Hating on the PS3

Posted by Brixtone on Monday, January 15, 2007

ps3_riot.jpg
Back to hell with you, foul console!

Ruckus raised an important issue the other day: Why so much hate toward the Playstation 3?

The true disappointment here, I believe, is in our own expectations. We had good reason to love the original Playstation and Playstation 2 to pieces. Still hot from our previous love affairs with Sony, we gladly took Ken Kutaragi’s promises to be gospel, the promises of “so much more than a gaming console”, promises that, in any other case, we would have written off as bloated hype. We allowed ourselves to believe Playstation 3 would vanquish world hunger and global warming.

But no. After all the talk, all the (puzzling) advertising, and all the build-up, the Playstation 3 is merely a video game console making its debut. And as with all console premieres, developers haven’t had enough time with the hardware to put together the gotta-have-it titles that the public wants. Resistance: Fall of Man is nice…ok let’s face it, it’s a so-so shooter at best. But Gears of War straight up kicked its ass. The PS3 is a very capable and feature-rich console, but somehow it’s not what we want it to be, at least not yet.

Mind you, our attitudes were not much different at the release of the Xbox 360. Microsoft under-supplied retailers, shipped some consoles that were DOA, and the initial releases were, to say the least, underwhelming. But after a year, look who’s laughing. Chances are that at this time next year, the Playstation 3 will be doing just fine and we’ll forget all about this initial disappointment that we feel. But again, why are we disappointed? Because we had hopes and expectations for the company that once launched us into a new generation of console gaming to do it yet again. And sadly, I believe that the hard truth is finally setting in: despite multi-core CPU’s, dedicated physics processors, higher poly-counts and advanced lighting, next generation gaming is not what we expected it to be. Oh and if you have the urge to play the “It costs $600″ card, save it. If the titles were there to back up the PS3’s release, you wouldn’t see the console selling under MSRP on eBay nor would you see them on store shelves. Just watch how badly the $600 hurts iPhone sales come June.

It’s your turn, leave a comment.

9 Comments »

2003

Comment by Denalan

1/16/2007 @ 12:50 am

I agree with you wholeheartedly, with the exception of your iPhone comment. There are couple of big differences between the iPhone and the PS3 — one of the big differences is that one is a phone/iPod and the other is a video game console.

I’m not very interested in buying the PS3 at the moment, mainly because I have so many other games to play, and the PS3 isn’t really offering anything special at the moment. As an entertainment device it just doesn’t really offer me a lot of additional entertainment.

But the iPhone could replace my cell phone and my old iPod, plus my dock connector in my car will work with it. I’ll be more productive with the device and it will be more convenient to carry as well. And nothing else on the market will come close to its functionality, at least not for awhile. It’s by far a much more attractive purchase than the PS3. It will be interesting to see how many iPhones are sold when they are released this summer.

2004

Comment by Brixtone

1/16/2007 @ 1:25 am

My point wasn’t so much to compare the PS3 to the iPhone directly, but to show that electronics consumers are open to a $600 discretionary expense.

2005

Comment by Tritone

1/16/2007 @ 1:29 am

Denalan’s observations are spot on. My impulse–I mean Slybone’s impulse–to pick one up was primarily the hobbyist “collector” mentality (pick it up now, play it whenever) taken to a degree that in a cooler mental state, was simply unrealistic to justify, given the paucity of standout titles right now. It’s a good system, and I don’t even think it’s all that overpriced, but until FFXIII or MGS 4 or something truly remarkable appears, there really isn’t a reason to own one. I think maybe that by this time next year, there will be.

As for the iPhone (talk about technolust, yikes!) it is interesting how much creativity, innovation, functionality and beautiful design have gone into it, while the PS3 has been in development for even longer (one supposes) with some of the best (again, one supposes) minds working in the field, and it’s sort of remarkable how *little* the PS3 does to really push the envelope in terms of features or innovative titles (at least at launch).

2006

Comment by Ruckus

1/16/2007 @ 2:45 am

“I’ll be more productive with the device and it will be more convenient to carry as well.”

LO.

That is all.

2007

Comment by Dodongo

1/16/2007 @ 12:43 pm

The 360 launch was lame to be sure, but I think the PS3 launch was the worst ever. Will it eventually be worth its price tag? Absolutely. Even as nothing more than a blu-ray player (though the HD / BR hybrid players might make a BR only player less valuable).

As with the 360 which took over a year before a game was released that could make good use of the new hardware (Gears of War) the same will be true of the PS3 and Wii. In fact, every console ever released has had those growing pains. What worries me about the PS3 is how expensive it is to develop for. I read that in order for developers to break even on PS3 titles, they’ll have to sell 500K games. This is going to exclude small developers from the console and probably scare away all but the proven franchises and movie tie-ins.

With regards to Tritone’s post; I think PS3 buyer’s remorse at this stage in its development is completely valid. It is a poor investment and he’s better served earning interest on that money so that in a year when the console is worth something he can afford to buy a game as well.

As for the iPhone, I foresee a grim future where pants only have one pocket in them.

2008

Comment by Brixtone

1/16/2007 @ 5:02 pm

We’ve excluded one special group of haters, that being the SONY GAYSTATION FUKKIN SUXXORZ contingent. Mind you, this group has its counterpart, the XBOX IS FUKKIN SHITZ LOL party. I invite you to take up this discussion with one of them and report back your findings. You can usually find this type of hater screaming at the top of his lungs at an empty car or propositioning a dog.

2009

Comment by Denalan

1/16/2007 @ 5:04 pm

Ah, I think I misread Brixtone’s original comment about the iPhone. I think he and I are in agreement…that’s what I get for posting late at night.

Carry on. :)

2010

Comment by Ruckus

1/16/2007 @ 6:08 pm

“XBOX IS FUKKIN SHITZ LOL party” is a platform I can vote for. Who’s their candidate in ‘08? Barack Obama? We’ll be able to mobilize the primary core constituency of the GAYSTATIONites and really have our voices heard.

LFM[political action group] and [Molten Core] pst

Those are really the people I don’t understand, the ones who act as if their opposing console kills puppies. Cute puppies. I will go out on a limb here and call them “dumb-asses”. It’s a console people. One that you don’t even have to buy. Just pretend it’s Cuba and blockade that shit.

2011

Comment by Ruckus

1/16/2007 @ 6:09 pm

As for the iPhone, I got a call from my cell provider who assures me that the iPhone does indeed kill puppies. No word on their cute status.

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