My good friends over at IGN have published an article that is worth reading before you spend your money on a Microsoft X-Box 360. While it is true that Sony has many problems that do not complement a company that needs a strong consumer base, their saving grace will still be the Playstation game system.
In this well written article on IGN, ten good reasons to pass on the X-Box 360 in favor of waiting for the PS3 are listed. Check it out, you’ll be glad you did.
After reading said article, I honestly can’t tell if it was serious or tongue in cheek. If it was serious, they’re probably paid shills for Sony as the reasons given were exceptionally weak.
The article lamblasts the 360 for not having a killer game, but then lists titles that only [i]may one day[/i] exist for the PS3. Meaning they don’t currently. Meaning that the 360 and the PS3 are pretty equal here; neither currently has any must-have game. The PS3 might have more [i]potential[/i] games, but it still doesn’t have anything concrete. Besides which, If the potential for having such is the only thing that matters, then the 360 has Halo, lots of skateboarding games, etc.
“1080p! Sweet Marie! Even if most televisions don’t support it, why limit yourself to interlaced images when you can experience the glory of 1080 progressive? Support is for the weak!” … What the hell? Support is for the weak? That’s got to be one of the single most boneheaded statements I’ve seen. If nothing supports it, what the hell USE is it!? Not to mention that 1080p has to be [i]specifically[/i] programmed for… and who is going to do that when the market is basically nonexistent? The article also assumes that you will buy a 1080p capable HDTV set within the projected lifetime of the PS3. Considering that HDTV is still not anywhere near affordable and The Powers That Be have been trying to force HDTV down people’s throats for over a decade now, that’s a wildly optimistic statement. The multimonitor support, though, is interesting.
“The best way to maximize a console’s lifespan is by lining it with a thousand ports and interfaces of every type.” Admittedly I’m not as well versed in console stuff as most people, but this seems to be a blantant lie. Beyond memory cards and more controllers, I’ve never really seen any add-ons bought for consoles. The whole idea of a console is that it’s more or less a complete package. You don’t need any more equipment to make it work other than what you already have.
“Moreover, PS3 will also be intimately familiar with the PSP, meaning cross-platform associations will be all over the place.” This is a good point, but it has two problems. First off, people will need to have a PSP to engage in such cross-platform associations. Secondly, those people have to own both a PSP and the PS3 AND have to want to meld the two gaming systems. Lastly, programmers need to WRITE such software. Unless the market is there, that’s not going to happen. Are there really that many people who will have both systems and want to combine them? I’m not sure, but it seems a dubious advantage at least.
“You Can Still Pre-Order” … This one floors me. This is an incredibly weak reason; it has nothing to do with the gaming on the system at all merely the distrobution. This is a silly reason to BUY a system in the first place, rather it’s a logical action to go through once you’ve decided that you want it. Regardless, you still have to wait a little less than a year for it to finally come out and, in that time, the 360 would be readily available and possibly even cheaper than currently.If you have to wait anyway, then waiting to get a 360 would seem the better deal if distrobution is really a selling point.
“Seven-Player Wireless Support.” Note… [i]support[/i]. This does not mean that any games will actually allow the use of seven players at once. Sony is notorious for providing difficult to program for hardware. I find it unlikely that the extra months of development will be worth it to most development houses for seven player support. This is also predicated on you have seven controllers.
“The EyeToy is one of the all-time most successful peripherals released for a console…” Is this true? I honestly don’t know and a quick Google search didn’t enlighten me further. If so, color me surprised. If not, then this is yet another throw-away bullet point that is useless. Even if it is true, wouldn’t this go under the auspices of “Better Accessory Support”? They’re taking one point and watering it down to two, even assuming the EyeToy was a success. … Also, considering that peripherals sell poorly on consoles, what is the definition of ‘all-time most successfull’? This seems like a weasel word bit of shennanigans, like when politicians increase spending by 35% rather than 45% and call that a cut.
“Full Backwards Compatibility” This is actually a good point.
“Stronger Japanese Developer Support” This is also a really good point. Japanese games generally are really good.
“Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots” This is what the article claims the Sony’s killer app is. But is it? There’s no question that MGS is a popular franchise, but I don’t know if it’s popular enough to carry a system, nor if it’s appeal is as broad as, say, Halo.
“The Blu-ray Player” Ugh… UUUUUAGH!!! The blu-ray is a terrible technological abortion! It is most certainly NOT a selling point. It’s over-engineered and filled to the brim within the specification with DRM crapola. It’s a terrible format.
Does anyone know if this was a serious article or not? Because it seems exceptionally weak.
By reading your comment, it is apparent to me that you completly missed the point of IGN’s article. Most of the things you do not think are selling points are, and the ones that are silly (like the ability to pre-order) is meant to be humorous — but also serves to make a good point.
I don’t feel like countering each and every claim here, and find it sufficient enough to say that it is overopinionated jargon.
> By reading your comment, it is apparent to me that you completly missed >the point of IGN’s article.
Indeed, I must have. If the article was not meant to be tongue-in-cheek and also not meant to be serious… what the hell WAS the point? Do enlighten me.
> Most of the things you do not think are selling points are…
Such as? Peripherals, maybe? I’ve just never seen any peripherals sell well beyond memory cards and additional controllers. My data set is admittedly small and ancedotal, but I still haven’t seen ANYONE who bought peripherals for their console (again, excluding memory cards and controllers). Other than memory cards and controllers, what peripherals have you bought? One of these EyeToys mentioned in the article, perhaps?
Or maybe you mean the 1080p support? That might be a value-add, but as even the article states, no one really has televisions currently that can display that. And no software is mentioned that will support it either. I find it just hard to believe that most people will go out and spend $3,000 – $6,000 additonal for a television to play their $299 console games with, even assuming that games come out with 1080p support.
>I don’t feel like countering each and every claim here, and find it sufficient >enough to say that it is overopinionated jargon.
Oh, please. If there’s flaws in my reasoning or data, please point them out. I am genuinely curious. But resorting to ad hominem attacks just because the article is poor is really sad.
My Four cents….
1) MGS4 is a HUGE DEAL. It is a killer app, hands down, no questions asked.
2) Xbox 360 DOES NOT HAVE a killer app. There’s not one game out for it that I give two shits about. The new Elder Scrolls game, yeah, but its not even out yet.
3) Procastination- XBOX 360 seems like a fuckload of effort to get… why beat yourself up over it?
4) Seven player wireless… wow, I know you can play the stuff online now, but nothing beats actually having people come together and play.
I’m no XBOX drone, but it seems other then coming out first the 360 lacks a strong selling point.
I tend to be one to really get swept away in hype. I love it, I really do. So it kind of surprises me that I wasn’t in line trying to get the 360 on launch day – I mean, talk about great advertising with that water balloon commercial!
So, here are my reasons:
1) Launch apps. Come on. Now, I’m a person who isn’t that into sports games, and for people who are, good for you! But it seems like they really alienated a lot of tastes with the launch titles. Oblivion is the one thing I’m looking forward to, and now I’m wondering, is it worth 400 bucks?
2) Backwards compatibility: That was THE selling point for me when I bought my PS2. And it was one of the points I was really looking forward to on the 360…and now we find out it’s selective. I did not own an original Xbox, and that was a big reason I wanted to grab a 360, two birds with one stone, right? Maybe not…
3) HD-DVD: My PS2 is my DVD player right now, and it’s really showing its age. I really liked the fact that Microsoft was supporting the HD-DVD format, and I assumed it would be included on their console, all the sooner for me to enter next-generation goodness. I guessed wrong.
Three reasons why I’m really hoping Oblivion has a PC release…
First, I must respectfully respond to DarkCthulhu.
Some of the reasons (maybe all of the reasons) listed by IGN are perhaps superficial, but I believe that your comments misrepresented their point. Their very simple point. There are reasons to pass up the X-Box 360 in favor of the PS3 that people WILL care about. Keep in mind that IGN is not trying to use reasons such as preorderability to say the PS3 is better. They are using these things to justify the thinking of many — that it is just better to wait for a PS3. Perhaps it is moot as you have suggested, but again, this article is serving as justification for the rationale of many rather than a statement of superiority.
