For those of you who don't know me all that well, you might say I know a little bit about video games... and not in the way that most people say "I know about X", I genuinely can be referred to as an expert in this genre. Why? Well, I live and breathe them, and have done all my life, and not many people can say that.
I dig a little deeper than that, and tell you that as part of my degree in Software Engineering I coded a Physics API that served as the basis for any video game from scratch, rendering such in OpenGL. I code a little for the PSP amongst other things, and have worked in the games industry (briefly appreciated, but thats another story). I grew up in front of a C64 and proceeded through every generation of video game console to date, devouring game after game to progress my own understanding and expertise so that one day I could develop the best game of all time. I know more about the history of video gaming than I care to recall and am an all round gamer geek.
I generally get that "chill" around the launch of a new console; its my crack.. I just love that new console smell. Gaming has revolutionised the way we think about home entertainment and I love that too, and he thought of a brand spanking new piece of kit under my TV fills me with anticipation for any developer to unleash its potential at any moment.
I've paid for my own consoles since the age of 13, starting with my own PSX, saving paperboy wages and mixing birthday and xmas money to eventually afford a new machine. I took time off college on Dreamcast launch day, telling my Physics tutor, much to her dismay, that a new console mattered more to me than her lectures. I'm now approaching 25 and I can generally afford a new piece of hardware out of my monthly disposable income at a push, but not on March 23rd 2007 I can't!
Sony have upped the ante with the PS3 to "considered purchase" with a pricepoint in the UK that is cringe worthy at best. Ripping out one of the more appealing features (by replacing the Emotion Engine with Software Emulation.. I mean wtf is that!) Sony force us to keep our PS2s out as not all games will definitely be supported in the European Launch, unlike the US and Japanese counterparts. Anyone who knows anything about emulation will tell you that 99% of the time emulated support is no match for hardware compatibility. Cheers for that Sony, its bad enough we've had to wait another 5 months for a PS3, then get ripped off with our pricepoint to begin with, but you're making our PS3 WORSE than the NTSC counterparts... thats a pretty bold statement of Fuck You in my book!
..and it seems that this is the Sony brand theme these days. They force standard after standard on us (I don't recall a Sony proprietary format that has genuinely succeeded in the mainstream, although I am open to suggestion) and they attempt to do it again with BluRay. My forecast is due to Sonys iron grip on the DRM for BluRay, HD DVD will be the choice of the average Joe, with BluRay just being used exclusively for PS3 games, until, like every other Sony proprietary format (Betamax, DAT, miniDisc, MemoryStick, UMD... need I go on!), it eventually gets laughed off as another Sony mistake. I know why they keep plugging away (to control a media market and make billions in licensing), but I just wish they wouldn't!
But Blu-Ray is a major factor in the pricing of the PS3, so how can I not be against this format from the get go. The infamous blue diode fiasco they seem to be having in manufacturing their drives was the suggested blame for the low production numbers from day one (and Europe got the major shaft with Sony deciding to allocate their stock to NTSC regions first), so it brunts most of my grudge for PS3 pricing.
Which brings me to my beloved past love, Lik-Sang, and the Iron Fist it used to smash them into oblivion. I can't, thanks to Sony, choose to purchase a Japanese PS3 and import it to the UK as that would break some (made up) international law. I can go to Japan, purchase a PS3 there and simply bring it home with me, but I will struggle to buy one from a reputable online retailer. I would much rather have a NTSC-J console, like my Xbox360 is, not just to save about half the price on Original titles (you know, so I don't have to resort to piracy/second hand buying for shitter games I would never pay and support at full price), but to have access to all the lovely games that never get released in the UK, or we get the shaft and have to wait whilst they are converted to PAL regions (which sucks balls might I add).
Generally Sony seems content giving its fan base the shaft, so in return I am giving the PS3 the shaft this generation around. I am not a fan boy of any specific console (I am a Console Fanboy if you must label me) and always plan to own any new hardware I can get my hands on, but this time Sony have pushed too far.
Pricepoint : Wrong - £450+ for a games machine is a big turn off, even with the BluRay Magic, and (now Emulated) Backward compatibility of PSX and PS2 games. Sony wouldn't even pay for the licencing of the rumble feature, with that cretin Phil Harrison (dont get me started on him) claiming rumble was "so last gen" then oh wait, due to popular demand they pay Immersion off and are now planning on putting it back in. I'm sure all the people who've stocked up on PS3 wireless controllers are rejoicing at the thought of having to buy a whole wave of new pads!
Technology : Wrong, wrong and more wrong! They've spend billions on R&D for the Cell processor then they put a measly 256mb RAM in, with a maximum texture size of 1.something mb (not 100% on this fact, I was pretty drunk in the conference I heard this at!) due to other limitations don't really cover themselves for future proofing. Whats the point in being able to load that 50Gb disk with textures, movies and game content if developers can't a) pull them off the disk quick enough (BluRay drives are sloooooow but will get faster Im sure) and b) dont have anywhere to quickly access them?! This, in laymans terms, is like building a theme park with all the best rides in, then only putting one entrance on the main gate with some slow old fuck letting people in, then only allowing a small group of people on the rides at once... it makes no sense!!
Customer Appreciation : Fuck off! Trying to force a movie format mixture on your customer base in a vain attempt to win a proprietary format war battle is not something I care to get into.
Exclusive Titles : All but none existent, with most developers pulling away from PS3 exclusivity, opting for a much wiser multi platform approach
Games Lineup : Most of the titles I want are coming to both 360 and PS3, and given the things I've seen with comparisons, the 360 version is generally better than the PS3, thanks to (better) graphical brute, oh... and have more RAM...something Microsoft didn't skimp on.
Future Proofing : Something Sony seem to like to drum home about their Cell Processor. From what I know in the coding world, unless youre a Mathematician with a meticulous approach to calculations in real time, and know the Cell inside out, squeezing every last drop of power out of the cell is almost impossible. I went to a (secret) PS3 tech discussion last year and the guest speaker suggested they had only seen about 20% peak rates with the PS3, largely due to other bottle necks. Developers currently don't need all that power, and will always struggle to use it due to other limitations, like only having 256MB of RAM to start with!
Development Potential : In fairness, for me personally, this is one of the only selling points for the PS3. I do quite fancy a dabble with PS3 Linux..
So of all those points, only the development side of things tempts me at the minute is having the ability to code on the box, and given I can do that on a number of other platforms.. Im going to give the PS3 a miss! I unsurprisingly already own both a Wii and an Xbox360 and really do love that Wii60 combo. So my message is Fuck You Sony, Fuck You in the eye!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment