Sony found itself in a precarious position at the start of this console race. It launched at a price that instantly cast a shadow on the system, raising questions of its viability as a platform. Initially, through a drought of games and its high price point, the questions raised looked more and more likely to become a reality. However, with a respectable 2007 slate of exclusive titles, an even better looking 2008 game lineup, and the Blu-Ray format riding high with HD-DVD exiting the market; things are starting to look up for Sony.
Yet, there are questions that still linger. Below are five things wrong with Sony.
5. Downloadable Content
This will probably come off as a bit of a nitpick, (and there is probably some truth to it) but I still feel this is a valid complaint. The PlayStation Store, for all of the good things about it, is woefully inadequate. It’s not that there is no content available, (though, I would argue that content is somewhat lacking on a couple of fronts) but it’s the way that Sony decided to update their store. Instead of filtering the content out through the week, they decided to just give people one giant cluster of content every Thursday. The only way I can rationalize the decision is that people will know which day will have items up in the store, but even then, it’s a perplexing strategy.
What this means for PlayStation 3 owners is that they will have to wait for content. Sure, it’s not long, but for some pieces of content, a two to three day wait can feel like an eternity if you’re really looking for a demo or a Rock Band track. If you have the content to place on the store, do it. Why make people wait?
But hey, at least Sony isn’t charging you for pictures. (Right, Microsoft?)
4. Price
It’s a testament to the power of the PlayStation brand that we can sit here and still talk about the PlayStation 3 as a successful system, even with all the pricing challenges that it has faced. Ever since the phrase “five-hundred and ninety-nine US dollars” was muttered out of Kaz Hirai’s mouth, it sent gamers’ wallets into cardiac arrest. A series of two $100 price cuts have made things a bit more reasonable, but we’re almost 18 months into the PS3’s life: How much is that $399 price tag harming them?
With the inflated price, there is an obvious complication: It’s harder to convince people to buy your system. With a higher price, people are going to wait until there is “the” game to get. We’re talking about Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Halo, Mario, and Grand Theft Auto. They’re much less likely to take a chance on the great games like Resistance: Fall of Man when the barrier to entry is still too high.
3. Can You Please Add Another SKU?
This isn’t a problem that is endemic to just Sony, but it’s still a terrible problem. They have had four different SKUs that all do different things: A 20GB model that doesn’t have wireless, a 40GB model that has no backward compatibility and only 2 USB ports, a 60GB unit that has flash media drives, and an 80GB model that has “limited” backward compatibility. It’s hard to keep track of for me, and I’m constantly inside the “gaming scene”.
So what about people that are the life-blood of the industry? Parents and so called “casual” gamers that are picking up the system for a game or two aren’t going to know which one is best for them when the features are so wide-ranging. The worst part is that Sony (and Microsoft as well) will continue to add SKU after SKU that will further confuse the market.
2. Sixaxis Motion Controls? Remember those?
Perhaps it’s a condemnation of the entire control setup that Sony envisioned for the PlayStation 3, but it appears clearer by the day that Sixaxis motion controls have been a failure. I will admit that in some instances the control system has been put into some good, subtle use. (One example being in Resistance: Fall of Man where you have to shake off Chimera zombies that are chomping at your neck) But we weren’t promised a simple subtle change from Sony; this was supposed to be the feature that replaced “old” technology like rumble.
Instead, we got games like Lair that did not offer a more immersive control setup. It controlled worse and was frustrating. Games like Warhawk and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction also featured motion-control capabilities, but in both cases, the analog sticks were preferable to the motion controls that were simply not responsive enough.
Perhaps I was hoping for too much out of the motion controls, but I believed that it would aspire to be something that changed the way we played our games. Instead, it’s more of a bullet-point that you can put on the back of the box, but doesn’t add much more than a neat touch. Prove me wrong, Sony.
1. Lacking A Reason to Get On
I honestly don’t get a lot of use out of my PlayStation 3, outside of their first party releases. At least in 2007, most of their titles were very solid single-player experiences, but past that, there was nothing that is keeping me on my PS3. Essentially, Sony is lacking that big multiplayer game that draws people together.
This might all be rectified by year’s end, however, if all things go according to plan for Sony. They currently have games like Metal Gear Online, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance: Fall of Man 2 and Home to try and carry the PlayStation Network flag. LittleBigPlanet and Home are probably the bigger cogs because the online segments in those games could be timeless. Home, while having all the question marks above its head, (the biggest one being “are people going to use this?”) has the potential to be extremely cool. LittleBigPlanet has the potential to be even bigger. Halo’s Forge mode got me extremely excited for a game like LittleBigPlanet. Allowing anyone to create their own levels and share them with the world is such a clever idea. You can only hope that the idea will be executed well.
