Playstation 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4
I don't know who is spoiled more, David or me.
I justify the PS3 purchase because I'm a high definition snob and I want to watch everything I can in HD. Netflix still has HD-DVD movies that they will send if available but of course new releases are only available in Blu-ray. So last week, in my mind, I bought a new Blu-ray player! Most Blue-ray players cost $400 anyway! So for an extra $100, I got a new game console. Do we need a new game console? Of course not. I bought the new PS3 80g model with the new DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller and the much anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4 game bundled. At Best Buy, I was able to negotiate an in store $100 gift card and I used a $50 gift card I already had, so for me, that made for quite a sweet deal.
The console is attractive and a bit heavy. Since I used an HDMI cable setup was simple. The console has wireless built-in and I was able to get it on the Internet without any problem. The wireless USB dongle for the XBOX 360 is extra and lists for $99 but you should be able to find it for less.
So far, David and I are enjoying the game. The out of box experience was not that great since it had to "install" to the hard drive a portion of the game before we could start and it took about 10 minutes. We tried multiplayer and were not very impressed. You have to jump through a lot of hoops before you are allowed to play. You have to sign up for a Konami Id, then a MGS4 Id and they must be different and they each have different password rules. Then you have to create yet another id to serve as your profile for the game on your PS3. This is the only one that can go online and you must purchase another id if you want to play online with a second profile.
"MGS4, although it has a FPS mode is NOT an FPS game. It’s a third person stealth game."
If you've never played a Metal Gear Solid game, I recommend reading about them before trying MSG4 for the first time. This will set your expectations appropriately. I didn't understand why the cut scenes were soooo long. The GameSpot review explains:
Fully realized, lengthy story sequences will come as no surprise to anyone who has played a Metal Gear game. You'll spend a good half of MGS4 watching cinematics, but it would be a grave misinterpretation to assume that great gameplay takes a backseat to the story. Rather, these two elements are tightly intertwined…
By lengthy they're talking about sitting through 20 minutes or more of video at a time! Sure it looks great but that's too much. If it were just a movie or show and not a game I would STILL find them too verbose and boring. They could have edited them more tightly. That's my only big complaint. The process for getting online is bad but you only have to do it once.