Dan Murphy's Blog » PlayStation 3

Playon for PS3 Lessons Learned

Dan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:20:17 +0000

So I decided to buy a license for Playon as we pretty much have been using it everyday and my trail time ran out. With the latest updates they now allow 420p HD streaming for Hulu which makes a big difference and its nice to finally watch some of our shows in HD as it looks a ton better. Using it a lot I have come across a few lessons:

1) Disable the ‘Always Process Entire Video’ – this seems to cause some issues and may cause the application to freeze. This was the case when we were watching Jumanji and it kept freezing every 20 minutes or so. This was really annoying because it was a pain to have to scroll back to where the movie was when it lost its connection.

2) Set the video output to Max. This will ensure that you receive the highest definition picture.

3) If watching multiple movies/shows from playon be sure to run something like CCleaner through before running the next show. This will clear up a bunch of space that was taken up by the buffer while streaming from the computer to your PS3.

4) For smooth playback ensure you are not doing anything too intensive on the PC that is running Playon Desktop. It is fairly resource intensive on your computer while it is streaming.

5) When streaming Netflix start the movie and then pause it for at least 10 minutes and then let it play. This will keep you from running into jerkyness as you reach the end of the buffer.

6) Hardwire the PC with Playon Running as well as the PS3, this will ensure that you have the fastest connection speed

MediaMall is saying that they are planning a lot more upgrades for Playon including other applications to be included, I wonder if they are going to include Slingboxes new streaming website. Also I would like to see all the networks HD streams available as CBS is the only network available and that isn’t an HD stream. This is a huge step in the right direction for online TV and worth the $30

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Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe

Dan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:06:46 +0000

I was really excited to see a new version of Mortal Kombat come out for the PS3 as that is one of my all time favorite games to play. Great part about this game is no skill is required and everyone can play without it being too difficult. Combinations are greatly simplified in this version compared to that of the last version as there is no more idea of ‘fighting styles’ The DC comic characters are a nice addition to the game as they add in some new moves and some pretty entertaining animation. As expected the joker seems to have the best tricks and the best combinations.

One thing that was kind of new in this version was the story mode. I managed to play though this and as the reviews say about 3-4 hours later I was done. Basically you choose a side (MK or DC) and then you fight against everyone else. As the levels change you rotate through characters and get a very good feel for all of the characters actions. The only thing I didn’t like is there is no way to save your progress basically its an all or nothing shot. But that’s alright as I did not buy this for the storyline mode I bought it just for 2 player Kombat. I we saw with Laura’s parents this past weekend anyone can take the controller and beat the crap out of anyone else occasionally throwing a bomb or doing a special move which they have no idea how they did but loved it.

This is one that I am glad I bought and will get played a lot as it never really gets old. I am still trying to track down a site that lists the fatalities but because the game is still so new I haven’t had any luck finding anything yet.

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Heavenly Sword

Dan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:11:13 +0000

So this game came to me highly rated and the graphics looked like the would be fun. The storyline was definitely there and was entertaining. The characters were dynamic and easy to follow. The moves in the game were relatively easy to accomplish and it was fun.

The issue with this game is it wasn’t very hard. You could go in any room and just stand in the middle and mash the keypad and see people being thrown around. There really was not skill to this game but it was fun to play. At least for a short time.

This game was one I never completed because I sort of lost interest in the game after a while and just like LEGO Indiana Jones I wanted to trade up for the new games that just came out. Maybe thats the problem playing older games right before the holiday’s when the release all the new games.

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LEGO Indiana Jones

Dan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:01:07 +0000

This game was a lot of fun and very similar to Ratchet in Clank in the fact that you need to kill everything from enemies to the plants in the background to get points so that you can stay alive. The storyline was really fun and follows the movies very closely. Obviously there was some ad-lib to the story lines to make a game out of it but for the most part everything was there.

In this game you have the option to be one of two players, Indiana or whoever is with him at that time. Indiana’s abilities stay the same throughout the game while the second character changes. Sometimes they can jump higher or further or they can scream and break glass to get something like a key.

The game was entertaining but after about 5 days of playing it I kind of lost motivation to complete the game. This was also during my transition time to my new job and all my school work still going on. I played through the first movie but did not make it through the other two. This would be a great game to pass the time with but I was getting tired of it and wanted the next game in my queue so I traded up.

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Battlefield: Bad Company

Dan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:57:34 +0000

After watching the trailers of this game on PSN I decided I had to bump this up to the top of my game queue. The thing that made me laugh the most is in college I had an ex-marine friend from the mid west who sounded exactly like one of the ‘smart’ guys in this game!

The game was as expected pretty funny and a blast to play. Nothing like being able to run out in the middle of a street with a rocket launcher and just blow some stuff up. I like the radio communications person you worked with that would tell you your missions that they refer to as “Ms July”

Along with running around and shooting people you can drive tanks, buggies, armored cars, golf carts, and helicopters this made for a nice little change up and made getting from map to map a lot quicker as you didn’t have to run. Although I found myself pretty pinned down when I ran across a tank as they are almost impossible to get rid of.

