Mon 30 Jun 2008
It was “so close and yet so far” for Sony with the new 2.40 patch. I was very happy to hear that 2.40 will add trophies (achievements) and an in-game menu system. So excited, in fact, that I was almost ready to switch and buy PS3 versions for all my cross-platform games instead of 360 version as I’m currently doing. That is, until I heard that the XMB will not be giving users the ability to jump into games their friends are playing in or invite friends to games you’re playing. That was, by far, the feature I was looking forward to most! It’s as if the designers who work on the PS3 aren’t gamers but mediaphiles instead.
As far as multi-media goes the PS3 kills the 360 hands down. It can play Blu-Ray movies, has a browser (even though it sucks), supports more video formats, and is more usb/media storage friendly. As a gaming machine it has much to do before it can compare to the 360. I agree, the 2.40 update will bring it a lot closer, but I’m still peeved at how big of a blunder this ommission is …
July 1st, 2008 at 9:29 am
I don’t think that they aren’t gamers or that they don’t know that jumping into games is not important, its just very hard to do. Microsoft were smart in that they developed the 360 with that feature so that game companies can just use the existing system. Even you can appreciate how difficult it can be to enable a feature like that when it wasnt initially planned…
I think Sony was crazy in undermining the importance of it in the first place, however they are doing all they can now to fix their initial short comings, and this latest update c;ear;y proves that they are listening to the consumers and trying their best to give them what they want. Is it as good as LIVE? Not yet, but its much much closer, and seems like more and more likely to happen. Here is a link for FAQs about the new update. They are working on getting ppl to jump from game to game.
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/06/30/firmware-v240-faq/
As far as I am concerned this a BIG step in the right direction, they are not at the finish line yet, but they know they are not and will continue working to get there…
July 1st, 2008 at 11:46 am
In my opinion, the system should never have been launched when it was. Sony has no excuse for all these missing features. You can be more lenient towards the 360 for anything that’s missing because they came first. Despite that, it’s still the superior gaming machine? That’s ridiculous!
I hate having to choose which system to buy a game for. Both systems fail when it comes to exclusive content and so most good games are third party and cross-platform. So far, whenever a game is to come out on both systems, I’ve always bought the 360 version. I was hoping 2.40 would change that but it doesn’t look like it will (at least when it comes to multiplayer games). On top of everything, my friends are split almost evenly between both systems so whatever I choose I’ll be alienating half my friends.
I’m not the only person in this boat too. Most (if not all) of the people I know who own both systems prefer the 360 for gaming. Sure, they’re happy with the non-gaming functionality of the PS3 (as am I) but that just doesn’t cut it for a gamer.
Either way, I hope that Sony gets it’s act together or just drops out of the console race altogether and make my choices easier…