Or maybe I should title it "My Likes and Dislikes" or "What Sony Could Learn and Unlearn" or maybe just "+/- 360"? Anyway, I'm coming up on the 30 day anniversary of my 360 purchase and I can honestly say that I have more positives to say than negatives about MS's Xbox sequel. The positives are things I hope that Sony can emulate and improve upon with the PS3. +#1: Wireless controllers This was one thing I've always wanted, but only after exposure do I realize just how radically it effects how I play games. With wired controllers I always had a ritual of pushing my gaming chair (i.e. office) to the television before every game. With wired controllers I would always give the controller a flick in order to make sure that the cord clears my legs whenever I want to stand up or walk away. That 360 cordless has changed everything. Now I play where ever my butt lands. Couch, recliner, the next room, I think it's safe to say that I'm now finding myself really aggravated by the PS2 controller when trying to play FXII or even Giutar Hero II. Once the PS3 hits I think it may be safe to declare that I am never going back to wired controllers. +#2: The Online Setup And this is something I haven't really used that much at all. The only experience I've had in online playing is my brief stint with Uno, but I think it has something more to do with the idea that it's ALWAYS on. I actually like seeing that little prompt light up whenever someone logs on. I actually like watching DVDs on the 360 (something I never thought I'd say) and getting that prompt at the bottom of the screen whenever someone logs in. It's an odd sense of comfort for some reason. +#3: Live Arcade One part comfort and one part hopeful. The comfort comes from seeing old standards getting a new lease on life. The hopefulness is the thought of the really awesome untapped potential within the idea. It's an awesome outlet for some big name publishers to use as a testing ground for some really wacky gameplay ideas. I mean, ~Castle Crashers~ for Kutaragi's sake! Who wouldn't like to see more from Behemoth? Who wouldn't like to see the little guy succeed? Who wouldn't like to see 8-bit and 16-bit sequels to old 8-bit and 16-bit games? I might be a lemming, but I would absolutely buy a 16-bit version of FFVI-2 in a heartbeat. I would buy a 16-bit remake of FVII. I would buy just about any 16-bit episodic RPG that Square may deem neccessary. There should be a very low and very high reward risk under a model like this. Some may look at it as a step back in tech, but if Sony could follow this model, and make these games downloadable to PSP, I think the least they can gain is a new market of old gamers (see: Wii strategy). -#1: The Size I don't really get it, people want to b**** about the size and weight of the PS3, but if you take a 360 and duct tape the HUGE power brick to it's side, you've got an item that is equal in girth and weight to a PS3. Add in the HD-DVD add-on and it just gets ridiculous. The 360 is easily (with everything included) the same size as the original and that just bugs me. When a console doesn't easily fit into a duffle bag, I start longing for the simplier days of my extreme youth. NES, SNES, and even the Genesis had a more portability vibe to them that the 360 and PS3 do not. I don't ever see me packing up my 360 to take it to a friend's house. Ever. That makes me a little sad. -#2: The Noise The noise of the original Xbox was slightly understandable, the noise coming out of the 360 is kind of insulting. If there was one thing I thought MS would really work on I thought it would be the console's noise factor. The damndable thing buzzes like fridge when accessing the disc and really detracts from an otherwise slick design. Of the things I find myself the most indifferent about I think #1 is the idea of achievements and points. They really don't do anything for me. Maybe if a player was to obtain them all and it unlocked something at the end of the game (a character, a weapon, a special cutscene, hell, even a desktop theme), maybe I would find the joy in any of it. But I could really care less if I "achieved 10 perfect reloads in a row" on Gears of War and I sure as hell could care less if you did. Points and achievements are like the new magic beans. It's ultimately a path to nowhere. If they would start making them achievements that eventually give out some gameplay altering reward, then maybe I'll hope on board. Until then it's much ado about nothing, IMHO.
I think I'm about 52 hours away from the US release of the PS3 and I'm thinking about doing something evil. Something very, very soul alteringly ~evil~. (don't tell me that none of you haven't been thinking the exact same thing)