So You’ve Just Bought a PS3, What Can You Do with It?

From the beginning of this generation’s line of consoles, gamers far and wide have been flocking to the Xbox 360. Not only did it sport an excellent multiplayer network, great visual graphics, but a price tag that even a humble gamer could afford.

We all can recognize the “Five-hundred ninety-nine dollars” fad that has been circling internet groups regarding the price point of the Playstation 3 at launch and even worse, the “PS3 has no games” fad concerning the lack of appealing exclusive titles for the system. These two things alone have left the Playstation 3 lonely and depreciated for the last few years, with few straggling fans trying to give the console life.

With the coming of the new “slim” Playstation 3 CECH-2000 model announced by Sony during its Gamescom conference on August 18, 2009, the company hopes to change all of this. If you’ve seen the most recent commercials for the system, no doubt you’ve heard their phrase, “It only does everything.” And while this might seem like nothing more than a clever marketing ploy by Sony’s advertising team, there actually is a great deal of truth to this. Listed below are some of the PS3’s greatest assets, and a showcase of all of the things the PS3 can do natively, and do well.

  1. Every PS3 has the capability to play PSX games. They’re cheap, fun, and great for nostalgia moments. Go pick some up. Unfortunately, only certain older models of the PS3 can play PS2 games. Check here to see if yours is compatible.
  2. The PS3 Media Server is a free and excellent application that allows you to stream audio, video, and photo files from your computer to your PS3.
  3. The PS3 is compatible with a myriad of computer accessories, such as:
  • Bluetooth Universal Remotes
  • Bluetooth Cellphone Headsets/Mics
  • Bluetooth Keyboards/Mice
  • USB/Bluetooth Headsets
  • USB Keyboards/Mice
  • USB Webcams
  • USB Hard-drives
  • USB Memory Devices
  • USB Card Readers (Note: Older PS3 models already have these readers built-in to the system)
  • USB Wi-Fi Dongles (Great if you want 802.11n connections, so long as the dongle supports it)
  • USB Controllers (This includes PSX, PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube controllers, so long as you buy the appropriate USB adaptor for each)
  • USB Printers (In particular, Canon has special PS3 options)
  1. The latest PS3 firmware (Which is optional) supports PSP Emulation. However as of now it is limited to PSP Minis. It is also possible to play your PS3 over the internet with your PSP.
  2. If your PS3’s colors seem a bit off, you can go into the Video Settings and enable “Full Range RGB” and “Super White”.
  3. The PS3 supports the following disc formats:
  • CD
  • Super Audio CD (Older PS3s only)
  • PSX Discs
  • PS2 Discs (Older PS3s only)
  • DVD
  • DVD-Audio (Given there is a video file of some kind on the disc)
  • Blu-Ray
  • Blu-Ray Audio
  1. The PS3 supports the following Audio/Video filetypes natively:
  • AVI
  • AVCHD
  • DivX
  • Memory Stick Video
  • Motion JPEG
  • MPEG-1
  • MPEG-2 PS
  • MPEG-2 TS
  • MPEG-4 SP
  • MPEG-4/H.264 AVC High Profile
  • MP3
  • MP4
  • VC-1
  • WMV
  1. The PS3 has a slideshow feature in its Photo Section that is easy to use, can be supplemented with audio, and is well-presented.
  2. The PS3 hard-drives can be replaced with any standard laptop hard-drive (The Xbox 360 has a unique hard-drive specifically for its console), and Sony encourages you to buy your own and replace your own (Check your user manual).
  3. CD-Audio can be burnt directly to the PS3 hard-drive.

These are some of the most unique features the PS3 has to offer. I particularly am fond of the PS3 Media Server since I spend a great deal of time watching movies through my computer. It saves you the hassle of having an entanglement of wires to deal with when connecting your PC to your TV or PS3, and truly makes the PS3 into a multimedia console that can “do everything.” I’d certainly challenge the Xbox 360 to natively do this, and do so without having to undergo an ordeal and massive headache just to accomplish the same tasks.

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