Playstation 3 Review

In 2003 I recived slim Playstation (PS1) for my birthday. I was excited that I had one, mainly because I wanted to play newer NASCAR games. I didn't know at the time I'd play one of the best consoles made. Not long after, I got a Playstation 2 (PS2) in 2004. One main reason was so my sister and I could still play Playstation games along with new ones on the Playstation 2. Belive it or not, I didn't realize how great some games were on the Playstation 2 untill the past year. Then, in 2007, I recived a Playstation Portable (PSP) as a graduation present. I can safely say it's my favorite hand-held and the first I really started buying "quality" games for. Yes the (PSP) doesn't have a great number of games, but there are certainly some must plays available for the console. With the PS2's best days behind it, I figured that now was the time to make the jump to a newer console. The first question on my mind was which console do I want, the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. After debating for awhile, my heart and my head both pointed to the Playstation 3 (PS3). The Playstation 3 could not only be the best console I have owned, but the best peice of electronics currently have.

DESIGN

The Playstation 3 I have is the 40 GB model PS3, so there could be a few things I miss. When I look at the PS3, the first thing I think is it's shiny. Any other console, with the exception of the PSP, hasn't had a metallic color paint of any sort. Two USB ports are featured on the front side of the console, which is great for transferring content from other devices to the console. Like it's predicesor, the PS2, the PS3 can either stand horizontal or vertical. I don't know why, but I prefer a vertical stance. Maybe the reason for the vertical stance is due to the bottoms side, if you place the console horizontal, heats up. Overall, it's a pretty system if you ask me.

FUNCTION

In the past, Sony has made an effort to incorporate other media types to get consumers to buy their Playstation console. The PS1 also played CDs; which at the time, CD players were expensive, so the PS1 could be looked at as a cheap CD player that plays games. The PS2 did the same thing for DVDs, mainly in Japan. Another big selling point was that the PS2 was backward compatiple with PS1 games. The PS3, like it's predicesors, also tries to introduce a new media, Blu-Ray. This is possibly one of the big selling points of the PS3, but I most likely won't use this function often. The PS3 also plays CDs, DVDs, and PS1 games. Unfortunately, PS2 backward compatability was taken out. My 40GB system can't play PS2 games either, but if you look hard enough, you can find PS3's that can play PS2 games online. I didn't buy a PS3 to play PS2 games though. As you can imagine, PS1 games are a sight for sore eyes after playing some PS3 games, but some PS1 games have better gameplay then a lot of PS3 games. In addition to using physical disks, you can download music to the PS3's harddrive along with game demos, videos, and photos. As far as I can tell, the PS3 supports some popular audio formats such as MP3, WMA, and AVC. You can also browse the internet on your PS3 which is a nice feature, but I'd rather use my computer to browse the internet anyway. It's great to be able to watch Youtube videos on your Television though. So even if you buy a new or used PS3, you are getting a lot of features out of a PS3.

GAMES

I'll go into more detail for certain games, but all I can say is that the games I have played so far look fantastic. There were even point when I thought to myself, "This great of visuals has to be illegal." This is even on a standard television. I could only imagine playing games on an high definition television. I'll give pointers on the games individually. As of this post I own The Orange Bos, Motorstorm, and Assasin's Creed. I'll review these game later.

CONCLUSION

You may cringe at the price of the PS3, but once you get one and fiddle with it for awhile, you'll realize that you basically stole this device. A fantastic system that delivers what you want and more.

Design: 4.3 out of 5

Function: 5 out of 5

OVERALL: 4.7 out of 5

Jumper

So my mom asked me if I wanted to watch Jumper the other day, and I remembered seeing the end of this movie before and thought I would get a great idea of what it's about. Turns out the movie was just plain, well not bad. Okay it was bad.

The plot, or lack of plot, revolves around David Price (Hayden Christenseen) who discovers as a teenager he is a jumper, or a person who could jump from one spot to another in an instant, after falling through the ice and using his powers to escape. Afterwards, he decided that he could live a much better life and leaves his father and his childhood friend and crush, Millie Harris (Rachel Bilson) behind. Eight years go by and a man known as Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson) figures out that David has the power and tries to kill him saying, "only God should have this power." David escapes and returns home to get away and is reunited with Millie. David then decided to take Millie to Rome where he finds another jumper named Griffin (Jamie Bell). The two are attacked by paladins. The paladins are defeated, but David and Griffin have to hurry away with the police showing up. David ends up in jail, but his mother shows up to set him free. David then makes sure Millie gets on a plane home and goes to Griffin's lair and finds out the paladins hunt down jumpers because the paladins don't like them. (Yeah sure there is more to the story, but what do you expect when Jackson's charecter says only God should have this power.) David then returns home to find his father mortally wounded. David realises that Millie isn't safe so he finds her and takes her to Griffin's lair, unfortunately Griffin didn't approve as the Paldin's were on David's tail and end up breaking through some scar that's left over from when they jump. When Roland appears an uninteresting battle begins as David is restrained by electrical wires and has to be set free by Millie. Griffin then sends Roland throught the jump scarr thingy and all three think they are defeated, but Roland captures Millie. David then asks Griffin for help, but Griffin refuses and then they fight in a battle that takes them from Griffin's hideout to a war scene where Griffin is defeated by David with Griffin shouts that David is not a hero. Griffin then returns to Millie's home for an anticlimatic battle that begins with him being restrained once again, and ends in a Library. David eventually jumps Roland to a cave in the middle of a cliff with no hope of escape. David then finds his mom, whom is a paladin, that he is given a head start and David exits the house and jumps himself and Millie to someplace warm.

This movie felt like it would be very promising, but the plot was uninteresting as it had no charecter development what so ever. As far as the jumper's ability, the jumping effect was used too much and too often I think. It also ruins any momentum. The only real battle in the movie was when Griffin and David faced off, but this battle was point less. I sure seems as the writers placed it in just to have a battle between jumpers. I also think that the love story between Millie and David would be a lot more intresting if David had to win Millie's heart back, talk about dedication. I mean, come on Millie, you waited eight years for a guy who disapeered after falling through a sheet of ice to come back and sweep, or jump, you off your feet. Sure it may make you happy, but it makes for a completely uninteresting story. Still, the idea was cool in all, I mean jumping from one place to another in an instant sounds cool, but that gives no excuse for a bad plot.

Score: 2 out of 5