The PS3 is a great, but odd machine.
Much like the old trick of Sony selling everyone the PS2 because of the DVD drive and the added backwards compatability, the PS3 also tried the same tricks.
Recently I had a rant (mainly) about the 360, but now, for the sake of advice and support, I'm going to try to go easy on PS3.

Was the PS3 intended to be a console?


What most of us thought the PS3 was before 2007

The most unusual thing about Sony's marketing is how Sony Computer Entertainment have lost money for a console that is really good for value, but items built in that you don't necessarily need hasn't managed to grab the audience because of the more affordable Xbox 360. A shot in the foot, maybe because of the built in Blu-ray and stupidly low lack of games.
Of course, the Blu-Ray is what will enable us to have bigger storage for games, I personally have no interest of watching Blu-Rays on my PS3 as basically, I don't have a proper HDTV and I just watch DVDs on it.

We all know that Sony has never been on the ball in the first year of release what ever Playstation it was, the best games don't come out until developers exploit the technicality of the machine, face it, in the first incarnation, they were pretty lucky as no other competition existed (except the really underrated Dreamcast). However recently, things are 'a changing.


'This is Living'...in 'The Third Place'

Instead of offering games immediately SCE have had an odd method as in selling the PS3 as a 'multimedia center' and not purely as a console.

Applications like Folding@home are technically; a great idea for the community and world, but is it something we really needed?
Home is the same, will we be using Home, because its great? or the fact our machines can run it? I don't know if I will be using Home at all when it comes out as I'm not particularly hugely social on my PS3 ('PSN: Freker' ...Add me if you want).
One of the positives of the PS3 is of course the internet browser, which in recent firmware updates, Sony seemed to of forgotten about implementing. Nothing has been properly added onto the browser for ages, no new tabs, no updated Flash Player.
Another subject is the upcoming Playstation Life. Do I really need a 3D weather/forecaster simulator, has the PS3's interactive content become the equivalent of Teletext? Its a nice idea, but is it better than high quality games?


Playstation Life

I just find a lot of the things that 'sell' the PS3, honestly quite stupid and I'm an admitted Sony fanboy, although I own a 360 with more games. I admit, i don't like the 360 dashboard layout as it feels like a second hand childrens multicoloured Filofax that you could find at a carboot sale for 50p as you voluntarily make the 'swoosh' sounds. The custom soundtracks on the 360 is admittedly; a huge selling point as is the addition of the use of MSN messenger also, the 360 wanted to be a console right from the start compared to PS3 that wanted to be the 'multimedia machine'. Saying that, Microsoft 'dumped' the original XBOX whilst the PS2 is still selling systems.


360's current design of dashboard

I also admit, I love the PS3s current awesome music visualiser, the Earth in space, its great. But compared to the 360s Jeff Minter developed 'Nuon... it falls flat. I play music on my PS3 a lot, but despite the awesomeness of the spinning earth on PS3, the Earth does bugger all to the music compared to the crazy epilepy inducing tones and shapes of the 360's built in visualiser, which also is more fun because you can control it much like the old visualiser on the PSOne.


PS3


360

Firmware 2.40

Features which were common sense like in-game XMB have been released 2 years after the release. I only had to wait one year because I got my PS3 last summer.

Even after the release of 2.40, things had got better for the PS3, but all in all, because of the lack of custom soundtracks application (Which I believe Microsoft own a patent for since the Xbox) and the fact the in-game XMB does not work during the emulation of PS2 games or DVDs is really, quite stupid. I'm pretty sure the PS3 is capable of multitasking playing soundtracks over PS2 and PSOne games, as for DVDs, it might be nice to be able to take simple screenshots which can be forwarded to friends as message attachments and saved as PSN profile pics.

Speaking of screenshots, more games on PS3 should have taking screenshots built in to make easy wallpapers, maybe if the in-game XMB could support this, this would make messaging and making wallpapers much more fun and something that neither console can or has done to my knowledge.

