Unpacking the PlayStation 3 Continued..

The Sixaxis controller

When I first picked up PS3's Sixaxis controller at E3, it immediately felt very light, perhaps even too light. This is no doubt due to the removal of the rumble hardware. After having a few more opportunities to use the controller, and now using a final retail version, I still feel that it is almost unnecessarily light and could use some extra heft. I have no doubt that with more regular use I will simply become accustomed to it, and during long gameplay sessions I doubt it will be something of which I remain aware (I'll report back on that in actual game impressions), but I'm sure there are others who wouldn't mind seeing future revisions of the controller with some added weight.

At first glance, Sixaxis is nearly identical to its predecessor, the DualShock 2. It has a d-pad, two analog sticks, four face buttons, and four shoulder buttons. The biggest change to the button format is that the secondary shoulder buttons are actually analog triggers this time around. Oddly enough, these buttons are convex rather than concave, which isn't what one would expect for triggers. For that reason, it might be nice if they were moved up slightly closer to the shoulder buttons to give more leverage, but that's a minor concern and even after only a few minutes I'm accustomed to it.

The next major addition is the PlayStation button in the middle of the controller. This is similar to the Xbox 360's Guide button (and the Wii's Home button), in that it brings up a system menu. In this menu, you can see the current battery level of the controllers plugged into the system, as well as assign controllers to different player numers, turn off the controller, quit the current game, or turn off the PS3. Unlike on the Xbox 360, this menu does not seem to pause the game in progress, though that may be a developer-set option.

The last new visible feature is a series of four numbered LEDs that indicate which player that particular controller corresponds to. Since the PS3 supports up to eight controllers simultaneously (only up to seven of which can be wireless, due to a Bluetooth limitation), numbers beyond four are represented with unique combinations of multiple lights.

Unlike the wireless Xbox 360 controller, Sixaxis does not automatically shut off after long periods of disuse. This is less of a factor than it would be with the Xbox 360, due to Sixaxis' built-in rechargeable battery. It is worth noting, however, that that there does not appear to be any non-warranty-voiding way to replace the controller's battery. Sony has announced that in the event of a controller's battery permanently losing its charge, it will have some kind of replacement program available.

Finally, there is of course the tilt-sensing Sixaxis functionality itself. As far as I can tell, despite trying a variety of gesticulations and motions, there is absolutely no Sixaxis functionality in the PlayStation 3 dashboard. Obviously, its gameplay implementation differs from title to title.

The browser

I had no problems immediately jumping on to the internets with the PlayStation 3's internet browser. As with other functions on the system requiring text entry, the web browser had a cell phone-like text interface. It also has a predictive entry system that will automatically suggest suffixes such as .com or .net. Of course, the first thing I tried out on Sony's next-gen console brower was going to its two competitors' official web pages, Xbox.com and Nintendo.com. Not only did the interface suggest "Nintendo.com" once I had gotten several letters in, it also gave alternative suggestions such as Nintendo.ca, which resolves to Nintendo's Canadian division's site. Interestingly, it never gave me any suggestions as I typed in "Xbox," not even an automated ".com" option. Pure coincidence? Who knows! However, after you type any address in, it does become saved to the system's memory so that if you begin typing that word later, it will show up on the list of suggestions. Both pages displayed just fine, by the way. I even logged into My Xbox and checked my Xbox Live messages.

The browser itself treats the left analog stick as the "mouse" cursor and the right analog stick as a vertical and horizontal scroll wheel, which works fine given the inevitable limitations of controlling a web browser with a console controller. Clicking on a text form field brings up the predictive text entry interface. While viewing a page, pressing in on the left analog stick will zoom out, where you can swap through any multiple browsing windows you may have opened. You can have up to six windows open at a given moment. Pressing in on the right analog stick will expand the currently selected browsing window to fill the screen. Surprisingly, while in this full screen mode, graphics-rich pages caused a noticeable framerate drop while scrolling. It's not a big deal, but hopefully it can be addressed in a future update. It does not appear that file downloading is supported through the browser, though this is surely deliberate.

I'm happy to report that the Shack seems to work properly on the PlayStation 3, even our monstrous comment system.

The browser also contains standard browser features such as bookmarks, URL history, text size and encoding preferences, a JavaScript toggle, and the ability to delete cookies and cached data. A Flash plugin comes preinstalled, and Flash content works out of the box.

How it feels and sounds

After several hours of gameplay, dashboard use, and Blu-ray Disc playing, the ventilation area of the PlayStation 3 was of course quite warm to the touch. The other end of the machine, which is what sits on the floor if standing it vertically, was utterly cool. Thankfully, to my ears, the system was very quiet the entire time; putting your ear close will certainly reveal an operational hum, but it is not easily detectable from several feet away, and the optical disc drive does not seem to make much noise.

The end, for now

So there are the initial impressions of the PlayStation 3 hardware and main functionality. Hopefully, the PlayStation Network will go live soon so we can examine the buddy list and other online features, and get some time in the PlayStation Store to check out downloadable games. In the mean time, if you have any burning questions about the system's functions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to check them out.

Continue on to Unpacking the PlayStation 3 Part 2, where we check out online features and more.

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