The PS3: Things You Need to Know (Page 2 of 3)

The PSP will connect via Wi-Fi to the PS3's hard drive.

While using the PSP as a rear-view mirror in Gran Turismo would necessitate a mutation of controllable limbs, Sony has come up with something much more intriguing lately. You can access the PS3's system menus via the PSP, wirelessly, using a feature called "Remote Play." Big Kahuna Phil Harrison also says that the PSP will eventually be able to access the PS3's hard drive from any Wi-Fi spot in the world, rather than just on your local wireless network.

The Sixaxis gets roughly 30 hours of battery life...

...Though there doesn't seem to be a way to swap out the battery once it's been exhausted. Oh, well -- we officially entered the age of "disposable technology" with the iPod anyway.

There's no "lag" on the wireless Sixaxis controller, either.

Bluetooth technology has come a long way, apparently; to see an example of poorly implemented Bluetooth wireless controllers, just check out the wildly erratic performance of Apple's Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. But there's no need to worry about the Sixaxis -- in our experience, it stayed smooth, lag-free, and responsive in wireless mode.

The Sixaxis's wireless range tops out at over 65 feet (20 meters).

This should be plenty of room for players with big, huge living room setups (that's surely not us...curse tiny San Francisco!).

A new controller will set you back 50 beans.

Sony confirmed this bit of news in their Gamers Day '06 presentation. The price is roughly in line with the Xbox 360's wireless controller, though in the case of the PlayStation 3, there's only one version of the controller.

Your PlayStation 2 save game files can be transferred to the PS3

With a $14.99 adaptor, you'll be able to move over all your saves, something you can't do with the Xbox 360. Backwards compatibility in the PS3 is a hardware solution -- there's actually PS2 and PS1 silicon inside that shiny black machine. Because of this, neither the games nor their saves have to be altered to operate on the new system. (The 360 requires its developers to go back on a case-by-case basis to add support for each title.)

The Blu-ray disc drive is slot loading, and it works like a dream.

When nobody was around, we tried using the PS3 eject button to eject a demo disc (we're naughty like that). It shot right out, MacBook-style, and the game (Formula One) kept right on playing. No, we didn't keep the game, though it was printed on a BE-ROM disc.

One LED on the PS3 seems dedicated to tracking hard drive activity.

This isn't exactly a sexy revelation, but it does prove two things. One, that Sony has structured the entire system around having a standard hard drive. And another, that the PS3 is a notch closer to a personal computer than any video game console yet.

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