Has PS3 lived up to its ‘multimedia hub’ billing, and do the features make a difference to gamers?

With the launch of the European Video Delivery Service last November, Sony finally dropped another long-awaited piece of the PlayStation’s complex puzzle into place. The VDS has been available in North America since July 2008, but rolling out a 2,000 strong catalogue of downloadable movies and TV programmes to a territory as important as Europe was another significant step in Sony’s quest for multimedia dominance via that black box under your TV. With purchases and rentals also transferable to the PSP, the VDS offers a viable alternative to movie UMDs; the proprietary portable format may not have proved quite the success that Sony might have hoped, but a new way to distribute movie content is all part of the PlayStation’s evolution, which saw Sony call on a wealth of consumer electronics experience to establish its first games console as a household brand, and the PS2 double as most owners’ first DVD player.

Sony will use the PS3 to get 3D into your living room. You'll still need to buy a 3D TV, though.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Sony is just as much a content producer as it is electronics and gaming giant – Sony Music Entertainment is made up of various record labels and publishing entities, while Sony Pictures Entertainment subsidiaries include a number of film and television interests including Columbia Pictures, Sony Animation and even Simon Cowell’s companies. It’s no surprise that Sony always aimed to give consumers a truly integrated multimedia device (which just so happens to play games as well) but initially the decision to shoehorn an expensive Blu-ray drive, wireless network compatibility, hard drive and other bells and whistles into a games console as standard seemed to backfire, with some commentators criticising the PS3’s price and software line-up at launch. Although three years is a long time in any industry, the question remains – has Sony’s stubborn refusal to skimp on features paid off?

Blu-ray has been the PS3’s unique selling point since launch. As much as we here at Play would love to believe that the disc has made a huge difference to the quality of the console’s game offerings, the current trend for multi-platform development suggests that hasn’t really been the case up until now. Only the number of HD cut scenes included with Metal Gear Solid 4 and a handful of multi-disc Xbox 360 titles (including the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII) provide a compelling argument for Blu-ray being essential to HD gaming. No, the format is best at storing and playing back 1080p movies – and the fact that the PlayStation 3 also happens to be one of the best-value Blu-ray players on the market (as well as the most future-proof) certainly can’t have hurt console sales.

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