Going to the Dark Side Sir?
Still looks vaguely like KITT
Thanks to Test My Driving I am the proud owner of a brand new PS3 slim. I’ll be honest and say that had I not won it I would never have bought one. One main reason for me is I don’t like the way they implemented the Playstation Network (PSN).
Now many fanboys for Sony’s console will say it trumps Microsoft’s XBox Live (XBL) service because it’s free and therefore accessible to all. This much is true however it’s free because Sony doesn’t provide the servers they’re hosted by the publishers/developers* of the games you play. This may sound great in theory but it’s not. I was lucky enough to beta the PSN on my PS2 back when I had one and while they’ve fixed some of its shortcomings in the PS3 implementation the most problematic part, servers hosted by publishers/developers is still how it all works. This puts you at the mercy of them as they can quite happily turn off the server for First Person Shooter 2009 meaning that if you want to carry on fragging you’ll need to purchase First Person Shooter 2010. It’s cynical but the system as is can be abused in that way. It has also, in my experience, caused far too many connection issues when you just want to have a kick about on Fifa. It’s for this reason alone I quite happily shell out each year for my XBL subscription.
Other than that though I have enjoyed using a PS3 and it’s not been as unusual as I thought it’d be to revert back to the controller which I’ve not used in many years. I’ll admit it was odd at first, especially when playing F1 Challenge, but I’ve taken to it rather quicker than I thought. I still prefer the XBox controller though mainly because I find the positioning of the analog sticks, and the pad in general, far more comfortable. The menu system is pretty cool and thanks to Nullriver’s Media Link I’m able to stream stuff from my Mac as well which is nice.
In the end though I won’t be shelling out to buy all the cross-platform titles for my PS3 as my XBox 360 is still my platform of choice. I have a far better appreciation for the console and the PSN but it’s still not as good as it could be however I doubt Sony will make it a pay-to-play. The bonus for me though is I now have a Blu-Ray player which is great so all’s well that ends well.