KEY POINTS:
Behold - a newly revised 40GB PlayStation 3 console will now be on sale - but don't trade in your PS2 just yet!
A cheaper PS3 before Christmas was always on the cards given the state of the game console market.
Sony's new 40GB model will be on sale later this week in NZ stores for $800.
That's a price that puts it in league with the Xbox360 Elite (selling at GPstore for the same) while the Xbox 360 complete set is there for $649.95. The Wii is still the cheapest at around $500.
And it comes at the critical time for the consoles with Christmas looming and everyone bringing out the creme of their new titles.
So what's missing from the new model? PlayStation 2 backward-compatibility will be gone and there will be just two USB ports, and you won't find media slots for Compact Flash, Memory Stick, or SD Cards.
Maybe none of that matters to the thousands of PlayStation fans who want to get their hands on the new console and the new exclusive games like Heavenly Sword and Ratchet and Clank.
But it's a shame that the mountain of games most gamers own and still love from their PS2 collection won't be playable on the console.
In the past, Sony has made this a point of difference saying it's a core value and necessary for the future.
Now the argument is that there are heaps of great new PS3 titles coming and anyway consumers tell Sony they don't want backward-compatibility.
That statement sounds somewhat dubious. I love putting in my God Of War and Everquest/Final Fantasy games and upscaling the image to hi-def and saving myself swapping dozens of memory cards (I have about 14 PS2) by storing them to the PS3 virtual memory cards on the internal hard drive.. hard to believe that ability has been removed for a mere $400.
Even at the reduced money - $800 - the only way some PS2 gamers will graduate to the next-gen will be to trade in their PS2 to a gaming shop to get a discount off the price - with the return of some PS2 titles.
PS3 online does offer some cool retro/arcade PlayStation games to download like Wipeout but until there is a huge range of titles to choose from and you can afford them (prices are dropping), it's hard for those gamers to think they'll never play games like their GTA favourites again.
Anyway good luck to Sony. They have sold 15,000 current PS3s in NZ so far and promise 65 PS3 titles in the stores by Christmas.
One of those just out is Atari's Colin McRae: DIRT (already on Xbox and PC) which has taken on new symbolism since the recent death of the rally legend.
It's a brilliant reworking of the popular series with the chance to do heaps of new high speed muddy offroad racing whether its a high-powered Celica, SUV or a Super Buggy.
The visuals are phenomenal and brilliant, frame rates are steady and car body damage - a key factor for us rally fanatics - is taken to a new level.
There are nine different vehicle systems, each with different handling. Cars respond well - cornering, drifting and braking are all fantastic and varied to models.
The replay and footage recording/playback features some impressive viewing abilities like 360degree camera rotation and zoom. The difficulty level is dramatically different - for each level, the AI scales the race accordingly ensuring you keep your skills and you get the rewards.
Somewhat annoying are the physics with collisions, around 20 per cent of them seem unfair and it may take time to regain your placing from a mere tire-rubbing. Annoyances aside, this game has more thrill than spill and online play is legendary!
In all, this is definitely a contender for the king-pin of the next-gen rally genre, a visually-superior game and all in all an exciting experience that is a fitting tribute to the late Colin McRae.
MadGamer's rating: 8 / 10
