The PlayStation Store

At first glance is a bit on the sparce side. Not all the games that were expected are available to buy or demos to download. I've downloaded all the demos of games I haven't purchased as well as purchasing a couple of games after downloading the free demos.

The background download / download management added in version 1.6 of the PS3 Firmware works well and means you can carry on searching the net or gaming and a polite notice pops up to tell you you download is ready.

The store is full of the PS3 "This is Living" ads which are rather nice if a lot on the strange side.

Free downloadable demos:

Blast Factor

A shooter in the vein of Smash TV were you have to use both analouge sticks. The left copntroling the ships movement the right controlling the direction of fire. This shooter takes place inside infected cells and your aim is to destroy the virus with the cell. A nice blaster that allows upto 4 players. Which let to it being purchased (See bought games).  

Lemmings

Yes that old chestnut. A nicely updated version of Lemmings which seems to have been available on ervey machine that can play games since the Commadore Amiga. A nice demo but not yet purchased due to the many hours I wasted during my teenage years trying to save those damn stupid rodents. I'll wait for "Oh no more Lemmings" thanks.

Motorstorm

A very nice looking racing game that made me half wish I'd bought that instead of Formula 1 Championship. Looks great and sounds amazing. A lovely demo that means I probably try and buy the game when it's cheap. To be continued...

Super Rub 'a' Dub

A game that envolves you tilting the pad to guide a duck aound a a maze collecting ducklings then depositing them down a plughole. Not amazing but does show off the tilt function on the Six Axis.

Genji

 A Release game that I wasn't too bother about buying but from playing the demo it looks quite fun. But it does just feel like a HD version of Dynasty Warriors. Hack & slash by numbers.

Grand Turismo: HD Concept

 Wow now this is something very special. A game that was originally supposed to be released as "the first game that required you to spend real cash to improve something virtual." Thankfully that aspect has been dropped and we're give a very cut down version of Grand Turismo. A teaser to the main game it may be but puts Namco to shame charging us money for Tekken (See bought games) when we've bought it on so many other formats. But I digress. This game is the ultimate in simulation but due to this factor isn't the most pick up and play of all games. Yet the rewards are well worth it.

Bought games:

flOw £3.49 see previous review.

Blast Factor £3.49

After a lot of play on the demo it was decided that for less than £4 the full game was a worthy purchase, and it is. It's hard and intense but great fun guiding the ship around as you take out the virus. You can use the tilt on the pads to swish the bad cell to one side or use the shoulder buttons to repell the attackers. A nice game that will take me weeks to complete. I've currently only onto specimen 4 out of 7.

Tekken 5: Dark Resurection £6.99

Namco what are you playing at, eh? Now there are 3 versions of the excerlent Tekken 5 and I've bought all of them. I fell slightly mugged by it though. As all this game is is a stripped down version of Dark Resurrection on the PSP. Which looks and plays brilliantly. This game is lacking in any form of online play. You can't just upload / download Ghost like you did on the PSP. There's no Ranking leader boad, no Dojo, no practice. Just arcade, Ghost (Kumite mode), VS & Options.

Resistance: Fall of Man

Why would I bother I own the full game.

Formula 1 Championship

See above

Ridge Racer 7

Another PlayStation yet another bloody Ridge Racer game. I've never been a fan of these game and I'm in no rush to buy this one either. Considering this wa the first game I played on a PS3 I was not impressed. Not had a good play on the demo yet but I'm not expecting too much. I'll stick with GT:HD Concept thanks.

Virtua Tennis 3

Again I've not had chance to play this demo yet but I'm not a huge tennis fan. I'll let you know when I've been arsed to have a go on it.

Until we got this PS3 I'd never played any games online eventhough I'd despartely wanted to.

Mainly to see how I compare to the rest of the globe. And surprisingly I'm not bad, I'm not amazing but I can hold my own. Pfft.

Restistance: Fall of Man

Wow, now this was the first experience of gaming online. It's amazing, the levels are great, the games flow really well and there are some players that are far too good. The game really opens up when you attach a mic and start to share insults & compliments with other gamers. And for playing Team games it's essential. Which has lead to me Joining a clan, Laark About! Basically a load of us with mics spent more time chatting than shooting, that's how cool it is. There are a few snags though, at times servers can be very busy or very quiet, you have to deal with trolls, some people cheat. But forget those, it works so well.

TBC...