A Five Point Case Against Sony

Submitted by James Munn on December 1, 2006 – 6:08 am15 Comments

Here’s a case against Sony’s next-gen offering, without all the fluff. For some aspects of the PS3, it’s necessary to take a long hard look at it’s true mother, the PSP. Sony would like us to believe that the PS3 is the PSP’s, “big brother” but in reality, the PSP was just the test platform for much of what the PS3 is today.

Throughout these points, you’ll see that I don’t address the main hardware issues that have been cropping up for the PS3 since launch (Bluetooth controllers bugging out, upscaling issues, disc-loading problems, etc.) because all three consoles have had their troubles. At this point, their level of overall quality seems to be pretty equal.

I’ll focus on the five points that run through my head every time I wonder why I don’t want a PS3. Five reasons why I now believe that Sony was in the right place at the right time with the PS2. Five reasons why the industry’s thoughts about Sony having no place in the video game industry back when the PS1 was released, were probably right.

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1. Piracy. The PSP has lagged behind the Nintendo DS, it’s not because of the quality of the games but because people can buy the system and never buy a game again. The combination of torrent downloads and a huge, relatively inexpensive and insecure memory format (Memory Stick Duo Pro) has basically made buying a PSP game more difficult than downloading one. This is a generational problem, with the Napster generation downloading games just as they once did music.

What does this lead to? Well, let’s look to the PSP. The news comes out that no one is buying PSP games and casual gamers assume it’s because there isn’t anything to play, but trust me, people are playing PSP games. Just log into XLink Kai and ask who isn

Nate

You’ve nailed every single reason why I don’t plan on buying a ps3 anytime soon. Emu-PSP ftw!

Maxathon

Well, ho’d it now, but aren’t you forgetting about the DSXtreme cartridge or whatever it’s called, which allows you to run DS game images without any additional adapters? And DS games are tiny files by any stretch of the imagination.

http://frankcaron.com Franky Digital

Well, ho’d it now, but aren’t you forgetting about the DSXtreme cartridge or whatever it’s called, which allows you to run DS game images without any additional adapters

That cartrigdge is in-and-of-itself an additional adapter…

The point he was trying to make is that the PSP can be turned into a homebrew hero in a matter of seconds with 0 extra expenditure.

John H.

Am I crazy to believe that Sony loses up to 25% of PSP game sales to piracy right now?

Yes.

Most gamers don’t even know PSP games can be pirated, let alone have the means, time or energy to obtain copies of the games and massage them into a form their PSP will run. Your data sources are skewed by asking people who must already be using Kai, which implies a level of computer facility that most gamers really don’t have.

I first heard that piracy “killed” a console with the Sega Dreamcast (which was much easier to get an ISO running for the usual for game consoles), and I sense a meme trying to get started here that it also killed the PSP. It did not kill the Dreamcast: the PS2 did. Just as it won’t have killed the PSP: the DS did.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t be so worried about this, but overwrought piracy concerns are driving a lot of exceedingly bad legislation. Friends don’t let friends spread malicious memes.

Subnet6

@John H,

Sure, maybe piracy doesn’t KILL a console, but thats not what is necessary for it to be a problem. Piracy need only add some additional hurt to an already struggling platform to cause serious damage. The premise of this post is not to suggest that each point above will singlehandedly bring down the PS3 but rather the cumulative effect of all of them could be very damning for the future of the system.

If you don’t think piracy is a problem, hop on bittorrent and type “ps2″ and watch the THOUSANDS of results that come back.

http://www.addictingentertainment.com m3mnoch

it doesn’t really matter if the “general” consumer knows how to pirate psp games. all that matters is if the devs feel like it’s easy to pirate games for it.

and, to that notion, at least the psp isn’t touted to run linux! for god’s sake! ripping iso’s less than a week after launch? well, sure! because sony WROTE THE HARDWARE DRIVERS FOR THEM!

it’s especially bad with a 200k unit launch. hell. i bet a lot of the hardcore hackers haven’t even been able to get their hands on a ps3 yet.

and, don’t get me started on the browser. it’s allowing 3rd party code to execute in a “secure” environment. how long before we see a flash player “stack overflow” sort of hack?

sony basically said “please! come pirate our software!”

and it’s just the intimation of pirating software that kills games being made. games not being made is what kills platforms.

m3mnoch.

