Edshugeo The GodMoor

I bought the 360 Elite last week after spending a week debating the PS3 vs. the 360. Prior to that point I went from no interest in a next gen system to "Ooh! The PS3 will be out next year" to "It's gonna cost what?" to "No Fuckin' way am I spending that on a game system" to "It would probably look nice on my 37 inch flatscreen TV." My interest gradually escalated from there and I started to brake down after purchasing three used games for the PS2 and not being overly impressed by the graphics.

I was gonna get a PS3, but I mentioned that to a coupl'a friends, and was advised to avoid it and go for the 360. Their opinions were based on hearsay (about the PS3) and the fact that they owned 360s, so I dismissed them at first. But I was motivated to explore the issue a li'l bit.

There were a number of things that I was concerned about already. Price wasn't one of them at this point, though it had been a major issue in the past. If I wanted to go cheap, I'd have gone with the 360 core system. Not interested in the Wii, though I'm sure it's fine for what it is.

Sony's dicking around with the PSP didn't help (or perhaps it did). The PSP is a great hand held multimedia device. There's nothing like it out there. If you just want games, there's the DS and all the previous incarnations of the Game Boy by Nintendo. If you just want music and/or movies, theres the various iPods and other personal media players. But for all of the above and also wireless internet there's only the PSP which is capable of even more thanks to the efforts of the homebrew community.

The PSP was my first taste of Sony's "sleeping giant" marketing tactic of presenting a device with great potential, but only unlocking it's capabilities a piece at a time via firmware upgrades (usually after a homebrew developer had unlocked it first). Some of these things were fixes to issues that might not have been well thought out at first, like the placement and naming of videos. Other things were obviously being held back, like full resolution video, which was available on UMD video discs, but not supported on the memory stick until a much later firmware. Officially, that is.

When Sony finally provided the one feature homebrewers could not get right, the ability to play PS1 games on our favorite portable, they chose not to allow their limited selection of games to be purchased and downloaded by anyone who did not have a PS3. Apparently this was expected to motivate purchases of the new system, instead of angering their existing customers who already owned internet capable devices (the PSP and likely a computer). Instead, homebrew came to the rescue and modified the software that allowed the playability of PS1 games as well as provide a way for users to convert their existing game library to the PSP. No PS3 needed. No need to buy the old games again. I even bought a used title off Amazon.com for less than the supposed price of a download (not including the PS3 price). Fuck you, Sony, for even thinking of pulling a stunt like that.

Still, I was somewhat convinced that the PS3 was the most powerful game machine, out there. It was expected to be miles ahead of what the XBox 360 was capable of. I was unconvinced, however, that it's power was being fully demonstrated. Games made for both the 360 and the PS3 were turning out better on the 360 (according to many reports). This being due to developers being more familiar with the XBox platform. Sony defenders point out that Microsoft had a years head start on the PS3 and that their strongest games are just being released now. When the PS3 reaches a similar point in it's development we will see it deliver the goods and maybe it'll surpass the 360.

If I was gonna wait another year to get a game machine, that would be fine and dandy. Placing my bets now on a system that might be great eventually? Um, ... no. Buying a machine that does what it's supposed to do very well, right now? That makes more sense.

HD DVD vs. Blu Ray? A non issue for me. I'll wait for a winner in that contest or I'll wait for a cheap HD disc recorder (it'll happen eventually), download whatever HD content I want from each competing format and convert them to the one I have.

XBox Live vs. PS3's online service - PS3 online is free, but kinda sloppy from what I understand. Sony has some interesting ideas, but they're just promises right now.
XBox Live seems to garner better reviews. So far I like it as far as downloading demos are concerned. Haven't tried online gaming yet, but I will.

PSP to PS3 connectivity seemed like a good idea at first, but makes no sense in it's current application, downloading media to the PS3 and then send it over to the PSP. The PSP can access the internet already. Thank you. If it could be used as a location free player to play PS3 games (and other media) on the PSP via wi-fi wherever you were, that would be a killer app. I don't know what the technical limitations are that keep such a thing from happening. I only hope that it is issues like that that keep it from happening, and not Sony dicking around again. Sony's Location Free player is a device that allows television to stream via wi-fi to an owners PSP wherever he happens to be.
Oct. 18th, 2007 - According to the November issue (#175) of Game Informer magazine (pg 24 - Portable Puppetmaster), Sony plans to allow this very feature sometime in 2008. It'll probably be 2009 until it's up and running. Once it is and a good number of PS3 games are playable on the PSP, I'm gettin' one. Though if Microsoft were to announce a handheld gaming device capable of the same thing via the 360, I might hold off.

The renting movies to the XBox hard drive thing is kinda interesting, but needs to be cheaper. I won't be doing that. I've got decent HD cable service, a DVR and I can't complain about the prices of DVDs. I still prefer to own hard copies of media (less true for music with non-DRM mp3s) and the less DRM the better. Rentals (pay per view) don't need to be as expensive as they are.

Sony vs. Microsoft: which is more evil? Microsoft, probably. Certainly more hated in the PC world. That they've managed to create a product that their customers are mostly happy with is a huge achievement! I mean, a lot of us are Windows users, who won't go near a Mac, but that doesn't mean that Windows doesn't piss us off for a variety of reasons. 360 users really like their machine regardless of how evil Microsoft is with PC software. I've always viewed Sony as a maker of decent electronics. My first DVD player was a Sony. Back then the hardware did the talking. Now when Sony talks, they sound a little like Microsoft, but not the Microsoft in the gaming business.

The games - the 360's got 'em and those that are also on the PS3 are not quite as good (hearsay), though that may change. If Grand Theft Auto IV had been a Sony exclusive, that might've been enough to sway me back to the PS3. I love GTA. The extra content being developed for the 360 wasn't really a determining factor for me though it definitely doesn't hurt. The PS3 will no doubt get great games that can't be found on the 360, but they don't really have them now, and that's a major disadvantage for buyers who aren't waiting. I'll be trying Halo for the first time next week. Haven't tried the first two games and don't feel I need to.

My first games...
Bioshock is a creepy first person story based thriller that takes place in a would be paradise that's gone horribly wrong. I'm enjoying it so far though I haven't played it much, yet.
Burnout Revenge is a race and crash game I bought for simple fun. I played Burnout Legends on the PSP and loved it. I was unaware of the Burnout games before then. Revenge is much more awesome than I expected.
Quake 4 I haven't played yet. Bought it used for twenty bucks.

Also tried a few demos, both on XBox Live and also from the magazine, XBM, which obviously isn't necessary since they are downloadable. Demos don't need hard copies. Sony canceled their official Playstation magazine (the US version) for the same reason.

Hardware failures. Sony wins on that account. Microsoft is handling the issue in a number of ways, but this shouldn't have been an issue to begin with. Still all the pluses outweigh this negative.

The future? Maybe the PS3 will turn out to be hot shit, after all. If this happens by next winter, maybe I'll get one in addition to my 360, PS2 and my PSP (which is still a brilliant console). I don't expect Sony to give up, no matter how bad the numbers get. They stuck with Betamax until after DVDs dominated. Right now, the PS2 is outselling the PS3, so there's still life in that system as well. There are a few games I want to finish on it before I put it out to pasture.

Labels: HDTV, PS3, PSP, technology, video games, XBox 360