If you bought this product, you may or may not be pleased with your purchase. If you fall into the latter camp, you might find yourself agreeing with the people who are particularly disappointed with EA’s handling of the Orange Box port, especially where online play is concerned. It turns out the PS3 version of this package has a lot of the online functionality excised… well, when I say a lot of it, I really mean most of it.

To my untrained eye, it looks like most of what’s missing can be easily attributed to the differences between Microsoft’s robust (for-pay) Xbox Live system and Sony’s less impressive (free) online offering via PSN. Certainly, the lack of Xbox Live Achievements is understandable, and in my view, forgivable. What use are achievements to those not using Xbox Live? Frankly, what use are they even ON Xbox Live, besides just for show?

That said, maybe it’s just the Nintendo side of me thinking it does not necessarily follow that we should expect parity in a single product across multiple platforms. I’m used to the shaft where online play is concerned, and my solution would be simply not to buy the product on that platform. If you’re not so jaded, perhaps you should hit up the site for yourself and pile on with the 1500+ other people whose names are on their harshly-worded petition. This is an effort to persuade EA to release a patch that brings the Orange Box feature set on the PS3 up to the level that it is on the 360, and more importantly, to iron out the exploits in the Team Fortress 2 code that make playing the game online an exercise in futility due to cheaters.

The list of issues that remain in the PS3 version of the set is lengthy, and they’re pretty significant. I can understand the frustration these players are facing, but I really don’t see EA doing anything about it.

Source: Electronic Arts, We Demand Equal Rights!