I would have been in on this if it weren't for Excite destroying their email system. No more beta's for me 
-
-
Now available for pre-order at Play for only 29.99 including free wireless headset.
Nice!
Don't look at me, I'm irrelevant.Comment
-
Just pre-ordered that from Play.com before I read this thread. May cancel that order now. Is it really that broken? I seem to get conflicted messages here. Some say graphics are great and others that the FPS is rubbish. I didnt know there was a beta test out for this. Can anyone mention how big the levels are? They seem huge in the videos on youtube.Comment
-
Levels are pretty big IMO. Not 40player RFOM big but big.
Graphics are... fine. As good as BFBC maybe, maybe a bit better in places.
Beta is pretty broken however in that it takes an age to get into a game. Apparently a 1.6 update is imminent. I'll give that a go when it arrives.
I liked it a lot.Comment
-
Yeah. Good game, buggy but that's what a beta is for. Each Beta update has improved things, join times are now much much better. It's not perfect, but the devs are listening to the fans and making gameplay changes as well, which is always a positive sign.
For £30 it's a great deal with the headset!
/goes to pre-order
Comment
-
I havent bothered preordering this after the beta. Beta was very broken and it left me with reservations of another Warhawk on release (ie servers bust etc...) so Id rather wait till a patch of two. I know it was to stress test but for me it needed a couple more months to sort out. I can see it hitting meltdown in USA next week on release.Comment
-
The USA are getting it next week, and it's scheduled for the end of November in the EU? That's unbelievably ****ty for an online only game.Comment
-
Sounds good to me TBH. LBP in a few weeks to keep me happy for the time, and the US gets to stress the SOCOM servers so when we get it, hopefully, it'll be perfect
Comment
-
And the US players will have a five-to-six week head start on the game, that's my point.Comment
-
Yeah but we had a 2 year head start on them in WW2 so that evens things upComment
-
There's a pretty good review of the headset on ArsTechnica.
Originally posted by Ars TechnicaThough the launch of SOCOM: Confrontation may have been a disappointment which will have to wait until next week to be properly reviewed, the pack-in official Sony Bluetooth headset helped to alleviate the pain. Combined with the new headset features that arrived with the 2.5 firmware update in the high-quality chat mode, Sony has managed to bring a quality of voice chat that is at least on par with the competition, if not reaching VoIP evels of quality.
Admittedly, I wasn't entirely enamored with the new headset out of the box. While button placement and the general overall design of the headset is nice, it wasn't quite as firmly fitted as I was hoping it would be. Because the ear piece doesn't snap into place with any real pressure (as a result of it being removable and reversible), the headset simply dangles on your ear. For some, the speaker piece will fit snugly into the ear and keep the entire headset firm, but it took a bit of working and adjustment of the removal rubber guard to get the device on my ear securely.
After overcoming the comfort and stability issues, in-game headset testing proved to be impressive. In both SOCOM: Confrontation and Warhawk, the device performed admirably: far better than the Jabra BT headset I was previously using. While I only managed to sneak a few games in with SOCOM because of the server issues, the chat sounded crystal clear and loud in matches that weren't lagging. However, even slight amounts of latency caused the burst voice transmissions to come in with some distributing crackling. This can be largely attributed to the problems with SOCOM, though, as I had no such issue with Warhawk.
Where the headset really shines, though, is in stand mode. The headset comes with a small, pack-in stand which connects to the PS3 via a short USB cable. When the headset is placed in the stand, it begins charging but it also becomes an active standing microphone similar to the one on the PlayStation Eye. It appears that the headset draws extra power from the USB to extend its range, because testing proved that the distance on the standing headset was insane.
To test it out, I had a friend enter a voice chat with me and put his microphone in standing mode. The two of us started at our systems and began walking away while counting out loud. While I got to the opposite side of my awkwardly-designed apartment before he couldn't hear me, he managed to walk out of his living room, up a flight of stairs, and on to the second floor before I couldn't hear him. The quality remained at VoIP levels throughout as well when using the HQ mode. The lesson learned? Don't put it in stand mode if there's other stuff going on in your house.
Regardless of how you're using the headset, the new UI features are welcome. Switching from HQ mode to normal mode or muting the microphone, and altering the volume all have corresponding display notifications. Real-time notifications come as the headset gets low on batteries, as well.
Overall, the official PS3 Bluetooth headset and the associated firmware features for it are an excellent step towards a new age for voice chat on the system. The unit's build quality is respectable, battery life is on par with the controllers, and the sound quality is impressive. Sony's system has been lacking in the voice communication front since its launch, but these new tools go a long way towards fixing that problem.Comment
-
Sounds very good! I might pick this and SOCOM up post-Xmas once the Q4 release madness is over.Comment
-
Rumours that it's not going to get released in Europe until early next year. :/Comment
-
If it's delayed I'll just download the US one
I've cancelled my PAL copy. Even though it was a great deal, playing COD5 and recieving endless PM's and verbal abuse reminded me of just how much I don't like speaking/dealing with the other people I'm playing with beyond shooting them in the face.Comment
Comment