James (Aeropause)

Piracy can definitely kill a console, but always indirectly. It opens a festering sore in a platform that slowly turns developer interest away. Without developer interest, game development faulters. No console can survive on 1st Party alone, especially when it’s over-priced.

There are other problems with the PSP beyond piracy, but that is how the PSP will relate to the PS3, which I’ll probably break down at a later date. This was focused on the PS3, of course.

Great comments by the way guys.

http://www.aeropause.com George

On the piracy thing, the Xbox 360 is NOT more secure with regards to piracy. Right now, it’s take $0 to modify your Xbox 360′s DVD-ROM drive firmware to read game backups. No modchips are necessary. Also, I’m not entirely sure that it’s piracy that kills consoles. A lot of people blame piracy for killing the Dreamcast, but leading up to the end there was quite a dearth of killer-app level games for the console, while the PS1 was still getting piles of system-selling titles.

And now, people want to blame piracy for killing the PSP. How about the almost complete lack of quality titles? What about pathetic load times? What about piss poor battery life? And don’t even get me started on UMD movies. That’s just begging to be ignored in favor of ripping one’s own DVD’s to a memory stick.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, piracy is just an excuse to cover-up lackluster quality and performance.

hchaput

LOL! The #1 reason not to buy a PS3 is because the PSP games are pirated?! I can’t believe the level of anti-PS3 insanity I’ve been reading lately. And #2, how is cross-platform availability a reason not to get a PS3? #3, bad online support, seems more like a reason not to get a Wii, which currently has no online gameplay at all. #4… I’m confused… I should buy a 360 because I want to hurt Microsoft? But I love #5: Blu-ray is better, but who cares! I’ve read a boatload of anti-PS3 FUD lately, but this is truly a laughable, pitiful list. Somebody please tell me this is a parody.

http://www.addictingentertainment.com m3mnoch

@hchaput

1) the offline value of the ps3 is greater than the online value. meaning, it’s worth more for stuff you can do WITHOUT sony’s content. (george, this is a big reason why piracy on the 360 isn’t as fulfilling — all the best stuff comes with being connected.)

2) exclusives. obvious.

3) yes. bad online support. nintendo didn’t say a major reason to own their console was because they were going to pwn xbox live — sony did. oh, and it’s not going to get much better because, you know, sony’s not a software company much less an internet company. if you want to avoid a wii for bad online support, go ahead. that doesn’t change the fact that the ps3 online is shit.

4) no. you don’t buy a 360 because you want to hurt microsoft. just like you don’t buy a ps3 because you love sony. stop being a damn lemming. buy shit because you want to play it not because you are blindly swallowing some company’s marketing load.

5) yes. blu-ray has more storage and thus, “is better.” kinda. reading 9 gigs off a disc fast is better than reading 30 gigs off a disc slow. better is debatable. $200 for a “debatable” better? no.

m3mnoch.

http://gamehall.com.br/audiogame Gus

If piracy was a problem the PS1 AND PS2 would have failed miserably.

fillerbunny9

I call BS to the “PSP fails because of piracy” argument. that there are no good games for it is the reason mine has been collecting dust since Loco Roco. I have purchased a grand total of 10 PSP games, and until Gradius Collection drops to below $20, considering how shoddily MOVING looks, it’s not worth it for me.

what do you need to do for DS piracy? you buy an $80 cart, and download some software from the internet. what do you do for piracy on the PSP? you buy an $80 Memory Stick Duo, and download software from the internet. oh so much more complicated! the PSP is failing because there are not enough QUALITY titles for it out there. there’s plenty of shovelware and mediocre games though, and let’s not forget UMD movies, where you pay more and get less. further, PSP games moving to PS2 as bargain titles because they’re not that hot to begin with. oh yes, it’s all piracy’s fault!!

