The PlayStation needs to be on its side to avoid overheating. The PlayStation 2 won't read blue-bottom discs. The PSP suffers from dead pixels and unresponsive square buttons. The PlayStation 3 fails to...
Actually, wait a minute. The PS3 seems to be working smoothly.
While the Xbox 360 melts internally, is being subjected to a $1 billion warranty system, and the Wii apparently has an appetite for big screen TVs, the PS3 remains strong. Visit any gaming site and you'll find countless stories on how flaky gaming hardware can be, the problems with it, and all types of PR cover-ups.
Yet, the mainstream gaming press seems to missing how the PS3 is holding up. The same mainstream press didn't seem to have any trouble whipping up snappy headlines on Sony's earlier hardware to attract a fanboy war. How is everyone missing this historic development (and that is by no means an exaggeration)? This is brand new hardware, with multiple first-time technologies from the cell processor to the Blu-ray drive.
Maybe it's a simple case of this simply not being news. When you turn on the nightly news, do you hear about the latest tragic plane crash, or the thousands that reached their destination safely? Would viewers rather hear a reporter drone on about the millions of cars currently navigating the freeway system, or the one that slipped off and landed upside down in a pillar of smoke?
This is a different case though. Unlike plane and car companies, Sony's hardware track record so far is riddled with problems. Smart resale gaming shops won't even touch a first generation PS1, and they'd be wise to immediately check any PS2's. This is a story; a successful console is in homes from the PlayStation division, and it's actually working smoothly. Some obscure religions may note that this is a sign of the apocalypse.
At this stage, positive publicity of any form would be a plus for Sony's game division. Between hacking off the heads of goats for a press event, losing (lots of) exclusives, football franchises with frame rate issues, dropped online multi-player modes, being accused of destroying a cathedral, all the way to unsold PS3's lining store shelves while the competition can't be found, this could be one of the company's highlights. Imagine a potential consumer reading up on what game system to buy while running across a story about three red lights on the Xbox 360 and a story just below that on the PS3's reliable performance.
Is it a system bias amongst the media? Of course not. While fanboys will try their hardest to spew hatred at any negative piece against their favorite system, this would be a situation in which all gaming media would have some kind of absurd collaboration to knock down Sony. If you believe that, stock up on tinfoil hats. This is the story we should be reading about, yet it's a shame no one seems to be noticing this nearly problem-free hardware, at least in terms of the technology.
The software is something else entirely.
Log in to comment