Nov 09, 1:40 pm
I was a pretty happy Sarin last week, having been invited to the Best of Stuff show in London to check out the UK debut of the Playstation 3 and lots of lovely gadgets. I was terribly excited waking up on Sunday morning, pulling on my Fragdoll T-shirt, thinking ‘I love my job!’ Sure, Sony have done a lot to annoy us UK gamers of late, and I was really hoping to be playing this console at home for Christmas… but judging from what I saw, I think in a years time all concerns will be forgotten in a haze of PS3 joy.
When I arrived at the show, after a quick checking of the guest list, I was whisked up to the second floor and before me stood possibly the console to beat all consoles - the PS3. Motorstorm, Lair and Resistance: Fall of Man were the three games there to tempt us, and showed off lots of PS3 style.
My first surprise came when I picked up the PS2 control pad. It felt much lighter than I expected, but the real eye-opener was checking out its tilt function in Lair. I thought it would be quite fiddly to control, but I soon got the hang of it. It’s a great new function, and I look forward to seeing all the diversity it can generate with other PS3 titles. While Motorstorm was quite expectedly shiny in its graphics - rather 360-esque to my eyes - it was full of lovely little PS3 touches, such as the dust being kicked up by the vehicles. Lair and Resistance stuck to what I consider more traditional Playstation graphics with a slightly more grey and yellow grungy feel to them… of course a step above those seen on the PS2.
Naturally, I had to check out and touch the Playstation 3 itself, bolted down under a Perspex sheet - how was I to know it was bursting with static electricity? I guess that will teach me for being nosey!
Electric shocks aside, I had a really great time, and a big thanks to the guys at Stuff. Not only did I get to play three of the most anticipated PS3 games, but I also got to check out loads of cool gadgets (including a Wi-Fi rabbit) and hold an original Sony Walkman! I personally feel the PS3 is going to be a real gaming asset, and I’m looking forward to its release in March. I’m sceptical about how well it’s going to work online, but then I did love my PS2 without a network adapter, so we shall just have to wait and see.
