. 60gb - Super Audio CD reader, Memory Stick/SD/Compact Flash card readers, 4x USB ports, Backwardly compatible with many PS2/X/1, Ethernet cable included, 60 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (initial worldwide release - discontinued worldwide)
2. 20gb - same as 1 but with 20 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (available only in Japan/Korea - discontinued worldwide)
3. 80gb - same as 1 but with 80 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (available only in North America/Asia, discontinued worldwide)
4. 40gb - 2x USB ports, no Super Audio CD reader, no Memory Stick/SD/Compact Flash card readers, no Backwardly compatible with PS2/X/1, Ethernet cable excluded, 40 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (current worldwide model - available in Black, silver or white cases)

So if you don’t already own one of the first three models you may not be able to play your PS2/PSX/PS games on it - this isn’t really a bad thing since a fair number of pre-PS3 games suffered debilitating glitches when played on the PS3 - yes I know the PS3 was supposed to upscale the games to Hi-Def - but you can do the same thing by plugging your old PS2 console into a Hi-Def amplifier/receiver like the Yamaha RX1800 - and this is my recommendation.
Also if you’d made copies of your pre-PS3 games (to protect them from scratches/other natural wear & tear - never for any other reason) you can at least have your PS2 chipped to play them should said damage have occurred - this is not possible on the PS3 (yet).
The PS3 also lacks a memory card reader meaning you’d have to purchase a separate PS2 memory card reader if you wanted to play your saved PS2 games.
Super Audio CDs haven’t become a popular format and there are very few titles available so not a great loss - You can always buy an external USB multi-format card reader and plug it into one of the front ports and at least that way should one format get an update you can always purchase a new card reader that can cope with the new format.
Same with the USB ports, get a self powered (external mains adapter) USB HUB for recharging your Sixaxis/Dualshock 3/Logitech controllers/USB Dualshock 2 controller adapters or USB Keyboard/Playstation Eye/GT Driving Force set/HDTV Tuner/Flash or Thumb Drives etc. Lets face it, it is very unlikely that you’ll have all the above plugged in at once anyway.
The instruction manuals clearly tell you how to change the included Hard Disk Drive for a larger (, equal or smaller) capacity one - so if you need more capacity (and an upcoming HDTV tuner accessory means you probably will), you can D-I-Y upgrade.
The whole system has ‘wireless’ networking built in as standard, but wireless signals can drop out and aren’t especially fast - network cables are cheap and can easily plug into your preexisting 10/100/1000 network - if you’re worried about the game dropping out while you’re multi-playing over the net, get your own cable.
As far as the colour of the case goes - what do you watch? The TV or the console?

• Europe - PAL/Zone 2 DVD/Region B BD Movie Playback
• USA - NTSC/Zone 1 DVD/Region A BD Movie Playback
• Australia/New Zealand - PAL/Zone 4/Region B BD Movie Playback
• Asia - NTSC/Zone 3 Movie Playback
• Russia - PAL/Region C BD Movie Playback
• Japan - NTSC/Zone 0/Region Free BD Movie Playback

These are copy protection features, meant to stop people from taking a holiday in South East Asia/Meso America and buying a cheap pirated copy of a game or movie. They are not hardwired into the system, they are only programs stored in the systems permanent memory (BIOS), this makes manufacture of the consoles cheaper.
PAL vs. NTSC - it’s no lie that PAL has always been higher definition than NTSC, but it has a slower frame rate than NTSC thus giving NTSC smoother motion than PAL - with the advent of High Definition Televisions these differentiations basically become void since the TV sets contain their own firmware to recode PAL &/or NTSC into a worldwide standard digital signal that is then displayed on the television set - so don’t let it upset you.
When DVDs first came out they were all Zone 0 encoded (this is an unofficial name indicating the discs could be played on and DVD player anywhere) - not long after most DVDs were Zoned, meaning they could only be played on DVD players that correspond to that Zone - North America is Zone 1, Europe Zone 2, SE Asia Zone 3, Australia Zone 4 etc. Again to make manufacture cheaper the Zoning was Firmware and you can find instructions online to make most DVD players region free (allowing them to play any Zone)
Now we have BDs (Blu-ray Discs) and as with the first DVDs most of them are Region Free (meaning they’ll play on any player), now however the Blu-ray drives are already set up to be either Region Free (meaning they’ll play any region encoded/unencoded disc) or coded to a region (A - North America/Japan/China; B - Europe/Australia/New Zealand; C - Russia; etc).
Although it isn’t currently available I’m sure instructions for making your PS3 zone and region free will soon be available online - I do not recommend buying pirated games/movies, remember the PS3 is basically a computer and any pirated products may contain viruses that would seriously void your warranty - only ever create copies of disc you own the original print of if you’re concerned about them being scratched/damaged (I know several people with Parkinsons who have their relatives do this for them, since their infirm hands can’t guarantee a firm hold on their discs and they don’t want to have to buy a new copy every time they scratch one).
Further more Blu-ray is still under development as a format - if you have a standard Blu-ray player you will have to periodically upgrade the firmware to ensure it can play all those special features on the newer discs (this involves using a PC/MAC to download the firmware from the web and burn it onto a disc before inserting it into the player and installing it) - this is a good reason to get a PS3/Blu-ray player since its direct web connectivity makes it very easy to install firmware upgrades and it is the only drive currently in production confirmed as being capable of upgrading to Blu-ray 2.0 (web content/interactivity).
Although not mentioned above other important features are controlled by firmware, such as sound (the PS3 supports up to 7.1 audio channels), one of the latest firmware updates adds the new Dolby-HD decoding ability to the console (on top of DTS/Dolby Digital/etc.).
Firmware updates can be easily downloaded and installed via its built in wireless/broadband network connection.