One more little annoyance. I just discovered that the controller doesn't charge unless the console is ON. I assumed as long as the power switch in the back was in the ON position, it would charge even if the console was powered down. I guess not. I'll have to leave it plugged into my ultralight laptop so I don't leave a 200W appliance running all day to charge a tiny NiMH battery. That seems like a huge waste of resource for such a tiny charging duty. I wonder if this is something they could do in firmware -- i.e. allow a micro current to flow to USB ports when off...

Yeah, I do have to agree that's annoying.(I mean, if you have it in standby, wth would you not allow it to charge?) A couple of things I do to get around it are: 1)If you have more than one controller, charge one and play with the other. Simple, yet effective. (especially for me since I have four controllers. :P ) 2)Plug the controller into your computer's USB port while you're online. This can be rather annoying, but it's waaay better than burning 200+ watts to charge a stupid controller. And yes, as far as I know, it should be possible to update the firmware to address this problem. You could suggest it at the official playstation blog if you want. I can't imagine it would be too difficult to code...

btw, great review. You match my views almost perfectly. (which I suppose is kind of weird since I don't own a 360, but hey...) Just out of curiosity, do you like the PS3's XMB interface or the 360's Dashboard GUI better? Just wondering because I have limited experience with the Dashboard and it seemed rather clunky to me.

Great post!

Honestly, I liked the "old" 360 dashboard a lot better than the current one.  The current one has way too much going and it is confusing (to me) to navigate.  I cursed it daily until I found where everything was after the last major update.

XMB is clean, simple, and it is easy to find everything.  The only thing that needs some improvement perhaps is the gaming section where it just puts everything into a folder, click the folder, then scroll up/down through the myriad games.  I'd prefer if they separated demos, PSN games, and retail into three separate categories.  I'm a demo fiend.  I may have a dozen or more installed at any one time and that clutters up the XMB.  Other than that minor annoyance, XMB is great.

So, to answer your question, I currently prefer the simpler and cleaner layout of the XMB over the current 360 Dashboard.  There are others that like all the colors, pictures, flash, and gizmos that make up the Dashboard, and to each his/her own.  I just like it simple and easy without a bunch of pictures, colors, sounds, and such.  I know there are themes and such for the XMB but I'm not interested.  Black and white with the little wave thingy is perfect.  'nuff said.

good post, well said

Fantastic review! You covered all the major points and did so honestly and in detail. Well said.

Quick question: what, exactly, is screen tearing? I've seen it mentioned in game reviews and in your post, but when I looked it up on Wiki or Google, I didn't really understand what they were going on about.

I do wonder how many more demos the 360 gets, because it seems a lot of people mention that there is so much more to download there. Not including movies, how much more is there, really? PSN gets a ton of stuf every week and more games than I have time to play (I have yet to finish the Pixeljunk expansion, played much of echochrome, etc). I try to play all the demos, too, but that alone is rather time consuming.

Hey i like your insight on it, gives me an idea on starting up a "Help a fanboy" donation lol. Unless if there the stubborn types, Regardless you should buy some games off the PSN store, although you say "there ain't much" where you planning on buying everything? I recommend you Echochrome if you like puzzles and Everday Shooter if you like shooters with nice music lol. Btw try pressing the "square" button on the games section, categorizes, puts games/demos folder or leaves everything out.

you can charge your controller with a PC USB port or what i do is use my cable box since when its off i can still charge my controller with the 1 USB port it has

Great read. Glad to see you on the PS3 and liking it. The only thing I take any issue with is you not liking the FW updates. The PS3 on release was a shell of its current self. Seriously lacking in alot of areas.

But I do agree with the installations. I have a 60 gig unit, and almost 20 gigs is used by game installs, another 10 gigs for Demos and downloaded games and Im at 50% HDD space. Just going to wait till I get my new computer running and then use its external SATA port to copy my 60 gig HDD, transfer it to a 200gig HDD and slap that bad boy in my PS3. :)