I finally entered the new so-called next generation of gaming by purchasing a PS3 from Circuit City online.  I use their “pick it up” option for major purchases, and Circuit City was running a deal where you get a free Sony Wireless Six Axis controller.  I also ordered a Sony Memory Card Adaptor; figured I would need it to transfer my PS2 saves.  Final tally was $658.03 including tax.

Circuit City had a crap collection of PS3 games; nothing I wanted.  I also could not quickly locate the Blu-Ray movies, so I quickly took my goodies and left the store.  The Circuit City mall complex also features a Toys R Us, an EBGames, and a GameStop.  I figured I would try Toys R Us first, because I hate getting repackaged games from EB and GS.  I left Toys R Us almost $200 poorer with Resistance, Elder Scrolls, and Formula One.

After getting the system home, I disconnected the PS2 and started unpacking the PS3.  My first impressions of the system are great packaging job by Sony, and the system itself is solid as a brick; a super sexy brick.  You may laugh at the packaging comment, but that sort of thing matters to me when I am sending several hundred bucks.  Reassuring?  Maybe.  Thankfully my HDMI cable arrived today from monoprice.com; no idea why Sony ships this system with an old fashion composite cable (cost savings no doubt).

System setup was quick and painless.  There were a few options to setup a user profile, date/time, and screen resolution – the PS3 automatically switched me to 1080i.  Next up was the network setup.  The PS3 easily located my home network, and after entering the connection info (network password), I was connected to the internet.  I was then told that I needed to update my firmware.

This particular system came with 1.51 firmware.  The system told me that 1.80 was available, and I started the update at 8:08PM.  The download was completed at 8:21PM.  Next up was accepting the end user agreement.  Applying the update took 5 minutes.  By 8:28PM, the PS3 was rebooting, ready for me to play some games.

I threw in Formula One Championship Edition, and my oldest son remarked at how nice the graphics looked.  My wife was obviously not that impressed; she said she can “make milk.”

At this point I am not going to comment on the games; that can come later with some more play time.  As it stands now, I have a lot in front of me.  How long does it take to charge the controller?  Does the controller charge while the PS3 is off?  How do I upscale my DVDs?  What sort of adaptor do I have to buy to use PS2 accessories (assuming I need them)?  What sort of DVD/Blu-Ray remote should I purchase?  How do I connect my PSP and what are the advantages of connecting the systems?  How do I transfer other media to the PS3 (i.e. iTunes music library)?  And so on and so forth.

I think I am going to need a drink.