Another big hitter is basically how 2.40 has reportedly bricked peoples systems and having to wipe the Harddrive through a PC is one of the easiest ways around it. I admit, I was lucky this didn't happen to me and I'm incredibly weary of downloading future firmware after release. However in 2006, this problem also did happen to the 360.
But happening on this recent system defining firmware release is NOT acceptable.

Maybe by the end of this year, the basics of the PS3 should be settled and the PS3 establishing exactly what it does. User generated content for the upcoming Little Big Planet should put Sony back on the map. I think that LBP will attract those who can't be bothered to use the interface of Home.

But, the problems of firmware 2.40 which people have suffered is not needed. As far as I know those without 2.40 can not get it as Sony haven't released or figured out exactly what was so wrong with the update apparently affecting 60gb PS3s. Also for those that haven't got it, let me tell you its very basic and underwhelming, but can be improved upon.

Games

One thing that Sony got right with the PS3 is the fact that most PS3 games are multiregion, as are the Blu-ray films. Something they probably learnt from the PSP, this means that you can buy games else where in the world and possibly cheaper or limited editions you can't buy in the market in your home country.
Thats all well and due...if we had the games.
In summer 2007 when I got my 60gb PS3, the games I got free were Resistance and Motorstorm. The latter I admit, I've never really bothered playing, the most put off point of Motorstorm is how long vehicles take to load from the 'Pick a vehicle' screen and the lack of splitscreen, all in all, I found playing Motorstorm much like playing the original Wipeout on the PSOne. It had this feeling of, "This is something, but it just needs more".


'This is living'; having enough time to put the kettle on and make a hot beverage between loading screens

Even now, its still hard to find a game on the PS3 which you can play with friends/family in the front room in split screen compared to the 360.
Resistance; one of the rare exclusive games to have offline co-op and split screen multiplayer much like Timesplitters or Halo, was a haven for that dark period where basically, nothing came out for PS3.


Viva la Resistance!

The addition of the PSN downloadable games Tekken: Dark Resurrection and Warhawk improved that, Tekken finally gave a game that you can play with people on the PS3 without resorting to putting in old PS2 or PSOne games capable of emulation. Although just a glorified port of the PSP game, I'd still say that its release was very justified; except for the brief period of the lack of online multiplayer.
Despite removing the Single Player campaign of Warhawk, the game came into its own unique existence giving a fun exclusive for PS3 to go against the likes of Battlefield and Halo 2, in my opinion one of the rather niggling bit of Warhawk is how you HAVE to be connected to PSN and can online have split-screen multiplayer when on a server. I can't understand why Warhawk just can't be played by up to 2-4 people in the same room in a split screen method without being online.


Tell me why this can't be played offline.

Exclusives

The Playstation brand has always had a great collection of exclusive games and Ip since the start of the 'Playstation'.
I found that basically, compared to the 360...the PS3 did not, some Ips did arrive such as Heavenly Sword, but the previously released God of War II stole its lime-light, crap such as Super Rub-a-Dub-Dub and the horrible rendition of Lemmings with no gameplay related to previous titles was released on PSN.


Satan's virtual personified spawn represented in a game

Resistance was officially the best game for value until about November 2007 when finally Insomniac released Ratchet and Clank Future: ToD and not long after Naughty Dog released Uncharted, both Single Player games but of the finest quality PS3 had to offer.
The release of Ratchet and Clank was a brave one as;

Number One: Basically a cartoon'y kids game
Number Two: Mascots of a previous generation
Number Three: A cartoon'y platformer with basic textures released on a high-def console

Number Three in my opinion was quite a big risk, as all the other games in the industry mainly attempted to focus on realistic and lighting and contrast, Insomniac knew what was good and continued working on it. To good results, but at the same time, got rid of a component of the the previous games which would of been perfect for the PS3 at the time; Split screen multiplayer.


