What accessories needed for PlayStation 3 ?

[MusicalADD]

Looking for some advice from anyone who has a PlayStation 3:

Basically I got my family a PS 3 for Christmas, and it occurs to me that there are probably some accessories that we might need which I have not yet obtained. I'd hate to be setting the thing up, late Christmas Eve, only to find the thing is sort of crippled because I didn't ALSO buy add-on __________ .

SO, what add-ons might I need?

I got 3 things:
PS 3, 80 GB.
An HDMI cable to hook up to our 42" tv.
A Sony remote control for use in watching DVDs.

I expect it won't be a big deal to connect to our wireless router, so I didn't get any cable for internet access.

What else is there?
Is there some after-market controller that's better than the one included with the PS 3 ?
Is there some kind of charging station I should get for controllers?

I've picked up a couple of Blu-Ray movies, and I put "Little Big Planet" on my wish list, so I guess we'll get some use out of the thing soon enough.

If anyone knows of any other accessories I should buy, I'm all ears! Thanks.

[djm]

Extra thumbs?

djm

[TheSpoonMan]

a whistle.

you know at some point you'll wish you had one

[MusicalADD]

a whistle.

you know at some point you'll wish you had one

Sony makes those now?!

Actually, I was just watching a video demo of Playstation "Home" and it looks pretty cool, I guess... virtual world, kind of like The Sims or Second Life. Nice enough, if you're into that sort of thing.

Then they showed that you if you have a headset, you can communicate with your fellow Home players verbally, you don't have to type messages. Apparently, whatever you speak into your headset, they'll hear.

And I thought: Hmm, if you all have headsets, and headsets are kind of like microphones, could you host a trad session on Home? I mean, instead of all of you talking on your headsets, could you all play music and use your headset kind of like a mic? It almost seems possible, but probably wouldn't quite work. The audio would probably have a little lag time, probably enough to make it impossible to play in sync.

Interesting thought, though, using Sony's latest online virtual world, to... have a trad session. Hey, it beats driving on icy roads in the winter.

[mukade]

I have had a PS3 for about six months now.
I was never a console player, but the PS3 is a nice piece of kit.

I recommend getting an extra controller.
The official Sony controller is still the best, but the one bundled with the console is a little light.
The Sony Dualshock 3 with the rumble feature is a heavier and feels just right.
A recharging stand for the controllers is also a nice addition.

I found the 40gb hard disk soon filled up with downloads and updates.
Luckily, upgrading the hard drive is something Sony made very easy, and it doesn't invalidate your warranty.
I installed a 250gb drive and I have more than enough space now. 160GB would be fine.
The PS3 uses a 2.5 inch sata hard drive. You can pick up a 160gb model for around US $50 at Newegg.com

Little Big Planet will explode your brain

Mukade

[emmline]

Little Big Planet will explode your brain

Ok, so that's what happened to the kid.
Every time a college-age sister comes home he tries to corral her into Little Big Planet.
"you'll love it," he says.

I was sufficiently amazed by seeing Marco Polo (or whoever it was) drift by on the screen
that I felt no need to explore any further.

As for accessories one should buy, perhaps a treadmill.

[MusicalADD]

Hah -- treadmill, check, got one! And it's positioned in front of the same tv as the game system will be. Although it might be hazardous to have one's brain explode while on a treadmill.

Thanks for all the tips, mukade. Sounds like I have some more shopping to do. Though, as a longtime computer geek, I still find it astonishing how a 40 GIG drive becomes insufficient for a game system. I remember back in the day, when I got a new PC at work, and it had a nice speacious 30 MEG drive....

[Azalin]

I've had a PS3 for a year now and I guess I'm the type of person who plays mostly one game at a time. I've got a 40GB hard drive and I don't have any shortage on space, but I guess it depends on what you do with your system, how much music/videos you want to put on it etc.

I usually watch TV shows I've downloaded on my PS3, they're in HD and about 1.2GB per show, but I delete them everytime I see them, and I watch them from a Flash drive anyway. The PS3 can play any .AVI or .MPG file.

I agree a second controller would be best. I actually have 4 controllers so that a bunch of my friends and I can play at the same time. There are games like NHL Hockey and wrestling where you can play up to 8 players at the same time. That's cool for parties

The thing I like with the PS3 versus the XBox 360 is that the PS3 comes with pretty much everything. The Xbox doesn't have wireless, doesnt have Blu-ray and doesn't have bluetooth. You need to buy extra peripherals for this. Also, the XBox has the famous RRoD (Red Ring of Death) issue which is an architerctural problem where it's only a matter of time until your Xbox breaks, because the system is overheating and curving the motherboard up to a point where there will be too much pressure on the microchips on the board.

You might find a USB keyboard useful with the PS3, in cases where you need to input lot of text. For online games, a bluetooth heaset is fun too.

Allright, yeah, I'm a no-life

[TheSpoonMan]

a whistle.

you know at some point you'll wish you had one

Sony makes those now?!

No, they considered it but they know they can't beat the third party dealers

And I thought: Hmm, if you all have headsets, and headsets are kind of like microphones, could you host a trad session on Home? I mean, instead of all of you talking on your headsets, could you all play music and use your headset kind of like a mic? It almost seems possible, but probably wouldn't quite work. The audio would probably have a little lag time, probably enough to make it impossible to play in sync.

Interesting thought, though, using Sony's latest online virtual world, to... have a trad session. Hey, it beats driving on icy roads in the winter.

That's a cool idea. I haven't used Sony's stuff specifically, and I'm not a tech guy (even though I get my paycheck by pretending I am) but from my experience with Xbox and with setting up video-conferences at work, you should expect some significant lag, maybe even pitch issues, etc.