Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

PlayStation not living up to its past

I’ll never forget the day I picked up my first PlayStation 2.

Courtesy wlodi/Flickr
Courtesy wlodi/Flickr

Having saved up money for a long time, the payoff was more than I could have expected. Armed only with Soul Calibur 2 and one controller, there were many sleepless nights when I would push through fatigue to get one step closer to completion.

Flash forward a decade later and not much has changed about that habit. The system though, is an entirely different story. I don’t play as much PlayStation as I used to. My time is devoted to other consoles — and it’s a shame — as the PS2 was a pinnacle of gaming. I’m not too fond of Sony’s approach with the development of their product.

The first problem I have is with the marketing. Sony’s fictional vice president, whose roles change in every commercial, tells you why the PlayStation 3, its most recent home console, is the most amazing thing in which you can invest your money. This is accompanied by the “it only does everything” motto that Sony has picked up somewhat recently.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall commercials when I was a teenager telling me why the PS2 was so awesome. The games themselves could say that, and the trailers sufficed plenty. There are a plethora of franchises that started and peaked on the PS2 that did the console justice.

Now, I’m not saying that the next generation system doesn’t have quality games, but Sony seems to be trying too hard to sell their product. If a video game trailer is good enough, then the game should be able to sell itself. Sony is too reliant on telling people that the PS3 is capable of playing awesome movies, surfing the web, doing your laundry, cooking breakfast and fighting crime. It’s like Sony is saying, “We know you gamers don’t have $60 to shell out on a new game every week, but please buy our products, please. They’re cool, we promise.”

The available games can be considered another problem. There are many gems to be found, but the console is heavily reliant on multi-platform, blockbuster games. And when it comes down to it, if a different console has better exclusive games, the consumers are going to stray towards that console, considering they can get their cross-platform games as well. A console needs to be able to provide fantastic exclusive games, or else it will fail as a business as there’s no incentive to choose one console over the other.

With the exception of perhaps “Uncharted,” there aren’t many great PS3 exclusive series that haven’t originated from the PS2. Whereas before we had Ratchet and Clank, Sly, Solid Snake and Kratos, we don’t have much in standout characters that haven’t come from the PS2.

This shows in the figures, as Sony is last in the current generation console wars, only selling 53.9 million units worldwide, compared to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 selling 56.8 million and Nintendo’s Wii, selling 88.5 million as of Oct. 15. Sure, localization of games and other countries are an influence to these figures, but Sony is a Japanese corporation, so if anything, that demographic should massively boost the unit sales.

The Wii’s success is a horrible influence on both Sony and Microsoft. The simplistic motion controls of the Wii and its marketing to the casual and family gamer has led Sony and Microsoft to do the same. Microsoft has developed the Kinect, a full-body camera that utilizes a person’s image as the controller and has met with decent enough success. Sony on the other hand, has made the Move, a controller that looks like a lollipop that people shake in their hands …exactly like the Wii. There’s not much quality to really stand out besides some games with cheap “waggle” gimmicks, when the goal should be providing quality to an already existing market.

When the PS2 came out, the games were such top quality that it completely destroyed the Sega Dreamcast. Sega hasn’t created another console since, which is a shame, since it first introduced online play on a console, something that wasn’t appreciated at the time. Sony marketed to what people wanted at the time with quality games and prevailed. Sega tried to change things up, but it didn’t work. Sony’s focus on motion-controlled games is a risky move for the direction of the company. Perhaps motion-controlled gaming will evolve in the future, but it’s not exactly revolutionary at this point in time.

Does anyone remember the Eye Toy or the built-in tilt-sensor in the PS3 controller? Whatever happened to those concepts? They’re long gone because they were poorly-executed. The Move is no exception, yet Sony continues to invest into this. If I wanted to shake a controller and pretend that I was dancing, I would buy that game for the Wii. It would be one thing if Sony was attempting innovation, trying to bring new concepts to the table and take a risk, but it blatantly took an idea and used it themselves. The processing power of the PS3 is just being wasted on attempts to be cool and blend in with the current crowd. Sure, the Move technology has actually met with positive reception, but I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that I don’t want to waggle a stick at the screen. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t consider it immersion when I’m swinging a controller through the air. I do play games for my Wii, but I prefer a classic controller when it comes down to it.

