PlayStation 3 40GB Video Games

Testimonials

Average Buyer Rating: out of 5 stars

Buyer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

- * Not just a gaming console! ...
I bought the PS3 as a Blu-ray player for my HDTV. $400 seemed to be the base price if you were getting a PS3 or virtually any other player out there. Picture quality is excellent, very easy to use. Combine with the Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray Disc Remote and you have a family friendly player.

Nice added features:

1. Jukebox - You can either stream music from your Windows XP/Vista machine as a media player, or transfer files to the local hard drive (I used a flash drive) and play them in a variety of ways. The PS3 even puts up 1 of 3 different screen savers while playing. In addition you can play MP4 (& now DIVX) video files and picture slideshows.

2. PS3 Store - Using my home wireless network, I am able to access the Sony Playstation Store. On the store, I can purchase and download games and game demos, AND recently purchase/download full length TV episodes and movies. Unlike my DVR with movie download functionality, I can start playing the video after only 1% is downloaded. Like that other DVR, the video is only good for 24hrs after I started watching it.

Negatives:
My biggest complaint is the games. This 40gb model does not play ANY of the PS2 games (like the now equally priced 80gb does). Of the games that are out there, only about 10 are kid oriented. My 6yo isn't really interested in playing sports games, and FPS are out of the question. Looks like a Wii is in our future.

Secondly, while I love the BlueTooth remote, it puts a crimp in using something like the Logitech Harmony remote.

Buyer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

- Candidate for storage upgrade but better options are available
Necessary disclosure: I do not own this model but do I own the 60GB model, recently upgraded to 320MB. I am also very familiar with the latest 80GB model (which is basically this one with a larger disk) because one of my neighbors has one and I am the neighborhood's unofficial and unpaid 'computer' consultant :). I also did some research in anticipation of us purchasing a second unit because I promised the kids 'their own' if their grades were going to meet a certain standard.

As compared to the 60GB model (see this model's pluses and minuses and what all PS3s have in common):
______________________________________________
+ Less expensive (I paid [....] for my 60GB PS3)
+ Amazon Blu-ray movies promotion (buy 4 movies from list and get [...] off through end of 2008)
= Wireless Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet network connections
= Blue-tooth for controllers, keyboards, earpieces, etc.
= Controllers charged via USB wires
= Free, unlimited access to the PSN network, including online play
= Full PSOne compatibility
= Blu-ray/DVD/CD player
= HDMI, component video (component wire included)
= Surround sound
= Internet browser
= Allows for installation of third-party operating systems such as Linux
= Disk is easily upgradeable without voiding warranty
= Quiet operation
- 50% less storage
- No memory card interfaces
- 2 USB ports vs. 4 USB ports on the 60GB
- No PS2 compatibility
- No chrome trim
______________________________________________

STORAGE and STORAGE UPGRADE:
----------------------------
This model comes with an 40GB drive. As crazy as this may sound, this is a pretty good buy IF you are planning to upgrade your storage. On the other hand, DO NOT buy this model if you do not consider upgrading the disk because 40GB won't take you very far. To give you an idea of the amount of storage you may need on your PS3, I recently checked the status of my 320GB disk and I found that I had 198GB free. That means that, less than one year after urchasing my (then) 60GB box I was using 122GB already. The space is taken by family pictures, a little music, lots of demos, many 'disk' games that to dump gigabytes of data to the disk to improve performance, many videos the kids are making with the 'Eye' camera, game saves. I suspect that 'Home', when it becomes available, may require a few more GB's for its own use so 320GB may be what you need if you don't want to constantly worry about managing your disk.

An extra [...] would buy you a 320GB drive. I used the Western Digital WD3200BEVT 320 GB Scorpio Sata 5400 Rpm 8MB 2.5 inch myself. 1TB drives are available these days for a few $$ more and you should try to get one of those if you are planning to store lots of videos. The nice thing about upgrading your disk is that you are also going to be left with a perfectly good 40GB drive which you can place into a cheap enclosure, and the StarTech AT2510U2 InfoSafe 2.5-Inch USB/SATA Hard Drive Enclosure worked for me. I'd be using the 40GB drive as a backup device for family photos. Digital, of course.

