A nifty little deal, assuming your credit is good enough.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 2ajd365:CJ

You apply for a Playstation credit card (from Chase) with no annual fee and you get a $150 gift credit. You have to sign up before the new year.

I've been thinking of getting a Blu-Ray player to go with my HDTV and have been thinking about a PS3 for that reason (games are a bonus) and assuming all goes as planned, I'll be getting one through this deal.

Checking out some games for it... I've got a question, which I've attempted to answer through googling, but it's a pain in the ass.

It appears as though there's a mouse controller for the PS3 (one picture I saw had a lap pad for the mouse and a numchuck control). Does anyone know if these work worth a damn. I find myself edging toward a new computer purchase because mine isn't a good gaming rig anymore, but I love FPS and playing a FPS on a gamepad is like watching hi-def Ron Jeremey porn. If someone came up with a good mouse controller for a console system, I'd probably call it quits for PC gaming.

I've heard it works quite well.

Yeah, not gonna do that.

It's almost tempting though.

Steven, the PS3 is bluetooth ready, so any bluetooth keyboard, mouse, etc. should work just fine on it.

The question isn't "will it work", the question is "will it work worth a damn".

I've been googling PS3 lately... amazing how much those things cost to make.

It certainly seems like a system that will age well, as it was the most advanced of the last generation of consoles; but, egads, they over-did it. When the three systems were hitting, I knew X-Box 360 would do a lot better than Nintendo & Sony thought they would, because Microsoft was bringing a lot of innovations from PC gaming to the table. But I still thought PS3 had done better than it did.

360 is awesome.

Its power brick is awe-inspiring.

If I didn't already have a PC about as powerful as the X-Box 360, I might consider picking it up. The only reason I'm thinking about picking up the PS3 is the blu-ray player, since I'm thinking about being in the market for it.

Blu-ray is awesome.
We have had a PS3 for almost a year but own no games. We have about 15-20 for XBox. I would not give up either though.

If I buy it, I think I might pick up Half-Life's Orange Box to see how it handles FPS. I think of it as a $20 test of its abilities.

We do have that for 360. Worth it for Portal.

I actually have it for PC, but I never seem to find the time to play it.

PC games that I swear I'll finish one of these days: Serious Sam 2, Prey, Half Life 2 Episode 2, Portal, F.E.A.R., and Bioshock.

I'm not even counting Unreal Tournament 3, which I played for about an hour.

I'm not so sure about that, the graphical capabilities of the 360 so far seem to be a bit better, for whatever reason and whenever a game is made for both, the 360 one has the better reviews. Take the one you're considering, The Orange Box, it got glowing reviews for the 360, and it was heavily criticized for the PS3.

Most PS3 games don't support 1080p. That sucks.

The Orange Box is supposed to be a bit of a bastard step-child. Valve didn't want to do the PS3 and no one really supports it. X-Box ports often have the benefit of being ported from the PC, which is pretty close.

Pure hardware, the PS3 is really impressive, but the weak point are the games. Sony doesn't seem to have too many major exclusives for the PS3. While the X-Box is benefiting from PC developers targeting that platform.

And you gotta give Nintendo credit for not trying to out-muscle the other consoles and focus on making a fun console that is accessible to even novice players. I still get a bit baffled by modern game-pads.

Hmmmm, PS3 has half the RAM as X-Box 360. Both have a 3.2 GHz CPU.

Really, that's most of my problem with 360. My PC is a 3.0 GHz. I have twice the RAM. Probably a superior video card. And the 360 doesn't have the whiz-bang extras like blu-ray and gyroscope controller

The Cell is more powerful than the 360's Xenon, but the PS3's RSX is a pumped up 7800, and it's slightly inferior to the Box's Xenos. Also, X-Box games doesn't require installation.

But the Blu-Ray is great. I love Blu-Rays. I can't have enough of them. And in the end, that's what I was looking for. That's why I have two PS3 and zero X-Box's

And BTW, the Sixaxis? It's worthless. I don't think I've ever used that function.

Okay, how's this for a clueless statement.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer: "I've played a Nintendo Wii ... I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device."

So, a system that sells three times as many consoles as you is a "niche" device?

I found this at an article about how Microsoft and Sony don't view the Wii as a competitor.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/12/0 ... ompetitor/

I almost kind of agree with them, because it's obvious that PS3 and X-Box 360 are battling for the exact same demographic as each other, while Wii has decided to play another, far more popular and profitable marketing game. PS3 and 360 are the "serious" gaming units, while Wii is just about having fun. But still, calling the console that's kicking your ass all over the place as servicing a niche market... that's all types of clueless.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqWOnDqQ4v8[/youtube]