we all know Sony blew exclusives when they were offered the GTA series on a silver platter for the PS3. they’ll learn their faux pas sooner rather than later, I imagine.

yeah, Sony has a shoddy online service. not every gamer out there desperately needs to get online and play games with a bunch of douchebags and a couple friends. Xbox Live is a better online plan in action, but the players take all the fun out of it. I think that when I want to play games with friends, I’ll continue to just invite them over to the apartment.

guess what, the reason a lot of people haven’t bought a 360 isn’t because they hate Microsoft, but because there’s not enough they want to play on it. why haven’t I bought one? the ONLY game currently or available in the next year or so that I want to play is Dead Rising. the end. no Halo for me, no Gears, etc etc. until we see a release of Blue Dragon stateside, the number of 360 games I want to play shall remain 1. oh, and $400 for a 360 is “dirt cheap”?

Blu-Ray added a huge pricetag. restricting those of us who need to spend 2 months worth of rent just to get past admission price for the PS3. bad move. thanks for the headline that everyone has been saying since E3.

theFel

If your article is right, MS has done something of a strategic aikido move on Sony. Sony opens up hardware for consumer’s ease of use (read piracy) based against MS strategy, developers do not follow suit… PC becomes platform of choice.
After all if there is a platform where all can be done on, that is PC.
But I disagree with your PSP software analysis… I and many others that I know have some games but primarily used it as a media player. It’s ok like that but maybe I should have got an alternative personal media player.

Shin Gallon

1. PSP isn’t doing well because there’s a serious lack of really good games for it, and the games are overpriced for portable games.
2. I don’t think that Metal Gear Solid 4 will be appearing on the 360, ever, since Kojima himself has said “No, it’s not gonna happen”.
3. Online play is the most overrated feature of any video game. Laggy and populated almost exclusively with foul-mouthed, homophobic-slur spouting teenage brats, it’s hardly a grand experience. The only times I’ve ever enjoyed myself in an online game were playing Street Fighter III on Live, but that’s because it was Street Fighter, not because it was Live.
4. I’m not buying a 360 because Dead Rising by itself isn’t enough to make the system worth it to me, and if what you say about exclusives is true, I’ll just get the eventual PS3 port when it comes out anyway. And Linux interests me about as much as the latest EA $60 roster update to Madden, which is to say, not in the slightest.
5. I don’t really care about the Blu-Ray one way or another, since I don’t even have an HD capble TV, it’s entirely irrelevant to me at this point in time, and by the time it IS relevant, one of the two formats will have won.

Phil in California USA

Piracy is too difficult for most consumers. That’s why it never killed any technology. As already stated – PSP doesn’t suck from piracy; it sucks from lack of great games. Oh and you do need extra hardware for PSP ISO play – it’s called a large memorystick pro duo, and it doesn’t come with the device.

PC’s don’t work as “do everything” devices because of the lack of consistency among hardware implementations – creating a lack of consistency in the gaming experience.

When you buy a PS3 or XBox360 you know that it will play lots games without needing hundreds of dollars in graphics card upgrades or other upgrades. Oh, but PS3 also runs YellowDog Linux meaning that with a cheap keyboard and mouse you can do all of your web browsing and productivity apps (OpenOffice rocks) and IM and whatever on your PS3 as well, which will probably make it the most successful linux platform ever.

And have you compared noise/heat between the PS3 and XBox360 (or a typical PC)? PS3 looks/sounds like a miracle of engineering compared to the others.

My next console will be a PS3. My next PC will probably be another PS3.

XBox360 is a great improvement over XBox, and titles like Gears of War will keep it competitive, but PS3 (after production ramps up) will rule the console wars until Microsoft quiets/cools the 360 down and includes embedded Windows Vista in future versions, and that’ll never happen.