Except for about 4 times where I really got stuck in the game the game moves very quickly. With each map there are things to collect ie. gold and weapons. You are only allowed to carry a primary and a secondary weapon so this forces you to choose which ones you want to carry. If you have the wrong gun you find out very quickly when you are moed down by the 50 cal automatic rifle shooting at you. Finding the gold was tricky because in each of the houses they have 3 floors and to go to all 3 floors takes a lot of time and is kinda boring. After trying to find gold in the first 2 maps and running into every house and going into the attack I was kind of turned off from looking anymore. So I didn’t pick up too much gold.

I thought the ending was a little abrupt and I wasn’t sure if the game was over or not till the next screen where it said The End. Storyline is light and quick allowing you maximum shooting time. A great game all around!

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Rock Band 2

Dan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:00:35 +0000

So for Laura’s birthday I bought her Rock Band 2. As expected it is awesome. It has 80 new songs with 20 free songs available for download upon registering. I registered but aparently they haven’t released the 20 free songs yet. For $4.99 I was able to transfer all the Rock Band 1 songs to the new game. A nice thing to notice was that all the songs I downloaded were already available to play on the new game. We were a little bumbed to see other than the new songs and a new interface change to the song lists (so now it looks like the store) the game is pretty much the same. But that isn’t a drawback, as we love the game and it is highly entertaining. I was glad to see that copying the songs to the new version was so easy and that there were a ton of new songs to download.

Lets say I have spent a lot of money adding songs and whatnot to this game along with buying a second guitar. I am glad to think that I am solely keeping the economy going!

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New 160GB HD in PS3

Dan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:51:16 +0000

So in preparation for getting the new Rock Band 2 I decided that I needed to upgrade my hard drive from the little 40GB’s it came with to something larger. I was a little worried about what would happen to my data but looking around the web I was assured everything would be fine. So I went to Microcenter and picked up a 160GB 2.5 SATA 5400RPM drive for about $69. Went home and made a backup copy of the current hard drive to a portable USB drive. Then after that took apart the PS3, which included all of popping off the side panel and removing one blue screw and then removing the screws from the cradle to put the drive in.

After that put it all back together and rebooted. As expected it wanted to reformat the new drive, which I did and then I went to the backup menu again and went to restore from backup. At that time it asks to format yet again but then installs everything back to the drive. After a reboot I was pleasantly greeted with everything I had previously. All my game saves, all my settings, all my downloads were there as expected. The whole thing took about 2 hours but that is because the backup took about an hour and about an hour to restore. The actual taking apart of the PS3 took me about 10 minutes.

I would suggest this upgrade if you want to do it as it is extremely easy and works as expected. Now I can download trailers and songs and new games and not worry about the space!

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PlayOn TV for PS3

Dan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:34:00 +0000

PlayOn TV is an application that you download for your PC and basically it allows your computer to stream from Hulu and Netflix watch it now. It then takes that video and passes it on to your PS3 so you can watch everything on your TV.

Verdict: IT WORKS!! REALLY WELL!! after watching new episodes of Family Guy and the Office, I was very impressed with the Hulu functionality. Then I decided to try and stream Netflix. I added some videos to my watch now queue and then looked it up through PlayOn. It works, no codec’s no error messages it just works! The only thing with the Netflix streaming I noticed is the buffer rate has not been perfected so you can catch up to your download while watching, this means that the video becomes a little jerky. that is something to expect from Beta version software. I found out when this happens just pause it for about 5 mins and then start again and it should be fine.

I actually think that this software would be worth buying because finally they bridged the gap between my computer and my TV. Although it is not hard to plug in my laptop to the VGA port on my TV this makes things a whole lot easier.

PlayOn by the MediaMall

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PlayOn Adds Hulu to PS3

Dan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Looks like its time has finally come. I have been waiting for an application like this for a while. This application which is a plugin for your PS3 which adds Hulu to your PS3 and there is talk that there might be a place for Netflix watch it now in the future. If I can get my PS3 streaming media that would be awesome and save me plugging in my laptop to our LCD screen and watching it that way. The program is free to download and use for 30 days then it comes at a price. A price that I would be willing to pay if it works the way it is supposed to ($30). Initial reviews are rolling in around the web and it looks like the only complaint is that the video quality isn’t the best and that you hope to have a high speed connection to stream the shows. My first question is who owns a PS3 without high speed Internet?

With all these new applications, and downloadable games, and videos that I am downloading looks like I might be buying that 120 GB hard drive to replace the 40 GB hard drive it came with pretty soon. Luckily Sony is smart and designed the PS3 for easy upgrades in hardware! Love it!

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Fallout 3 Trailer

Dan — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:52:35 +0000

I absolutely love this video! It goes to show you how far video game trailers/plots have come with the new generation of consoles!

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