And that’s part of the problem for Sony right now. These games may or may not live up to expectations, and if they don’t, we’re back into a situation where there is no game that forces me to make regular use out of my PlayStation 3.
Yet, there are questions that still linger. Below are five things wrong with Sony.
5. Downloadable Content
This will probably come off as a bit of a nitpick, (and there is probably some truth to it) but I still feel this is a valid complaint. The PlayStation Store, for all of the good things about it, is woefully inadequate. It’s not that there is no content available, (though, I would argue that content is somewhat lacking on a couple of fronts) but it’s the way that Sony decided to update their store. Instead of filtering the content out through the week, they decided to just give people one giant cluster of content every Thursday. The only way I can rationalize the decision is that people will know which day will have items up in the store, but even then, it’s a perplexing strategy.
What this means for PlayStation 3 owners is that they will have to wait for content. Sure, it’s not long, but for some pieces of content, a two to three day wait can feel like an eternity if you’re really looking for a demo or a Rock Band track. If you have the content to place on the store, do it. Why make people wait?
But hey, at least Sony isn’t charging you for pictures. (Right, Microsoft?)
4. Price
It’s a testament to the power of the PlayStation brand that we can sit here and still talk about the PlayStation 3 as a successful system, even with all the pricing challenges that it has faced. Ever since the phrase “five-hundred and ninety-nine US dollars” was muttered out of Kaz Hirai’s mouth, it sent gamers’ wallets into cardiac arrest. A series of two $100 price cuts have made things a bit more reasonable, but we’re almost 18 months into the PS3’s life: How much is that $399 price tag harming them?
With the inflated price, there is an obvious complication: It’s harder to convince people to buy your system. With a higher price, people are going to wait until there is “the” game to get. We’re talking about Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Halo, Mario, and Grand Theft Auto. They’re much less likely to take a chance on the great games like Resistance: Fall of Man when the barrier to entry is still too high.
3. Can You Please Add Another SKU?
This isn’t a problem that is endemic to just Sony, but it’s still a terrible problem. They have had four different SKUs that all do different things: A 20GB model that doesn’t have wireless, a 40GB model that has no backward compatibility and only 2 USB ports, a 60GB unit that has flash media drives, and an 80GB model that has “limited” backward compatibility. It’s hard to keep track of for me, and I’m constantly inside the “gaming scene”.
So what about people that are the life-blood of the industry? Parents and so called “casual” gamers that are picking up the system for a game or two aren’t going to know which one is best for them when the features are so wide-ranging. The worst part is that Sony (and Microsoft as well) will continue to add SKU after SKU that will further confuse the market.
2. Sixaxis Motion Controls? Remember those?
Perhaps it’s a condemnation of the entire control setup that Sony envisioned for the PlayStation 3, but it appears clearer by the day that Sixaxis motion controls have been a failure. I will admit that in some instances the control system has been put into some good, subtle use. (One example being in Resistance: Fall of Man where you have to shake off Chimera zombies that are chomping at your neck) But we weren’t promised a simple subtle change from Sony; this was supposed to be the feature that replaced “old” technology like rumble.
Instead, we got games like Lair that did not offer a more immersive control setup. It controlled worse and was frustrating. Games like Warhawk and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction also featured motion-control capabilities, but in both cases, the analog sticks were preferable to the motion controls that were simply not responsive enough.
Perhaps I was hoping for too much out of the motion controls, but I believed that it would aspire to be something that changed the way we played our games. Instead, it’s more of a bullet-point that you can put on the back of the box, but doesn’t add much more than a neat touch. Prove me wrong, Sony.
1. Lacking A Reason to Get On
I honestly don’t get a lot of use out of my PlayStation 3, outside of their first party releases. At least in 2007, most of their titles were very solid single-player experiences, but past that, there was nothing that is keeping me on my PS3. Essentially, Sony is lacking that big multiplayer game that draws people together.
This might all be rectified by year’s end, however, if all things go according to plan for Sony. They currently have games like Metal Gear Online, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance: Fall of Man 2 and Home to try and carry the PlayStation Network flag. LittleBigPlanet and Home are probably the bigger cogs because the online segments in those games could be timeless. Home, while having all the question marks above its head, (the biggest one being “are people going to use this?”) has the potential to be extremely cool. LittleBigPlanet has the potential to be even bigger. Halo’s Forge mode got me extremely excited for a game like LittleBigPlanet. Allowing anyone to create their own levels and share them with the world is such a clever idea. You can only hope that the idea will be executed well.
And that’s part of the problem for Sony right now. These games may or may not live up to expectations, and if they don’t, we’re back into a situation where there is no game that forces me to make regular use out of my PlayStation 3.
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