...Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen; today's topic is going to focus directly on the hardwar power that you will need for optimal gameplay on your PS3.
For the last four months, we have all been speculating about the software itself, and the incredible oppurtunities that the Crystal Engine gives to SE in making FFXIV a stunning masterpiece. AQnd whenever we do happen to discuss hardware on the FFXIV forums, it's usually about what kind of PC will pack enough horsepower to run FFXIV suitably.
Today however, we're gonna focus on Sony's shiny and beastly PS3 and what the options will be for those players who want to run this game in all its spectacular glory. To start off, three components are absolutely necessary: The television, the broadband internet connection, and of course, the console itself. All the options listed below are suggestive
The Television:
Okay seriously... assuming that you were working on a budget and wanted a decent LCD high-definition television, a thorough search of the current sales in your local merchandise store should get you a great LCD that would easily wander into the 32-inch to 40-inch size range. However, if funds was definitely not an issue and you wanted a seriously wicked screen that wasn't a ridiculously over-priced
Bang & Olufsen, then look NO further than the Samsung LED range of televisions.
I have always LOVED energy efficient AND environmentally friendly gadgets (another of my underlying secondary reasons to have selected Girdania as my starting city)... and this television delievers.
The Console:
Sony presently have the 250GB PS3 Slim coming out November 3rd as a follow up to the 120GB they released in September:
...and Japan will also see the release of a sharp-looking FFXIII bundle in December.
Now, it's obvious that come 2010, Sony & SE are going to release a FFXIV bundle to advance the marketability of their latest mmorpg; and as a few freiends and I discussed in July, it nopt only makes sense, but it's marketing genius. The land of Eorzea is gonna need a lotta harddrive space to store all the fascinating graphical data, and for this; some heavy HD space is not only suggested... it's mandatory. Heck, even FFXI alone was at least 14GB
However, for those of us who have the seriously awesome first generation 60GB, here's an additional option for you that will cost roughly US$80 to US$100... and it involves boosting your HD to 500GB. The 60GB is still considered the "best" version of the PS3 and i wholeheartedly agree not because I have one but because I know for a fact that it's a more versitile machine than its successors. But if you have the later incarnations, fret not... this hard drive upgrade is one that thousands of PS3 owners worldwide have been doing since 2007 and the 500GB upgrade really took off almost a year ago.
Furthermore, if you need additional support after you upgrade (because there have been very minor occasional reports of problems), then you can always check
here for trouble-shooting support. That said, here's a
great guide taken from the PlayStation Network forums on how to flawlessly upograde your console (including tips on which type to buy... personally, I say select the Samsung like I did, but any of the other models on
Newegg generally works fine.
Good luck with all your eelectronics/equipment selection and most definitely prepare to have serious fun when Eorzea is opened to us.
