Hey,

I'm new to the social part of this site but certainly no stranger to video games. I know it's been exhaustively debated, leaving many children orphaned and spouses widowed, but I have to share my thoughts on the whole franchise war between PS3 and X-Box, because, after all, isn't that what the internet's for?

Since I know anyone coming onto a side on this issue is going to inevitably defend the system they currently own (you'd have to have pretty big buyer's remorse not to), let me just begin by saying that yes, I own a PS3, so yes, I am obviously biased in favor of it. I am bi-console-curious though (some of my best friends are X-Boxers!), and I don't carry any petty grudges against Microsoft's exclusives. I adore the Fable games, and I can admit Halo is one of the most endlessly enjoyable multiplayer experiences out there. So let it be known that my beef is totally not with those that play X-Box, the games it carries, or the X-Box itself. What I am getting sick of, however, is how Microsoft is seemingly hoarding all of its franchises with an iron fist while many, many former PS3 exclusives are jumping ship as quickly as possible.

Also, not to entirely dismiss the Wii or anything, but I'm pretty much going to entirely dismiss the Wii here, but only because it doesn't get ANY of the titles I'm about to mention. Sorry guys!

Everyone knows that health competition is the backbone of a solid economy, and the video game industry is no exception. Unfortunately, it seems to me like in every single way, Playstation owners are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to these franchise wars.God knows that Bungee releasing a Halo on the Playstation is one of the seven signs of the apocalypse, yet X-Box owners can look forward to seeing Insomniac releasing our prized Ratchet & Clanks and Resistances. Resident Evil 5 became the first (and certainly not last) entry in the long-running series to also appear on the X-Box, with Capcom giving Devil May Cry the same treatment as well. An even bigger shocker was Final Fantasy, which comfortably resided on the Playstation for entries 7-12. Probably the biggest insult, however, was GTA, the game we Playstation owners used to be able to lord over X-Box owners' heads when they started bragging about Halo; of course, Rockstar wasted no time in releasing EVERY worthwhile GTA on the X-Box following San Andreas, allowing X-Box owners to partake in the awesomeness that is GTA IV and (I'm still fuming over this) releasing the Lost & the Damned as an X-Box exclusive, at least for the two years until Episodes from Liberty City came out (Bethesda did the same thing with the Fallout 3 expansions, too). There are far too many games to be listed here alone (uh, Red Faction, while we're at it), but I think I've gotten my point across.

Now here's the part where I name formerly X-Box exclusive titles that have crossed over to the Playstation: . Catch my drift? OK, I guess Braid counts, but other than that...

Honestly, I can't think of any major quality Sony franchises that are still PS3 exclusives beyond God of War, Killzone, and Twisted Metal, the latter of which may as well be making the crossover to Microsoft in its latest entry (I have no evidence confirming this, maybe I'll have to look it up on Gamespot later!). Sure, we still have Naughty Dog, but even they have been dropping the deuces that are the post 1997 Crash games upon the X-Box as of late; this also means we have Uncharted, which is a fantastic series that I absolutely appreciate for being an emerging PS3 exclusive franchise (the next Infamous release will earn it a spot on this list as well).

So now that all of the exposition is out of the way, let's get to the meat and potatoes: what does this all MEAN?!? Well, since I'm not a selfish lover (of videogames, anyways), I am more than happy to be able to share the awesome new titles we've seen released since the console upgrades. But frankly, from the perspective of a Playstation owner, it seems terribly unfair that we have to share all of these great games while X-Box publishers give us nothing in return. Would it really be the end of the world if Fable 3 was also on the Playstation (we already had to give you Final Fantasy)? How hard would it be for Halo to make the switch (after all, Bioshock managed to do it just fine)? Are you telling me the Playstation can handle Killzone 2 but Gears of War is a step too far? And those jackasses at Valve are so far up their own jack-asses they actually avowed to never release a game on the PS3 (so what the hell do you call The Orange Box then?). This applies doubly to the downloadable games: I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why Braid had to be released on the Playstation Network several months after it appeared on the X-Box Arcade; I'm praying LIMBO makes this switch as well. While I understand the business principle of keeping your unique products to yourself, it's not as if Microsoft wields executive control over the publishers that make games for it; and these publishers, in my opinion, are limiting both their audience and their profits by sticking to one platform or the other. While I know the existence of exclusives is necessary for a number of reasons-- they're a great marketing ploy to guilt longtime fans of a series from straying from its console-- it just seems like us PS3 owners are the kids in daycare being told to share our Star Wars ltd. edition action figures with the kid we know is just going to break them. I could be completely off-base here, but this is just what I've observed, and I'm none too pleased about it.

But thank God for Atlus, right? Can't wait until Demons Souls 2 and the inevitable SMT for the PS3.