(Thanks to Richard Downey - PSN ID: reakt)

After heading into my local town centre this morning I hurried home with my new purchase. Upon opening the box I was really impressed with how shiny the PS3 is up close. I’d only ever seen one from a distance before today. In real life it’s shinier; larger and heavier! I spent no time reading the manuals. The setup is easy and intuitive. Follow the on-screen instructions and you’re up and running in moments.

I let the PS3 decide the display settings automatically. It noticed that I had already connected the TV to it via HDMI. It set up the various display modes including 1080i. Next I downloaded and installed a system update. I don’t know why I did this before playing any games I just felt compelled to do so! After that I tested that the PS3 could use my internet connection (it could) and then associated my Playstation Network name (which I reserved earlier on the web) with my account. All of this was very easy.

Motorstorm was the first game I fired up. This is the one I’ve been most looking forward to. I’m not disappointed and even after playing it for some time, I’m still blown away by the graphics. Blog-shots don’t do it justice. For a launch title it’s much better than I expected. It’s very playable and has a great, fast-paced soundtrack. I’m going to have a lot of fun playing this with my friends later. After a few minutes of motoring I paid a visit to the PlayStation store. Already it has some worthy content. I’ve downloaded Grand Tourismo HD concept, plus a trailer for the Casino Royale movie in 1080p. My TV only supports 1080i but the trailer still looks great. I’m really pleased about that since I’d not seen high definition
content on my own TV until today.

Resistance: Fall of man was the next disk to grace my PS3’s loading slot. After an impressive but long introduction I’m finally given a chance to shoot some bad guys (aliens?). This looks like it will be a good multiplayer (again, I shall find out later). The sound is superb. I cranked up the amp (all the neighbours are at work hopefully) and scared myself half to death. It’s quite creepy as the aliens (sorry, “chimera”) can sneak up on you!

My first play didn’t last long as I wanted to explore the rest of what PS3 has to offer. I’m very impressed with the slideshow for photos. I plugged in my digital camera via USB. A couple of button clicks later I had a glorious animated slide-show where my photos appear as Polaroid-type hard copies, falling gently like autumn leaves, onto a white background. The photos are presented against the date on which they were taken. The date is visible in the background in a nice hand-writing style font. The best thing about this feature is that I could bring up the XMB and explore my next options, whilst the slideshow still played out in the background.

I’ve tried to connect my PSP to the PS3 for remote play. This hasn’t worked so far. I won’t bore you with the details. No doubt it will work fine once I figured it out. However, this has proven to be the only tricky part of the setup process so far. I might even have to resort to opening the little package containing the manuals…

So all in all, I’m very impressed with the PS3. The menu system is simple to use and elegant. The two launch title games I’ve bought are stunning to look at and play. From what I’ve seen so far, high definition movies look great too. Finally, the sound is terrific when connected to an amplifier and speakers.