Upgrading the disk is (relatively) easy and you can find a lot of advice if you Google for it. Try first Googling "PlayStation 3 Hard Drive Upgrade (HOWTO)" for a nice video so you'll decide if you are comfortable. If upgrading is the first thing you do, everything becomes very easy because you need not worry about backups or restores. I upgraded my box in a couple of hours WITH the backup/restore steps.

MEMORY CARD INTERFACES:
-----------------------
The lack of memory card interfaces is annoying but you can get around it. Copy your stuff to a USB drive or flash drive and... problem solved. You can then upload your things through the USB. It's somewhat inconvenient but it's no big deal.

USB PORTS:
----------
My old 60GB model has 4 USB ports and I am using all of them. One for the PS3 Eye (camera), a second has a wireless keyboard dongle, the third is where the racing wheel plugs in and the last one I use to charge controllers. Of course, you can and you WILL be able to live with 2 slots but it is likely that you will be doing some plugging/unplugging if you begin adding peripherals. One way around it is to get a USB port multiplexer. Another solution is seek Blue-tooth peripherals (wireless) if you can find them. Blue-tooth keyboards, for example, are available.

PS2 COMPATIBILITY:
------------------
This model does not support PS2 software. Since the original PS2-compatible PS3's are hard to get, this has to be accepted as reality. I assume that Sony, after polling existing and future PS3 users, found that most users don't need PS2 compatibility. Soon after we upgraded to a PS3 my kids were playing Kingdom Hearts and Destroy All Humans but I haven't seen them doing so in quite a while. It is nice to have PS2 compatibility but its lacking would not stop me from buying a PS3.

PSOne GAMES:
------------
The PS3 has full PSOne compatilibity. Lots of them are available for download at the PSN store. They are quite inexpensive and some of them are still fun to play.

SUMMARY:
--------
- Buy this model if you consider upgrading to larger storage and, for whatever reason, you do not want the 40GB MSG4 bundle that comes with a DualShock controller.
- If you feel that you can live with 160GB AND then wait for a few more weeks for the 160GB bundle and you won't have to upgrade your storage.
- Get yourself a USB port multiplexer if you need more than 2 ports.
- Transfer your photos to flash drives to get around the missing memory card interfaces.
- Keep your PS2 if you have one and still wish to play PS2 games in the future.

Buyer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

- Go with the 80GB
This is a good product but the 80Gb Metal Gear Solid 4 Package is the
way to go if you want to play your old PS2 games and have lots of room
for storage

Buyer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

- * The best blu-ray player and oh yeah it plays games too ...
The concensus is that this is the way to go when you decide to upgrade to blu-ray DVD's. Many people don't even bother playing games with it.

Buyer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

- PS3
This system is a great system and I am a huge movie buff so watching them in blueray is ten times better. Blueray players themselves are [...] so might as well buy a Playstation 3.

Simon Schama's Power of Art

$34.49

Watching Simon Schama's Power of Art is like taking an Ivy League course in art appreciation, with the folksy but knowledgeable Schama as guide and interpreter. A collection of hour-long films on eight seminal artists and their groundbreaking works, which originally aired on British television, this boxed set is as entertaining as it is enlightening, with Schama doing for Western art what, say, Steve Irwin did for Australian natural history. Eight artists are featured--Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko--and each portrait of the artist weaves biography and historical context to help explain the true power of his works.