Despite this, Sony’s efforts has paid off somewhat, and its sold over 4 million Move units, but considering how many console units they’ve sold, it’s clear they haven’t hit the correct group. It’s likely that families are buying the Move because when there’s a certain demographic playing, there’s a certain style of games made. Look at a shelf of games for the Wii. Most of them are horrible kiddie games because families are the ones making the purchases. If it keeps up for Sony, we can expect to see a gradual decrease of quality games for the “gamer’ demographic, and a shift towards the family-friendly range. You may like the Move. It may have good games. However, I think Sony needs to concentrate efforts elsewhere.

Of course, Sony has gone through plenty of other issues. There’s even the whole security issue with a hacker that completely got through Sony’s servers and stole credit card information from thousands of users, resulting in a total shutdown of the system. Sony’s response? Require the users to make a new password and tell everyone they’re sorry by letting them download a couple of mediocre/horrible games from a list for free. That’s customer service for you. Then there’s the annoyance of a lack of backwards comparability. Sure, Microsoft made the same mistake, but it’s still a problem for Sony.

Sony, there’s a reason you’re losing the console wars, and it has nothing to do with the lack of a market. There is a massive market and those are the gamers who desire quality-games. Yes, the families buy the Wii for the friendly atmosphere, but the massive titles are always the same Zelda or Mario spinoff titles that rake in cash. Microsoft dominates with online gameplay. That’s an opportunity to be unique with quality. Stop wasting time with the motion and the gimmicks and invest it into obtaining some high-quality games, which will draw in the older demographic. Not everyone is looking forward to Call of Duty 35 or Madden 2076; some people actually need originality and quality with their games. I’m not looking for a console with cameras and motion and voice control. I’m looking for something with a plethora of unique games in which I can invest.

I want to be able to love the PS3 as much as I did its predecessor, but it’s not happening. Until then, one can find me shopping online for a $10 PS2 gem, reliving some nostalgia. You can do better than this Sony.

Tim Jones can be reached at [email protected]You can follow him on Twitter @TimJones90.

 

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  • K

    Kelsi BushawDec 1, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    St Kilda Harbour What looks like a wooden boat with 2 masts has had its mainsail come loose from the boom in todays strong winds. If you know the owner let them know.

    Reply
  • J

    JameisonNov 2, 2011 at 9:04 pm

    An interesting article but could have used a more focused approach and some conclusions seem to be drawn based on very light research.

    I’m not sure what issue you take up with Sony’s marketing strategy for the PS3. You seem to be impressed with the novel idea of a fictional Vice President championing the console, but you don’t like the idea of advertising the product itself?
    I think what your real argument is, is that you disagree with the Home Entertainment model of marketing Sony has employed. You believe video game consoles like the PS3 should be about the games first and foremost. That’s completely reasonable.

    Your point that the system relies mainly on multi-platform, blockbuster titles is surprising to me. Honestly, this seems to be the result of a limited experience of playing the games the system has to offer. Besides Uncharted, the PS3 has been the exclusive platform of the Infamous, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, and Motorstorm franchises. Outside of franchises, the PS3 offered many unique playing experience like Heavy Rain, Modnation Racers and well… I think you understand where my confusion about your argument lies. These are all games that have been critically praised and unique to this generation of games. But again, maybe it’s your point that you never really were interested in these games because it seemed like Sony was trying to sell your the system itself instead of the impressive array of titles not available anywhere else.