Soon be a disco inferno

Then we had Uncharted which made up for the lack of all the above that not only gave us a realistic game, but bright and colourful, set in a paradise and Naughty Dog shown just what the machine could do. The attention to detail in Uncharted is amazing, Nathan's clothing getting wet in water, the swaying grass as you walk through it, the bird flying off when you approach them near the start of the jungle, the seamless animation and that iconic scene of the submarine against the sunset on the waterfall. A very different experience from the Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot games of before.


Iconic; epic

However; playing these two games did make me wonder; "Why on Earth weren't these games released a year earlier?" and "Right, so when are they releasing a new Jak and Daxter?"

PSN games have released dates scattered all over the year for the same game, why can't the US/Jap game have all languages built into it for simultaneous release? Is there a reason I'm still waiting for Echochrome in the UK? I downloaded the demo on the JP PSN, which spoke and was pretty much all in understandable english, same for PSOne games, why can't we have games that were popular but released in other countries? Can't we share the love? Isn't this console supposed to bring us together? Wheres PSOne classics like Hogs of War, Crash Bash, Worms or Rollcage? Why not some great remakes of games like REZ HD on XBLA or even dare I say it an online conversion of PSPs 'Powerstone Collection'?

Too Tardy and PSN

Basically, thats the problem, Sony is late. They could used to afford to be late, but not now. Sony are too tardy, others have caught up.
Microsoft and Nintendo have found their niches. Microsoft Hardcore gamers and competitive FPS; Nintendo which is just about the only console with games suitable for 12 and under still using bright colours, simple gameplay and design without a sign of violence, breaking the law, gore or gunning down enemy threats. So that leaves Sony, wondering just what exactly does PS3 means, what defines it? Please don't say 'Multimedia System'.

We've been waiting for Home for what seems to be ages, years.
In-Game XMB took a year after request.
MGS4 didn't do the miracles Sony expected, I myself do not like the MGS series as I am incapable of playing them seriously.
Sony have somehow lost their marketing image and attempting to generate a new one.

Now it seems with the release of firmware 2.40 things are being rushed. Can we expect errors with Home and Playstation Life, could Sony possibly trip up and release another accidental 'bricking application' with no way to recover the harddrive?

Should we be giving Sony a break?
No. But they should be listening to us instead of copying other methods of console success, I don't care about Achievements, GamerPoints, Motion sensitive controller mingames or the addition of trophies.
Who asked for trophies, I certainly didn't, did any of you really think that getting trophies of the PS3 would solve everything? Did Sony? Perhaps they did. Besides, I'm pretty sure Ratchet and Clank's Skill Points gameplay method came first on the PS2.

On the plus side PSN is getting better, with the games such as Super Stardust HD, Everyday Shooter and Blast Factor and the online community and prices are acceptable.

As I previously mentioned on one of my recent C-Blog posts, backwards compatibility IS a selling point, the more PS2 games work, the better. The Ratchet series and Jak 1 not working on the newer systems is a major downfall.

Conclusion and Hope

Heres hoping the remainder of 2008 Sony get their act together and sort out my above requests, if we mention these together, perhaps we can make Sony a more acceptable place and take us seriously and please, please, stop abusing the EU/UK consumers, re-packaging previously 360 exclusive games (Unless its Earth Defence Force 2017 playable co-op online with snazzy Sixaxis controls) because most of us have bought them ages ago for 360. Overall, globally, things are getting better, but not quite good enough, except a few hic-ups here and there.

As much as I like the PS3, I'm really hoping 'new things' to unravel during E3.

Comments please and I admit, I AM a Sony fanboy, because it was MY generation (Except Amiga) and some great titles spawned and gained success from it, I still have respect for what Microsoft and Nintendo are doing, but y'know, I trust Sony because of previous experience and design and the teams of Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, Santa Monica, Liverpool and Cambridge 'Sony Sex-ology'.

This is only my third post on Destructoid C-Blogs, expect more (probably less moaning, but enthusiastic in the near future)

Ta for reading, Bye'd!