The segment on Van Gogh is, as expected, emotional, yet Schama convincingly portrays Van Gogh as not consumed by madness, but fighting off the episodes with painting. Van Gogh painted one of his most evocative works, Wheat Field With Crows, which even his brother, Theo, recognized was about to put his brother on the artistic map. Yet, as Schama points out, within weeks, Van Gogh had killed himself. "Now why would he want to do that?" Schama muses--and then proceeds to narrate the tormented tale of the answer. Along the way, the viewer gains new appreciation for Van Gogh's signature works, including his famous sunflowers. "Technically, these are still lives," Schama says, "but there's nothing still about them... the sunflowers [seem to be] organisms landing violently from a burning sun." If the reenactments of the artists' lives are a bit overdone, it's forgivable, since the cumulative effect, in an hour, is a new appreciation of the work and the man.

Extras include frank and very funny commentaries by Schama and his co-producer, and lots of behind-the-scenes dish on how certain scenes were achieved. The teeming French opera scene in the "David" episode, for instance, was cast using just 20 French extras and then the rest created by CGI--"the scene works better, really, than [the film] King Kong," Schama says with delight. --A.T. Hurley

Power Yoga - Total Body Workout

$8.99

Power yoga "demands your attention," says instructor Rodney Yee. He leads a challenging, constantly progressing series of poses, one flowing into the next, integrating breath, movement, tension, and relaxation. The poses include Sun Salutation, standing poses, forward bends, back bends, twists, and arm balances. The first poses are fairly easy, and with each repetition of the series, Yee adds on more difficult movements, extending the series without pausing. You're encouraged to do as much of the series that fits your level, up to the entire 65-minute workout if you're an experienced yoga practitioner. Although you can begin at any level, some familiarity with yoga is recommended. The Hawaiian setting is gorgeous and inspiring. This is an excellent yoga workout that you can grow with, adding on more as you get stronger. --Joan Price

The Incredibles (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

$14.99

After creating the last great traditionally animated film of the 20th century, The Iron Giant, filmmaker Brad Bird joined top-drawer studio Pixar to create this exciting, completely entertaining computer-animated film. Bird gives us a family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash. When a stranger named Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) secretly recruits Bob for a potential mission, the old glory days spin in his head, even if his body is a bit too plump for his old super suit.

Bird has his cake and eats it, too. He and the Pixar wizards send up superhero and James Bond movies while delivering a thrilling, supercool action movie that rivals Spider-Man 2 for 2004's best onscreen thrills. While it's just as funny as the previous Pixar films, The Incredibles has a far wider-ranging emotional palette (it's Pixar's first PG film). Bird takes several jabs, including some juicy commentary on domestic life ("It's not graduation, he's moving from the fourth to fifth grade!").

The animated Parrs look and act a bit like the actors portraying them, Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter. Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee also have a grand old time as, respectively, superhero Frozone and bad guy Syndrome. Nearly stealing the show is Bird himself, voicing the eccentric designer of superhero outfits ("No capes!"), Edna Mode.

Nominated for four Oscars, The Incredibles won for Best Animated Film and, in an unprecedented win for non-live-action films, Sound Editing.

The Presentation
This two-disc set is (shall we say it?), incredible. The digital-to-digital transfer pops off the screen and the 5.1 Dolby sound will knock the socks off most systems. But like any superhero, it has an Achilles heel. This marks the first Pixar release that doesn't include both the widescreen and full-screen versions in the same DVD set, which was a great bargaining chip for those cinephiles who still want a full-frame presentation for other family members. With a 2.39:1 widescreen ratio (that's big black bars, folks, à la Dr. Zhivago), a few more viewers may decide to go with the full-frame presentation. Fortunately, Pixar reformats their full-frame presentation so the action remains in frame.

The Extras
The most-repeated segments will be the two animated shorts. Newly created for this DVD is the hilarious "Jack-Jack Attack," filling the gap in the film during which the Parr baby is left with the talkative babysitter, Kari. "Boundin'," which played in front of the film theatrically, was created by Pixar character designer Bud Luckey. This easygoing take on a dancing sheep gets better with multiple viewings (be sure to watch the featurette on the short).

