Those who caught my epic “How Sony Screwed Up” (dubbed: “122 reasons not to get a PS3” by readers) will know I’m not Sony’s biggest fan.
It’s not because I hate Sony, just that they’ve made a colossally expensive mediocre gaming system and wants attention for said mediocrity.
Yesterday The Register published 10 reasons why you should part with 425 (~$900) for a PS3. The reasons are so poor that I thought they might be joking as they often do but I don’t think that’s the case here.
1. A 425 MMO
I wouldn’t wish an MMO addiction on anybody — even my worst enemy. I’ve been there and done that but saying a plus point for a console is a game that hasn’t come out yet and has never been attempted on a console is a real long stretch.
For starters the MMO format might not port well. There’s no keyboard for starters so how are you going to talk to people effectively?
Is is good value compared to a PC and Second Life? Hell no. Your PC does a wee bit more than a PS3.
2. Easier to get hold of a PS3 than a Wii
Well let’s skip over the part where the two systems are significantly different and the part where you could buy a XBox 360 and a Wii today for less than a PS3 when it eventually comes out.
The only reason you’ll be able to get a PS3 easier is because enough people will have realised how pants they are and are getting the two better consoles instead.
3. Another reason to buy an HD TV
What the hell? It’s the only reason to spend another 1000 on a fancy telly unless you have a 360 or Sky HD. Unfortunately we’re way behind the times in the UK as HD goes.
The justification for a HD TV should be HD TV — not a massively expensive console.
4. MotorStorm looks good
So? It looks pretty dull too… Riding around for hours without story or aim… It looks about as much fun as queuing in line for a console — great for the first 30 minutes but after a couple of days you’re bored to death of it. Grrrreat!
5. Affordable games
So once you’ve shelled out 1bn on your new console and telly, you’ll be glad to know you get new games 10 cheaper than the 360 gets them…
But factoring in the games that have already been out for 18 months on the 360 and you’ll find you’re paying a lot less for them.
6. It’s a good-value Blu-ray player
How can you assign value to something that might only be popular for 12 months? It also has competition — competition that looks like it might win this battle…
But ultimately, the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats are likely to have a considerably shorter life-span than DVD with IPTV taking over within years.
7. SingStar and online content
GTFO.
8. The PS3 controller might get its rumble back
Might? It might grow wings and free itself from the warehouses unto our doorsteps. It might also just be 15-year-old technology.
Either way, lets wait for Sony to stop lying about the reason for not using a rumble pack in the current SIXAXIS controller first.
9. Your old PS2 games will work on it - almost
Sony decided to nuke the core part of the PS2 from the EU version of the PS3. While other people in the rest of the world can play almost any PS2 game (there are some rare exceptions to this rule), the largest gaming market on the planet (that’s Europe, by the way, Sony) won’t be able to play as many.
Since they dropped that bomb, they’ve been working like Santa’s elves trying to get the firmware to not be crap and emulate PS2 games better… Without the actual hardware I think it’s going to be a little patchy in places.
10. Resistance: Fall of Man
A FPS without a mouse. Super-dooper.
There is a reason why game makers are making FPS games exclusively for consoles (R:FoM, GOW, Halo, etc). If they made them for the PC first, nobody in their right mind would buy the console version.
And that, my friends, concludes some of the worst reasons to buy a PS3. I could have mentioned “because a friend told me to” or “because I lost a bet” but they’re givens.