I've seen a PlayStation 3!

I have! There's one in a shop in the Prospect Centre in the middle of Hull. Very big and very shiny. It is not for sale (just as well) but it is definitely a PS/3. They were even letting people have a go on it. I watched someone playing a driving game, probably Ridge Racer. The car was shiny, the road and the landscape were detailed and things moved along very smoothy.

The kid at the controls had obviously played driving games before. He drove round the twisty highway with a miniumum of fuss and the occasional powerslide. It was hard to tell whether he was impressed or not.

And there's the rub. Wind back the clock 24 hours to the kids having a go on the Wii. They were waving, clapping and cheering. At the moment it seems to me that the PS/3 gives you a very high quality "same again" whereas the Wii gives you something totally different.

Even allowing for the fact that perhaps folks behave differently in shops, I reckon that this underlines the validity of the Nintendo approach. Perhaps over time the PS/3 will catch up and truly new forms of game will emerge as developers get the hang of its enormous power. But until then, I'm going to be in front of my Wii, waving the controller around like a mad thing.... 

I took the camera up town too:

Shiny building

This was in the art gallery. It is made entirely of seeds and flowers and should last around a week. Very clever.

Comments

[Jo]

I should imagine you have much fun with the Wii's Photo Channel. I just spent the past hour playing around with it with my firends laughing along.

We need to get out more...

[Willeth]

I tell you what, that 48-piece puzzle with a full-motion video is really hard. As soon as you think you recognise a piece it changes and you think you need to put it somewhere else.

[Jo]

Hold down the 1 button and you can do like 192 pieces. :O

[MattJ]

I am going to geta 360 early next year,maybe a Wii later on. I am going to buy my 360 on or immediately before PS3 launch day.

All the good stuff Sony are doing is nicked - the motion sensor stuff is ripped from Wii, only not as well because they use gyros as opposed to actual 'action detection'. The online stuff they only decided to do about 6 months ago after realising the supreme stupidity of saying the PS3 qould not be online - it wont be nearly as mature or good as Live.

they are also systematically alienating their entire fanbase with their 'not inlcuding HDMI cables' and ludicrous online charges for GT4 HD. Also by the end of next month I hope to have secured my Zune from Pittsburgh and my ZuneTag will work with my Live Tag! hehe

[MattJ]

Oh the point of the 'immediately before launch day' was so I could laugh at the silly Sony fanboys while I buy a machine that does exactly the same thing for nearly 200 quid less (100 quid if i also gett he HD drive for it)

[Willeth]

Both the Sixaxis, Wii Remote and Nunchuk use accelerometers and have very similar functionality. The only difference is that the Wiimote can detect position in space due to the sensor bar's triangulation, and while it is used to great effect in a lot of games, it's not as much of an advantage as you're making out.

You're also not up to date with your news; GT4 HD is now a free download rather than a disc. The cars and tracks will most likely still rip you off, but they're listening to feedback.

[Sam]

How mature MattJ...
Regardless, I think I'm gonna get a Wii at some point and then check out whether the PS3 or 360 holds the right games for me a bit later on in the generation.

[Dwain]

I'm definately getting a Wii in the new year, but after playing on this great new inovative console, I really know what you mean about the Playstation 3 not really offering anything particularly new. It's for this reason I'm only going to splash out on it when a really great game (FFXIII anyone?) comes out.

[Jean-Claude]

Does the X360 give you anything other than "a very high quality "same again""?