The PS3 launch details are expected any day now - think March 23rd at a cost of 425 UKP. Those of you who tempted to wait for the inevitable price cut may be hanging around longer than you'd like. Reports from the US suggest no price cut until at least June 2008, which probably means Christmas 2008 in Europe. Not that you can blame Sony of course. The PS3 is certain to suffer from high demand/low supply in Europe throughout 2006. But is it worth the money?
I'm still in two minds. I've spent a lot of time on a pre-release machine and you can't fault the hardware itself - though the controller is definitely too light - with Blu-ray playback certainly worth getting excited about if you have the right telly. The problem is the games themselves, with none of the launch titles good enough to justify purchasing a PS3 as games console alone. Yes, what I've seen so far of Motorstorm is promising, while, bizarrely considering I loath the sport, F1 is looking rather sexy too. I've recently got hold of Gran Turismo HD and will get some impressions up shortly.
But you can't escape the tentacles of Xbox Live, and it's the online side that really lets the PS3 down. Once you get used to playing mates, spying on their progress and generally feeling that you are not alone even when playing a single player game, it's hard to go back. Yes, the media functions and Blu-ray are admirable, impressive even. But - and call me a bluff old traditionalist - surely it's the games that make you fall in love with a console and not the ability to display photos or browse the web? If so then the PS3 still has some work to do before it becomes something really desirable.
