This is living

So the PlayStation 3 is here, Spiderman font and all. The console was launched in Europe at midnight ushering in the final transition between the next-generation and the current generation. Now all three consoles are available throughout the major territories in the world, and the focus can one more switch back to what is really important – the games.

Sony have had a lot of bad press lately, starting from the initial delay of the console to the price and recently the decision to change the European model of the console so that it runs old PS2 games through software emulation, meaning that many of the most popular PS2 games are not guaranteed to even play on the machine, or will play but with technical issues. Now usually I am one to gloat a bit, I admit I am not Sony’s biggest fan. In fact I admit that deep down it’s hard sometimes to fight my inner fanboy. You see I think a bit like with football teams everyone who is a gamer has a bias to one party or another, whether this is due to their first exposure to the medium (as with me, my first console was an N64) or just a drifting towards the machine that best somehow represented their attitudes. Now of course the industry is a multi-billion pound behemoth, a far cry from the likes of Sonic vs. Mario and yet the competition between companies and machines, especially amongst the so-called hardcore gamers is as strong as ever.

Now whilst I know in my head this is all rather ridiculous, most games are multi-platform now and the market can easily sustain three machines without any needing to crash and burn to the others delight, I still can’t help but feel an odd sense of smug satisfaction to see Sony seemingly miss stepping. Now I don’t happen to fall in with the doom-mongers who somehow see Sony losing this round of the fight, they have had a rocky start but have way too much momentum to let that happen. Though what it has hopefully done is even the playing field a bit more, which can only be good for the consumer. Many of Sony’s mistakes have been synonymous with a company full of confidence and ego trying to dictate the future of a market they believe they control and failing, and regardless of your bias, there is something satisfying about such a large corporation being taken down a peg or two. As I have stated before regardless of company I dislike misleading tactics and cheating companies and Sony have frequently been unable to live up to their promises of recent years.

Now though I think things will get better, for the first time in a while we have three fairly even machines in terms of potential market share and popularity. The Xbox 360 has a big lead and some great games, but the name is still an emerging one for many people and they have utterly failed once again to crack the Japanese market. The Wii is selling more than I think most people could have predicted and has the possibility to become as popular as the DS is proving to be, however the lack of big name games at the moment and reliance on ports and lazily transferred games could hinder it and developers need to make their games on the console really stand out, as its unique control method and way of playing is what will make people choose it over the graphically more impressive alternatives. And now the PS3 which will be popular I can guarantee it, but hopefully the lessons of the past year or so will serve to humble Sony a little to once again think of the consumer first rather than the technology. Recent announcements like the PlayStation Home service or Little Big World seem to be heading in the right direction and I for one hope this continues.

These new machines all offer the potential for groundbreaking games, though immersion and interaction or sheer size and scope but developers need to be willing to take the risk and there is a real danger that with the cost of making games skyrocketing and the market becoming so competitive that the actual innovative and unique games are overshadowed by the sheer volume of movie tie-ins, sequels and yearly updates that flood the market and will continue to do so. Games are getting stale in many respects and that is one reason that I hope Nintendo’s gamble on the Wii pays off and people start to innovate and experiment and create games that provide something new, but retain the fun that should lie at the heart of the industry. People play because they like to, because it is enjoyable, whether it is becoming immersed in another world, or fighting through breathless and exhilarating action sequences, or solving puzzles or playing sports. This is what draws people to gaming, it’s what attracted me and as long as publishers and developers keep this at the heart of whatever games they are producing then the consumers will always come out on top of the console wars.