February 23rd, 2007

It's pretty funny my site has been around since the first Playstation has been out, and here I am talking about the Playstation 3. Now, you could say I have this odd obsession with dissing new consoles and I flip flop more than John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election (I've bashed the Dreamcast, Xbox, Gamecube, and PS2 then have grown to love them.. or maybe love them and hate them again over the years), but initially when a fresh system is released it barely ever impresses me. Overtime I might change my opinion, but for right now I really don't feel hyped about the stupid thing.... Even with the creepy $150 million ad campaign Sony rolled out for it during the holidays and playing the display unit (that repeatedly froze up) while I worked at Best Buy.

This Top 5 list will tell you why I think the PS3 is pretty darn crappy. Oh and by the way, this is my opinion, but I will say my opinion is pretty valid and based in the real world for you Playstation fanboys out there who magically have $600 to spend, yet you still live with your mother in the basement...

On a sidenote, I bet Nathena is finding this amusing because I'm such a mark (sorry I had to whip out the wrestling lingo lol -- but that means "fanatic") for Sony electronics and here I am dissing the shit out of them haha. And let me add that I'm mad Sony stole the Spider-Man movie font for the new PS3 logo... Boooooo!!

5. It's pretty useless unless you got HD

Sony and Microsoft are pushing this era of gaming as the "HD Revoultion", but unlike the Xbox 360 (that even grandparents can understand), it really throws all this shit in your face. To tell you the truth, I know close to nothing about High Def. televisions which is why I'm glad I didn't work in the home theater department at Best Buy lol (I worked in games, dvds, and music if you didn't know).

Right now I could really care less about HDTV because while it has dropped in price over the years, it's still too expensive for my blood and the advantages to owning one aren't a very good trade off for the cash. Usually when I talk about this kind of stuff I research it to make sure I know what I'm yapping about, but I have no interest in this HD push. Games in HD, who cares? High def. looks great, don't get me wrong, but it's not needed in this era of consoles... Which is probably why Nintendo left out HD support with the Wii. Bravo. I'll be impressed with it in 2015, so call me then Sony.

Maybe 4% of Americans have HDTV. That leaves well over 90% of this country playing this on not only standard definition, but in a 4:3 aspect ratio vs. the 16:9 widescreen ration HD brings. Does Sony expect us to buy not only a PS3, but a brand new TV as well? How stupid (and rich) do they think we are? We can barely afford to get gas!

4. Blu Ray DVDs

This relates back to the above reason. As I mentioned in my editorial on pirated movies, movie studios leap on every new format they can just to improve their bottom line. They don't care about us, the consumer. They'll release 20 versions of the same movie and expect us to buy it every single time on every format. Blu Ray is Sony's new format and while I saw the display at Best Buy and it looked very good, who cares to see the booger hanging out of Adam Sandler's nose? Movies in HD? Good grief, it's not a big deal! And now, we have this bloody format war between Blu Ray discs and HD-DVDs. In this fight, nobody wins. Three formats are pretty confusing to keep up with, and this is coming from a young person like myself who's "hip" to technology. Imagine the average soccer mom browsing the shelves.. it's going to be very frustrating.

But getting back to the PS3 however, the discs hold a staggering 50 Gigabytes of data. Now I'm no game designer, but please tell me why the hell I'd need that much space? As big as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was on PS2, it was only 8 gigs. Throw in double the graphics or someting and maybe you got yourself 16 gigs. That's still more than a DVD could fit, but what's the problem with making a game 2 discs? It's not like gamers will complain.. We had Final Fantasy VIII and IX span 4 discs on PSOne. It's not like it'd hinder the packaging either since DVD cases can hold up to 4 discs in a standard case before they have to get creative and make new packaging options for bigger sets.

The DVD format is cutting it. It meets the needs of everyone just fine. A few techno-geeks complain about video quality on DVD and we get a whole new format (well, two of them) to appease them? Why Sony feels the need to shove this down our throats when the Wii and the 360 are still on standard DVDs is beyond me. This is almost as stupid as Nintendo continuing the use of cartridges in the n64 days when the rest of the known world switched to CDs already.

Bottomline, Blu Ray is not a proven format. Sony sees the PS3 as it's trojan horse into the homes of everyone. They just want to control the format and get more money instead of collaborating with several companies to make one (keyword, ONE) sucessor to the DVD format we have now that would make everyone, including myself, HAPPY.