Basically, IGN is giving a pat on the back to those who feel justified to wait for the PS3, saying to their readers in effect: “Yes! It is okay to just wait for a PS3 if you want!”
There was nothing “ad hominem” about my response. Well…. not in intent. All I am saying is that there is such a thing as overanalysis, and I believe your response went leaps and bounds over even that. I do not mean that as a personal attack towards you, I am just not sure how else to respond to your points that I feel are taken from simplistic (in the article) to the dramatic (your response). It is a simple article of justification – IGN is not trying to stir up the console debate here. Again, the writer is simply patting his readers on the back that wish to wait for a PS3… and there is not anything wrong with that.
Additionally:
I strongly agree with the points given by The Main Event. I do not feel the need to elaborate at this time.
Sucilaria has done a good job in listing some other shortcomings of the X-Box 360. The simple fact is there are a lot of problems with the release — from problems procuring a system, to a bad lineup of games, to abandoned support for crutial hardware/coding.
I think the EyeToy is a great piece of hardware, and I’d love to see it make a comeback, though I guess the point is that since the PS3 is backwards compatible, you’ll be able to use your old EyeToy with it even if they don’t make a new one. However, this is personal opinion, and I have no idea if sales corrolate. The obvious “killer” peripheral is the Dance Dance Revolution pad, which originally was PS2 only then moved onto the Xbox and Gamecube later.
As far as killing yourself over launch… I’d doubt that PS3 is going to be any less crazy on launch day, and from what I’ve read Microsoft is still shopping 360’s out weekly. I think for any of the systems, unless you want it on absolute day 1, you won’t have to kill yourself to find. (Hell, I remember when there was all the problems buying the PS2 on launch day, and I bought one at Target 3 days afterwards.)
As the above article points out, while 7 player wireless is neat, it really will only be feasible on a small number of games. (Hard to split a screen 7 different ways, only good for sports games) Of course it’s preferable to what the Xbox did a fair amount during its waning days… not allowing multiplayer except over Live. THAT was lame (curse you Jedi Knight 3!)
An interesting bit of “research” also on IGN about the cross compatibility of the Xbox 360 as it pertains to one specific game: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/670/670045p1.html
Halo 3 and price drop on eve of launch of PS3. Killer app and undercutting the competition. By that time (with Microsoft’s huge backing and their recent acquisition of some major Japanese names) they will have a strong showing of games. Anyone ever hear of a little game called Ninja Gaiden?
How much do you guys honestly use the backwards compatibility?
Sony will also be dealing with a worldwide launch (maybe they will stagger it after watching Microsoft try it) but there is no guarantee unless you ORDER TODAY QUICK QUICK QUICK! That isn’t a reason to “pass on the 360”, it’s just ibe if the advantages of waiting a year
7 controllers? Will the PS3 support multiple TVs? I don’t relish the thought of a single TV being split into 7 screens (which isn’t even compatible with the whole square idea of a tv, unless Sony is going to manufacture new 7 sided TVs) or a massive top down view of a football game.
This whole killer app thing argument is stupid, alot can change in a year. I’m a huge fan of Bungie (since Pathways Into Darkness) and have faith they will deliver Halo 3. One killer app right there.
The IGN article is pretty foolish, the reasons listed there are pretty silly.
NEW SONY 7-SIDED TV TIMECUBE
360 NOT ENOUGH VISION, 7 DIMENSIONS FOR TIME
YOUR XBOX ARE EDUCATED RETARDED
“NEW SONY 7-SIDED TV TIMECUBE
360 NOT ENOUGH VISION, 7 DIMENSIONS FOR TIME
YOUR XBOX ARE EDUCATED RETARDED”
Best response EVER.
Subject closed.
-Josh
“The IGN article is pretty foolish, the reasons listed there are pretty silly.”
That’s not true when the point of the article is to affirm peoples decision.