Personal+Inspiration+Narrative

November 17, 2006 was a huge day in the world of video games and home entertainment. It was the launch of Sony’s Playstation 3 in North America. Only a rumoured 400,000 consoles were supposed to be shipped to North America for sale but even less units than that was actually shipped to stores ready for its release date. I, being the Playstation fan that I was since the launch of the Playstation 2 in 2000 was set on finding myself a unit on launch day. I set out and leave my house early in the morning before stores were open to see what the situation was like and tried to land myself a Playstation 3. I drove past a few of the local big box stores, Futureshop had a long lineup over 50 people deep, Bestbuy was the same, and Toys R Us had allocated all the units to pre-orders. I made my last stop at the Loblaws next door, low and behold I see several units of PS3 on the shelf, I take one of them, but it’s only a 20GB model. I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to keep the console because I initially had my mind set on a 60GB model. In the end, I decided to sell the 20GB unit that I got for a little profit and wait for a 60GB unit with the nice chrome trim and Wi-Fi compatibility. A month later, I finally land myself a 60GB PS3 from futureshop.ca. Ever since the launch date of the PS3, I had been religiously checking stores and websites for when they restock the system. After a months worth of searching, I finally find myself a 60GB PS3…YAAAAY! A couple days later, the console arrives at my doorstep, I gladly sign for the system and rush to un-box the unit. I open the box and the first things I see are the wireless Sixaxis controller and a standard A/V cable, I set them aside. Next comes the main course, the 60GB PS3 console! I slide the console out of the box, take off the foam and packaging surrounding it and I have in my hands a glossy piano black 60GB PS3 with a shiny chrome trim. I set the console on the shelf and continue with the un-boxing. I plug in the power supply and hookup the console to my TV and turn on the unit. On the television screen I see the PS3 logo and a bunch of wavy lines before entering the main menu that shares a very similar style with that of the Playstation Portable. After a several minutes going through the setup I finally get to start playing. I unwrap the packaging for the Resistance: Fall of Man game and insert the blu-ray disc. Now, over 3 years since I had the console, it is still very much part of my life. At first, I thought the PS3 will only be used for gaming but now I find I do a lot more than just gaming on the system. To me, it is an all-in one home entertainment system, I watch most movies on it because it upconverts the quality of a DVD and it is the only Bluray player I have in the house. Through the console, I enjoy crystal clear high-definition movies and of course, aside from the movies, I still game on the system quite a bit. Over the years, I have obtained a large haul of PS3 games in my collection but as of November 09, my favourite game is Modern Warfare 2, an action packed war-based first person shooter game. The multiplayer mode of this game has become a daily routine for me as I try to get in 1-2 hours of gameplay daily. Multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 has great replayability as it did in the first Modern Warfare game released 2 years ago, every match you add experience points and score to your account. When you reach level 70, there is an option to go into “prestige mode” and you will start from level 1 again so the game can go on and on, as you will need to unlock all the weapons and perks again. The Sony Playstation 3 console has greatly changed my everyday life, it adds something to do in my daily routine, it adds a hobby of collecting PS3 games and bluray movies to my life and it has become an all-in-one entertainment center for me to enjoy. Other than watching TV, I rely solely on the PS3 for all my movie watching as it has replaced the DVD player and in terms of gaming it has replaced my Playstation 2, so it combines those 2 old technologies into one and also adds support for Bluray movies and Playstation 3 games. It is truly an all-in-one entertainment system that I have adapted to over the span of three years.