Would you buy a Playstation 3 for Bluray alone?

[The Master Chief]

A lot of people out there actually seem to be buying a Playstation 3 for the simple fact that it plays Bluray DVD's, and because the PS3 is cheaper than some regular Bluray players on the market.

While I personally don't care about Bluray yet, I would probably buy the Playstation 3 if I felt I was ready to move on up to it.

How do the rest of you feel about this, and have you considered buying a Playstation 3?

[nachoman]

I considered buying it for the gaming aspect... but if it were strictly to watch blu-ray movies then no, i probably wouldn't go this route. If I was really really serious about wanting a blu-ray player, a console gaming unit would not be my first choice. I'd rather have an actual stand alone unit for ease of use (I just have yet to find any gaming consoles as video players being as 'user friendly' as I'd like them to be)... but then again, maybe it's just because i'm too cheap to buy a more 'standard' remote control.

[Bruce Lee]

I recently bought a Playstation 3, and the Bluray inclusion definitely helped factor into my decision to purchase one.

Since I am a gamer however, I bought it more-so for the upcoming games which will be released in the near future.

Currently I own about 8 films on Blu-ray, and I really like the quality it has.

While the games released for the PS3 so far leave much to be desired, there's enough interesting releases in the pipeline to get me excited.

[purplefdu]

I wouldn't purchase it for the Blu-ray alone, as there are plenty of nice models by Sony which were on sale after the holidays that would have been quite reasonable in cost. In a year or so I will probably buy one as the game library will hopefully have caught up with some titles that interest me enough to make it worth the cost.

[CopyCat]

Well I'm not real big into gaming or Bluray,
but being that I do have a HD TV, and I do kinda
like the getting the two for one thing... I guess it
would depend on just how well the Bluray controls
worked on the Playstation 3...

Please don't scratch my eyes out evil, fluffy cat...
I'll be good...

[Stubblecat]

I bought a PS3. I was getting a big-ass TV anyway, so I decided that I should give Blu-Ray a test drive.

Here's why I went the PS3 route:

- If BD doesn't take off, I can still play games on my PS3
- If the PS3 loses ground as a gaming machine, I can still watch BD discs on it.
- It's currently the most affordable Blu-Ray player on the market.
- It's easily upgradable. If there's a firmware upgrade, you just download the file to a USB drive and stick it in your PS3.
- It's already proven itself, as millions of gamers have put every aspect of its technology through the paces.

[aperio]

Do you by chance also have an xbox360?
Reason I ask is this... I'm an xbox gamer through and through... however lately I have actually been tempted to get a PS3 for the gaming as well as the blu-ray aspect ... but... if the gaming / graphics isn't noticably better than xbox360 (and I do mean $400 worth of notably) then i'd rather wait until they go cheaper or come out with the next generation.

Any opinions on this?

[Stubblecat]

I have an original Xbox, and when the whole 'new system' thing started out I figured that if I were to upgrade that I'd probably get a 360 so I could still enjoy most of my older games.

I eventually held off. I still have my old machine and if I desperate want to play those games I still can.

The PS3's graphics are somewhat better than the 360's, but not so much that switching platforms would make a huge difference to you.

The biggest seller is the support that Sony has for its own products.

I love my old Xbox, but look at the facts: Microsoft only ever released one version, never bothering to remodel it or slim it down from the 22 lb monstrosity that it was.
It couldn't play CD-Rs and the DVD playback was (to be generous) flawed at best.

And as soon as the 360 came out, production stopped immediately on the old system's games. A limited backwards compatibility was the best you got.

Sony continues to make PS2 systems and new games, and they took the original unit and shrunk it down to a tiny slim system.

The PS3 has backwards compatibility, dependnig on which model you buy. The most common model is the 40 GB version, which cannot play PS2 games. Although in a rather odd move, it can play PS One games (!).
The more expensive 80 GB version can play PS2 games, the same as the 20 GB and 60 GB versions, which aren't manufactured at this time.

So my advice is that if you're thinking switching over and gaming is a big draw, then perhaps wait a spell until Sony remodels and/or does a price drop. Price drops usually happen around Christmas.

[aperio]

Yeah that's pretty much where I left off at - deciding to wait to see what happened closer to the holidays... i can't quite bring myself to spending that much on a game system (though every once in a while i have one of those dangerous 'impulse moments' while shopping at walmart), and i'm still not crazy about the whole blu-ray scene (intrigued, but resistant). Chances are by the time I'm ready something new and more expensive will be out :P

[Obiwan176]

I purchased the PS3 for both factors but the BD aspect was the biggest factor. The movies load in 2 seconds. It is the cheapest on the market. And it is the only sytem that is 100% upgradeable. Not only that but it has Wifi built in so you do not need and cables to get the firmware upgrades. Even if you don't play games this makes sense just for the movies alone. It also does a lot more than those 2 things. It will link up with Windows Media Player wirelessly and you can watch any videos, music, or pictures that are stored on your home PC.