3. Lack of innovation

Other than the graphics (and physical size lol.. the PS3 is GINORMOUS if you haven't seen it yet), can you explain to me what seperates the PS3 from the PS2? Huh, what's that? A new wireless controller? That's not innovation -- wireless controllers have been around for ages. They just didn't get great until Nintendo released the Wavebird on the Gamecube (which is sah-weeeet, btw..) a few years ago. The Xbox 360 even has a wireless controller, so this is no big deal at all. Alright, now you Sony fanboys are probably bringing up the motion detection built into the "Six Axis" controller. I got one word that's three letters for that: GAY.

This is such a cheap rip off of the Wii's full motion control it's not even funny. I haven't used this feature yet, but this sounds extremely corny. It only seems practical in flying simulations, but I've heard it's going to be used in the new Grand Turismo game for steering. Are they serious? Isn't this what a joystick is for?! So as a trade off to get this "feature", we had to lose rumble. Sony said it wasn't possible to include both... that's bull shit. I'd rather have my rumble back than some gimmicky feature like this any day of the week. In a game that uses it right, rumble can add a lot to the atmosphere.

So basically, what we've got here is a PS2.5. You'll be playing the same games, just with shinier graphics. Way to go, Sony...

2. Lack of exclusives

I remember a time in the world of gaming when it just boiled down to just Mario vs Sonic.

If you wanted to play one, you had to get the system they represented. These days, the same games pop up everywhere. While system exclusives still exist (anything by Nintendo and the Halo series on Xbox), this new generation is going to be less of a battlefield when it comes to what games are on what. The main reasons I bought a PS2 were simple -- I wanted to play Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Final Fantasy, and Tekken.

Fast forward to today and GTA IV will be available on not only the PS3, but the Xbox 360. Since the 360 is the cheaper of the two systems, guess which version I'm buying? GTA sells systems and the fact that the Xbox 360 version will be available at release, vs 6 months later like the last generation, is a big dent in Sony's armor. I've told my friends countless times GTA is the sole reason why I want a 360. Square-Enix is developing some Final Fantasy titles for Nintendo now, so if I want a fix of FF I can pick up a Wii or DS. Tekken is probably Sony's only great franchise exclusive, which is sad.. There's no game that screams you have to buy a Playstation 3. Sorry Sony, but big bad Microsoft is getting my cash.

1. The Price

Do I really need to explain this to you guys? The PS3 is $600. Six Hundred fucking dollars. Stop for a second and think of all the things you can buy for that much money. You can put a down payment on a car for that much scrilla. You can, hmmm, I dunno, actually pay your bills with that money instead of throwing it all away on a video game system. I don't care if you do have a HD set and you're an early adopter -- if you're reading this and you paid that much for this thing you sir or ma'am are a fucking idiot. NO SYSTEM is worth that much. The Neo Geo home system was near that much money and how many people have even heard of that? I rest my case. Sony wants to bring video gaming even more into the mainstream? That's impossible by setting the price that high! Most people can't even scrape up the money for a damn Xbox 360, and the PS3 is $600??

The sad thing is kids were asking for this thing when I was at Best Buy. While my viewpoint on kids playing video games is pretty well documented, I really, really think parents should avoid trying to be a super hero to their little bratty children by trying to score one of these. How about you take your fucking kids to the dentist with that money instead? Or use that cash to pay for a tutor?

Anyways, my point is the price is absolutely insane. If the PS2 was $300 at launch, and the PS3 was $600, then what's the PS4 going to cost -- $900?! This doesn't even cover a game or two ($120), an extra controller ($50), and maybe a few Blu Ray movies ($25 each). You're going to end up spending close to $800!! If you really have that much money burning a hole in your pocket, you better be doing something else with it other than planning to buy one of these things.

Here's the "after list" of reasons, in no particular order, why you should get the other systems on the market at the moment:

1. The Nintendo DS is a good choice if you're a parent trying to find something for their children or you're just trying to buy a gift for somebody. It's insanely fun, innovative as hell, and fairly cheap.

2. The Xbox 360 is a great choice because it has comparable graphical power to the PS3, yet it costs less because it doesn't force you to technically buy a new DVD player. If you want to watch HD movies, a seperate HD-DVD drive is available to plug into the console.

3. The 360 also has a better online plan in place that makes playing over the internet very easy and inviting to jump into.

4. The Wii, like the DS, is very fun and innovative. Best of all, it's cheaper than both the 360 and PS3 ($250).

5. The PS2 and Gamecube still got some kick to them if you're behind on games. Hit up your local EB Games or Gamestop and catch up on the classics until the prices of the new consoles drop.

If you somehow are still deadset on buying a PS3 soon, go right ahead. If you can afford it, and are around my age, I'd like to know your financial situation lol. Will I ever buy a PS3? Of course I will... just not anytime soon. When the price drops to $150 or
something then I'll bite. I'm willing to wait in the meantime.