Is the PS3 worth it?

[AB Asks]

Friday sees the long awaited, delayed and massively hyped European launch of the Playstation 3. At �400 it's going to be the most expensive console out there. The question is how well will it stand up alongside the X-box 360 and the Wii? And is �429 too much money for a console? Would you be willing to pay that much?

[Llamatron]

Yes it is too much.

But I'll be getting one anyway.

I have no life, no friends and no girlfriend so I've nothing else to spend my hard earned cash on.

[styley]

There was an argument made that it is worth the money on the basis that it contains a blue ray dvd player and apparently to buy one of these at the moment would cost over �800.

[vehelpfulguy]

Sony are actually making a loss on each ps3 they sell.

[RATTER15]

Apart from games not always being available for a PC, what is the advantage of a game consul over a top spec PC, you will have to forgive my ignorance, I don't play games, partly coz I cant really find games that interest me and when I do find a game I like, I'm limited to using a mouse or joystick, a problem with my right hand limits the speed with which i can reach keyboard functions.

I like the look of the off road driving game recently advertised on the tv along with PS3 advert, do you think this will also come out in PC format, I liked "off road arena" sad I know!!

[Llamatron]

If you want to play a game on a console you just have to switch it on and stick the disk in. Whether that's the day you bought it or the day you stick it in the attic and consign it to history.

PCs are a different kettle of fish entirely.
So you want to play a new game, does you're PC meet the specs? Oh it doesn't, well I guess you'll have to upgrade the memory/CPU/graphics card/everything.
It keeps crashing? Do you have the right video drivers installed? You should download the latest patch for the game that was probably released the day the game was.
What do you mean it still runs badly? You could try the publishers forums maybe someone there can help.

I love my PC, I much prefer mouse control for first person shooters, I love the fact that I can upgrade and all my old games get a new lick of paint, I love having my MP3s playing in the background and not at the whim of the game, that the newest PC games can and do look better than on the consoles; but I'm all too aware of it's shortcomings.