    One assertion that is simply false is that Japanese sales should be improving the sales of the PS3 dramatically. It is true that the PS3 faces minimal competition in Japan (they don’t even sell Xbox 360s anymore) but videogame console sales will always be won or lost based on sales in the U.S. The population of the U.S that plays games simply demands that attention.

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  • R

    RavenNov 2, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    Good article, you make a great point on the impact of exclusives, which may be difficult for those that own the system to realize it.

    Just take a look recently with the release of both Dead Island and Resistance 3. R3 had a fraction of Dead Islands PS3 sales, under 200k, since the value of another Sci-Fi shooter, no matter how good, just isn’t there. Whereas Dead Island, a flawed game, had succeeded since it offered something slightly different.

    Personally I think the only truly original game provided this generation was LBP, everything other game already had similar, though not always better, options out there. This was not the case for PS1 and PS2; both systems offered something truly unique.

    As for the other system, debatable on if they offered anything truly unique, but as said earlier, Wii was first in line with Motion and Xbox did have a proven online setup well a head of time. Those 2 items have since been improved on by Sony, but a little too late.

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  • L

    LeorhallNov 2, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    This is an interesting article, but the situation reversed for me. My girlfriend (now wife) had a PS1… later on a good friend of mine had a PS2… but I couldn’t stand either console. It wasn’t until the PS3 was released that I fell into console game, and have almost completely given up on PC gaming. I think Sony is now trying to offer a platform that a whole family can enjoy and use, and I think this is the correct strategy. Apple is also trying to place their products in everyone’s house (Apple TV paired with an iPad is a great experience), and Sony has to match this.

    A good article, Tim; thanks for sharing it. 🙂

    Reply
  • D

    DerekNov 2, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    Tim,
    First, nice job with the article. There are a couple of things that you seemed to gloss over a little, that may not be entirely your fault, but I feel may be good to just throw out there.
    With the whole hacking incident, they really did do quite a bit more than the apology and the free games (which is already not an awful response). In their defense, they reimbursed everyone with the paid PLUS program for all the days lost during the PSNetwork outage, gave multiple statements and directions which give assistance on how to get your credit checked, as well as giving out a paid year’s worth of credit theft protection from a third-party firm. It was an ugly, ugly affair, but I don’t expect Microsoft or Nintendo would have had any better reaction to having their entire online user database hacked.
    Well, maybe except Nintendo, what with their horrendous Friend Codes and lack of effort in online multiplayer, they don’t exactly have anything to lose.
    With Microsoft, I’d really call their Red Ring fiasco more embarrassing than the Sony hacking scandal, because the Red Rings have occurred since day one, Microsoft has never offered extra incentives, and the problem still persists today (not to mention the 360’s tendencies to burn disks and their E74 errors).
    I’m not saying to forgive Sony for having holes in their security, but at least they worked damn hard to fix it and make amends.

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  • T

    Tim JonesNov 2, 2011 at 11:03 am

    @Lilley: You too bring up good points. Developers have opted out of using the previous software as it was flawed. What I was trying to convey is that, while yes, Sony is devoted to entertainment, I believe the Move is nothing more than a failed project, and that it too will be scrapped by developers soon enough. And yes, I compared it to the Wii. i bought a Wii to swing around sometimes, and it would be one thing if Sony attempted something that didn’t look exactly like the Wii.
    As far as online play, I never actually complained about a problem with the online play, just that it was bad a hacker got through, and that Xbox live was more popular, so I don’t see where you are coming from. My article never even went into DVD’s, so I don’t know why you brought that up. PS2 could play movies. High-definition movies? Sorry, I don’t look at a movie and think of how many more pixels it has and how it’s better.
    Also, the last statement, Sony has to approve a game before it’s published. They can step back and say, this project will take millions and probably yield no profit. Developers only get so far. Sony is there every step of the way. So, yes, you can always turn to the company.
    Yes, the platform is providing a ton of outlets, but I feel that it’s primary one, the one that should count the most, the games, have suffered.