Brad Bird still sounds like a bit of an outsider in his commentary track, recorded before the movie opened. Pixar captain John Lasseter brought him in to shake things up, to make sure the wildly successful studio would not get complacent. And while Bird is certainly likable, he does not exude Lasseter's teddy-bear persona. As one animator states, "He's like strong coffee; I happen to like strong coffee." Besides a resilient stance to be the best, Bird threw in an amazing number of challenges, most of which go unnoticed unless you delve into the 70 minutes of making-of features plus two commentary tracks (Bird with producer John Walker, the other from a dozen animators). We hear about the numerous sets, why you go to "the Spaniards" if you're dealing with animation physics, costume problems (there's a reason why previous Pixar films dealt with single- or uncostumed characters), and horror stories about all that animated hair. Bird's commentary throws out too many names of the animators even after he warns himself not to do so, but it's a lively enough time. The animator commentary is of greatest interest to those interested in the occupation.

There is a 30-minute segment on deleted scenes with temporary vocals and crude drawings, including a new opening (thankfully dropped). The "secret files" contain a "lost" animated short from the superheroes' glory days. This fake cartoon (Frozone and Mr. Incredible are teamed with a pink bunny) wears thin, but play it with the commentary track by the two superheroes and it's another sharp comedy sketch. There are also NSA "files" on the other superheroes alluded to in the film with dossiers and curiously fun sound bits. "Vowellet" is the only footage about the well-known cast (there aren't even any obligatory shots of the cast recording their lines). Author/cast member Sarah Vowell (NPR's This American Life) talks about her first foray into movie voice-overs--daughter Violet--and the unlikelihood of her being a superhero. The feature is unlike anything we've seen on a Disney or Pixar DVD extra, but who else would consider Abe Lincoln an action figure? --Doug Thomas

More Incredibles at Amazon.com

The Incredibles Toy Store	CD Soundtrack	The Art of The Incredibles Book
Game Boy Advance	On VHS	The Essential Guide Book

The Pixar Feature Films

Toy Story, 1995
A Bug's Life, 1998
Toy Story 2, 1999

Monsters, Inc., 2001
Finding Nemo, 2003
The Incredibles, 2004

More Animation DVDs

Favorite Animated Performances	Previous Animated Oscar Nominees	If You Like The Incredibles...
Our Disney DVD Store	Looney Tunes Golden Collection	Walt Disney Treasures

More Superheroes on DVD

Batman
Blade
The Hulk

Justice League
Robocop
Space Ghost

Spider-Man
Superman
Teen Titans

Wonder Woman
X-Men
Also see our Comics & Graphic Novels Store

Also from Filmmaker Brad Bird

The Iron Giant (Writer/Director)	"Family Dog" on Amazing Stories (Writer/Director)	Batteries Not Included (Cowriter)
The Simpsons (Director/Consultant)	King of the Hill (Consultant)	The Critic (Consultant)

Excavating Occaneechi Town: Archaeology of an Eighteenth-Century Indian Village in North Carolina (CD-ROM)

by R. P. Stephen Jr. Davis, H. Trawick Ward

$49.95

Average customer rating: ISBN: 0807865036

Builders' machinery and equipment,: Dealing with lifting equipment, steel scaffolding, small tools, concrete mixers, excavating machinery, and temporary timbering, (Building practice series)

by Edward Molloy

Average customer rating: ISBN: B0007EPGCG

Diagnostic devices as maintenance management tools (SAE)

by John E Mahoney

Average customer rating: ISBN: B000737FDK

Cost Guide for Remediation Equipment at Ust Sites

$155.00

Remote Site & Equipment Management

$54.00

We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes

$11.98

On their debut album, 1999's Something About Airplanes, Death Cab for Cutie proved there's a reason why Northwest music critics continue to sing their praises. The foursome combined the emo sounds of Modest Mouse and 764-Hero with an inventive, and often sly, sentimentality. It worked wonders, but still sounded a little too lo-fi. Luckily, on We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes the group has figured out all the production nuances that flawed that auspicious debut. The opening "Title Track" begins by sounding both crappy and shallow, but the band is merely pulling your leg; two minutes later, the tune expands into a gorgeous, well-produced masterpiece. The album never looks back. Ben Gibbard's songwriting continues to evolve--"Company Calls" segues into, what else, the slower "Company Calls Epilogue"--while the simple lyrics of "For What Reason" and "405" tell infectious stories that demand repeated listenings. Proof positive the Northwest is still churning out great music. --Jason Verlinde

