Daily Joystick

By The Propagandist (Joel Clausen)

Nearly 2 years after the PlayStation 3 launch, one must consider what exactly Sony has to show for its efforts. Once touted as the “Mercedes” of all gaming consoles and publicized globally by Sony’s Marketing and Public Relations minions as a replacement for the modern day computer as we know it, the consumer has yet to see such rhetoric manifest into actual reality. Sony may be the “Mercedes” of the console industry but to date, they have demonstrated indubitably that the clutch has slipped and the Benz cannot shift out of second. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the 360 has taken flight.

 When publishing any editorial which is pertinent to Sony related blunders, the list is far too expansive to fully elaborate and cite with specificity all of the broken promises and outright lies. The same can be said for Microsoft but that editorial is for another day and time. From Ken Kutaragi stating emphatically that PS3 games will run at 120FPS (which may be possible but we have yet to see such), to the legendary David Reeves “the first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn’t have games” gem. Well Dave, you don’t have any games and people are not buying your system. Since its announcement and unveiling, Sony has really screwed the pooch two ways into Thursday.

 We could speak of what initial specs Sony provided to the public such as 2 HDMI (1) and 3 Ethernet outputs (1) but at this particular juncture, it is inconsequential and not relevant to Sony’s current standing. However, Sony has done much worse following the release of the PS3.

 Let us take a trip once again down memory lane circa 2005 to Barnum and Bailey’s main competitor of the time, E3. Ah yes, the Killzone 2 trailer. Tents were pitched in unison as the CG was played before all the attendee’s eyes. Blogs popped up like acne on Edward James Olmos’s face praising the PS3 in all of its awe inspiring glory. Blind Sony loyalist broke out the Don P. and began a preemptive celebration of another console war victory. Shortly thereafter reality struck them like Ike did Tina Turner and for the most part these misguided souls drank hot Chata for the next few months. Others attempted to justify Sony which is nothing short of preposterous and pathetic. Deceiving the gaming public, en mass, by implying the E3 05 Killzone demo was “real time” couldn’t be a more conniving and deceptive ploy to further the PS3 propaganda machine but boy did it work! True High-Def anyone?

 More recently, a Sony bottom feeder was caught red handed editing the Wikipedia Halo 3 page. For the love of everything good and mighty, if Sony were to stoop any lower their nasal cavity would be firmly embedded in Matt Roloff’s …….. Never mind. They are not the only ones who have done such. Major corporations and business have been busted doing the same thing but at the very least these people created additional content formulated in a professional and credible manner. Sony on the other hand stated, “It won’t look any better than Halo 2”. It’s apparent this incompetent Sony lackey wasn’t gunning for a Pulitzer nor was he/she a very articulate person. To boot, Halo 3 looks tremendously “better” than Halo 2 … for the most part.

 Let’s face facts. Sony screwed up in more ways than one but Microsoft is far from blemish free. Now I am not one to be obstinate and to single out Sony would be nothing more than prejudiced. If we are to face facts let’s be realists, Microsoft screwed up as well. Their console was rushed into production which beget a tawdry product which beget the omnipresent red rings hardware failures. It wasn’t until a few months after the 360 launch when many recognized something was awry. A pattern began to form and questions were being asked. For months Microsoft was evasive when questioned about the prevalence of the 360 Red Rings. When asked direct, closed ended questions, Pete Moore and the gang used vague language and ambiguous terms effectively deflecting the questions altogether. It took Gates and Co. nearly a year to come clean and admit culpability. The problem should have never escalated or progressed as far as it did before action was taken. Consequently, many 360 owners were vexed and for good reason. They were paying for repairs out of warranty, shipping costs, and I will refrain from opening the can of worms which is the turn around time. This was by far the biggest Microsoft blunder as far as it concerns the 360 and their status quo profitless gaming division with the exception of the Halo 3 success. However, the news of refurbished and repaired units being returned just to suffer from another hardware failure days or months upon receiving the console is gaining steam. If Microsoft continues with their reckless and negligent practices they risk alienating a substantial portion of their consumer base. If Sony had all their ducks in a row and established a competitive gaming line-up present day, it would not be a stretch to assume the 360 would be sitting in third place.