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  • L

    LilleyNov 2, 2011 at 10:16 am

    I agree with tevin Above, You seem to miss out on so many perks of the playstation, More importantly you are looking down on the systems ability to honestly meet any audience, Yes I agree the Tilt and Shake functions of the PS3 controller are really a dying and underused function, but its there, and its not PLAYSTATION that has removed or is not using the function it is game developers have opted not to. The Move whilst being the Wii but more precise, Allows for that style of gameplay th`at many people have bought a Wii for. You are looking at this and saying, “Well I have a Wii and I can do that there”, But the playstation is trying to make all of its audiences happy, and they constantly are putting in new IPs or has terrific older IPs that they are keeping to bring top notch entertainment. Lets not forget the comment on how it never focused on ONE subject, Its sole focus is Entertainment, Entertainment is what keeps the consoles popular. Bluray has nearly taken over the DVD market, With many Classics being revamped for Bluray and all new movies are dual made for Bluray and DVD, So it meets all the marks of a top notch Bluray player, The Online play is not only FREE but easy to get into, With many games utilizing this, and again do not blame Sony Playstation for lack of Online play, because it is a game Developers choice for Online play and how much effort goes into it, Playstation offers the Service. And Finally Not only can it play PS1, (Some can play PS2) and PS3/PSN Games, but it always is ready to play whatever a developer will create, and constantly is ready to accept more, With Bluray discs taking 40+ Gig discs, a better Resolution and overall a terrific interface, It has not went downhill, it meets every demand of the Modern day gamer, If you want to claim anything going downhill, Perhaps you should look at game developers and not the system. Its easy to blame a system for the shortcomings of a game developer, but atleast be educated.

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  • T

    Tim JonesNov 2, 2011 at 9:54 am

    @Tevin

    Thanks for taking the time to write. As far as Microsoft, I am well aware of what they are doing as well. The article was a focus on what Sony is doing that doesn’t work for me. Microsoft may be making similar mistakes, but as I didn’t have the same experiences with Xbox as the PS2, I didn’t concentrate on that.

    You mentioned Killzone, Gran Turismo and Twisted Metal, all games that originated from previous consoles. My argument was that there was a lack of new and fresh series to the PS3 as there were with the PS2. Sure, Sackboy and nathan Drake have become icons of sort, but I don’t believe there are too many PS3-only icons which stand out.

    As far as it being true, this is an editorial, and of course, people are allowed to take it how they want. This is my own opinion, and it has flaws, and people are free to agree or disagree how they want.

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  • T

    tevinNov 2, 2011 at 7:06 am

    You may think that PS3 is failing, and for some reasons you forget to mention exclusives such as resistance, killzone, heavy rain, littlebig planet, infamous, and much more. There Comercials standout from normal trailers and adds a bit of comedy, Microsoft with their new campaign does that exact same thing go look it up on YouTube. I actually agree with you about the move thing. But the fact of the matter is that PS3 is the number one system in Australia, Asia, and Europe for this year. That means What Sony is doing is working for them. PSN may have gone out but everyone forgot about when xbox live went out what did Microsoft reward them. Sony gave out full games such as infamous and littlebig planet all for free, plus a lot more perks. I don’t mean to talk bad about xbox but other than fable and forza what other series does xbox have that isn’t a shooter? All the exclusives I mentioned up above are all different and original and I even forgot about gran turismo and twisted metal. You may have lost fate but many people still believe and it is paying off. next time before you start saying things as fact make sure its true.

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  • T

    titanNov 2, 2011 at 12:23 am

    Great points, I too have fond memories of my ps1 and ps2.

    I think the mistake was not choosing a feature and going all out. Xbox was all about online play even back on the original model and Nintendo went all out with motion, while ps3 has an offering in both, it has taken several years to do so.

    Move is great, just too late, and psn is awesome, but again too many years to get up to the same level as Xbox.

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  • S

    Sylvain FoucaultNov 1, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Love to read your article, great!
    Sylvain

    Reply