The Facts of Life

$16.98

The first Black Box Recorder album, 1998's England Made Me, was originally conceived by Auteurs and Baader Meinhof frontman Luke Haines as a typically baleful response to the cultural and political hysteria--respectively, Britpop and Tony Blair--then gripping Britain. Recorded with the help of former Jesus & Mary Chain drummer John Moore and singer Sarah Nixey, it did for Britpop roughly what the film Carrie did for the senior prom. The Facts of Life, the follow-up, maintains the withering glare but fixes it this time on the personal. The songs here obsess with unnerving clarity and mordant wit on the banal, cruel details of human relationships and are narrated perfectly by Nixey. Where her perfectly English-accented whisper infused England Made Me with the air of a bored aristocrat finding contemptuous amusement in the misery of others, on The Facts of Life she has located an edge of taunting viciousness all the more diabolical for being so understated. The tunes, as ever, are sweet and insidious, perhaps best thought of as Saint Etienne turned feral. Highlights on an album full of them are "English Motorway" and "The Art of Driving"--BBR triumphantly reclaiming the American rock & roll prerogative of the road song for their damp, claustrophobic homeland. The Facts of Life is a masterpiece. --Andrew Mueller

The Facts of Life

$8.97

Video Games : PlayStation 3 40GB

Video Games : PlayStation 3 40GB

PlayStation 3 40GB

from: Sony

Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 60 months
Binding: Video Game
Product Brand: Sony
EAN: 0711719800606
Graphics Memory Size: 256 MB
Label: Sony
Product Manufacturer: Sony
Model: 98007
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: February 12, 2008
Ranking: 585
Studio: Sony

Item facts:
Internal 40GB HDD for storing your games, music, and photos
Built-in Blu-ray player
Cell Broadband Engine advanced microprocessor
SIXAXIS wireless controller

12 ways to cut cooling costs

12 ways to cut cooling costs

Fed creates new winners, losers

Beach Real Estate Caught in an Undertow

Losing cash to business taxes

Rebound Is Possible For Certain Metro Areas

Video Games : PlayStation 3 40GB

Video Games : PlayStation 3 40GB

PlayStation 3 40GB

from: Sony

Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years Amazon Minimum Age: 60 months Binding: Video Game Product Brand: Sony EAN: 0711719800606 Graphics Memory Size: 256 MB Label: Sony Product Manufacturer: Sony Model: 98007 Platform: PLAYSTATION 3 Publisher: Sony Release Date: February 12, 2008 Ranking: 585 Studio: Sony

Item facts:Internal 40GB HDD for storing your games, music, and photosBuilt-in Blu-ray playerCell Broadband Engine advanced microprocessorSIXAXIS wireless controller

12 ways to cut cooling costs

12 ways to cut cooling costs

Fed creates new winners, losers

Beach Real Estate Caught in an Undertow

Losing cash to business taxes

Rebound Is Possible For Certain Metro Areas

Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 60 months
Binding: Video Game
Product Brand: Sony
EAN: 0711719800606
Graphics Memory Size: 256 MB
Label: Sony
Product Manufacturer: Sony
Model: 98007
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: February 12, 2008
Ranking: 585
Studio: Sony

Item facts:
Internal 40GB HDD for storing your games, music, and photos
Built-in Blu-ray player
Cell Broadband Engine advanced microprocessor
SIXAXIS wireless controller