 What differentiates the PS3 from the 360, Sony from Microsoft, men from boys, is simple accountability. When shit hit the fan, Moore and his cohorts went above and beyond to rectify the problem. They put forth a concerted effort in preventing problems such as the RRoD from occurring with such frequency or occurring at all. Yes, Microsoft should have never let the dukes touch a single blade in that fan before they took action. It should have been addressed immediately as we all know the brass in Redmond knew of this pattern before knowledge, and most importantly, publicity of this knowledge made its internet, blogging, and national news rounds. However, hindsight is always 20/20 unless you’re Forrest Whitaker. It’s easy to speculate on how Microsoft should have gone about this problem now that the effects of the decisions made are easily discernable. I’d much rather wait for a mistake to be corrected, a wrong to be righted, rather than having it swept under the rug and buried under corporate BS. Microsoft manned up, took one for the team, and for that I applaud them.    

 The PlayStation 3 is an impressive piece of equipment. It should go without saying it is technologically superior to our beloved 360 and you would be fooling yourself to think otherwise. Now I am far from a tech nerd as I leave the spec lingo and explanations to Scott Thomson, however, I have spoken to knowledgeable people who have demonstrated the 360 is a beefy SOB in its own right. The strength of the technology plays a role in its success but the role is minimal. If there is one constant, one absolute, one axiom in the next-gen gaming industry today, it’s that games sell consoles. Those who have the widest variety, the majority of top tier titles and triple A games will come out the victor.

 With games being paramount in the race for the number one position, Sony has failed miserably in providing their consumer base with killer aps and great games. PS3 fans were promised titles that would revolutionize the industry and physics which would be second to none. To date, all of these promises have yet to be fulfilled. During the 07’ E3 expo, Sony placed a great emphasis on their ‘08 line up and a number of “great games” which were currently in development. Because they had next to nothing for the current year, Sony boasted of the only two legitimate “contending” games to be released by year end, Heavenly Sword and Lair. They also predicated that the sheer lustrous and brilliance of both games respectively would act as the saving grace of the PlayStation 3. Anticipation was high and the hype surrounding their release was damn near palpable. Ten gigabytes of sound data alone? Killer physics and amazing graphics? PS3 owners were ebullient but then the reviews began to filter in.

I have openly praised Heavenly Sword on the PX360 Podcast through preliminary game play montages, trailers, and screenshots. I had no doubt it would be a good game but even I was taken aback by the rankings, a game which Sony expected to push hundreds of thousands of units. The verdict? Gamerankings issued an 81 while Metacritic issued a 79. To put this in perspective, the Heavenly Sword ranking is the equivalent of a Hitman, King Kong, and Saints Row for the 360. FFS, 7 Xbox Live Arcade games scored higher. Good game? Yes, but far from the revolutionary title Sony would have you believe.

Lair? During its early development, Sony placed a tremendous amount of stock into Factor Five’s title which Sony conveniently published. It was expected to be an extravagant game which would exploit all of the cell processors strength. The “box of potential” would finally be unleashing its supreme and almighty vengeance upon all dissenters and critics. The verdict? Gamerankings issued Lair a 57 while Metacritic issued a 55. Dynasty Warriors, Tenchu Z, and Two Worlds scored competitively against Sony’s predicted sales juggernaut. To even share a ranking in close proximity to Two Worlds is ghastly. That’s like waking up one morning after a Friday night drinking binge just to find Kathy Bates buck naked save a pair of pink stilettos in bed next to you with crusty lips.

  Bottom line, Sony is buckling under the pressure. Their arrogance cannot be in any way a benefit to them although their smug behavior continues. The PS3 was dealt a hand and bluffed their way through the first year of release. Their bluff was called and they were handled accordingly. 2007 has become an incredibly snafu year for Sony. Their beloved Trojan BD player and part time gaming machine was a borderline calamity but who knows what lies ahead for the PS3 in the rest of 2008? Although down, Sony is far from out and to maintain the belief that they have completely lost would be temerarious. Microsoft must continue delivering quality games and must abstain from becoming complacent as Sony has done. Otherwise, it will end up as an original Xbox outcome with Microsoft sitting in dead last.

 Sun Tzu once said, “The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory”. The million dollar question is this, what does Sony have lined up for next year? Killzone 2, FFXIII, Gran Turismo 5. Has Sony been abiding their time awaiting the most opportune moment to present itself before calling in the Calvary? I couldn’t tell you but there is one thing I can be certain of, never count an enemy or competitor out until they have fully capitulated. I have yet to witness any white flags being raised at Sony’s HQ and until that time comes nothing is written in stone. For now, Microsoft fanboy’s may bask in the glory of triumph but I implore them to remove the wool over their eyes and recognize that this fight is far from over. Until Sony pulls their head out let the domination continue but be forewarned, it could be short lived. In the meantime, game on people … Game on!