Why PS3 > 360... IMHO

Every so often somebody will ask my why I prefer the PlayStation 3 when the gaming experience on the Xbox 360 is clearly more polished and designed with the gamer in mind. Well, to tell you the truth, there are a few reasons why I am looking forward to the years ahead with my PS3 than I am with my 360, but the main one simply boils down to the games. I know it's awesome to be able to chat with other players in the middle of a gaming session or send them messages or invite them to play another game, but all those can be considered a distant second to the actual game that I am playing and the experience of that.

I’ve been a huge fan of the PlayStation brand for the simple reason that I love the sheer variety of the games that are on it and the fact that a large number of those titles come from Japan. I largely favor the quirkiness of Japanese games over the types that are generally developed in the U.S. Give me an ICO or Shadow of the Colossus or Bust A Move or Tomba! or anything else like that any day of the week over the ability to compare Achievements or have cross-game invites. Hell, give me practically any Sony 1st or 2nd party title (Sly, Ratchet, Jak, WipEout) and I would prefer to have that on the system rather than some features that are supposed to somehow bring a sense of community to my gaming.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The obvious choice would be to have all these games and the community-building aspects, but that is certainly not the case with the PS3 right now. Most of the stuff should come to fruition within this year, but some of the 360 features will probably never show up on the Sony monolith. I think that’s just the price you pay for having a free online component when compared to Xbox Live. Do I feel that Sony will deliver most of the things that Microsoft is doing? Yes, but it’s going to be a slow process due to the fact that Sony is a few years behind in putting these features into practice. There’s no doubt that Microsoft is a better network-capable company. The people there have the experience and the know-how to do some incredible things for online gaming. The Vista/360 connectivity, alone, is a major step forward (though, we have already seen console/PC gaming with FFXI already) and there are bound to be plenty of additional surprises in the years to come.

In the end, though, I just love the PlayStation for its games. The brand has provided me with over a decade of amazing gaming memories and has earned a special place in my heart. I honestly couldn’t care less that the PS3 is missing some features that some hardcore gamers are complaining about it. Give me a generic, black box with a wired controller and no online and I will still be there on Day One if you tell me that games like God of War III and Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear will be on it.

Obviously, not everyone feels like that but this is my opinion. Sony has proven that they are in these generational competitions for the long haul and are attempting to extend each console race that much longer. I greatly appreciate that. Just imagine if Sony had cut off the PS2 or PS just like MS and Nintendo did with their consoles. We wouldn’t be seeing great games like a new God of War or a new Tomb Raider or Rogue Galaxy, etc. so soon... or at all. We’d be probably waiting another year or two at least for them to make it to the PS3. This willingness to keep support for legacy consoles going as long as possible not only makes publishers and gamers happy, it also often allows for highly innovative titles to appear due to the considerably lower cost of development. It makes me happy because I know that my $600 investment in the PS3 is going to last me for another six years or more while support for the Wii and 360 will probably be start to dry up considerably quicker.

So, there you have it. The reason I love my PS3 and the reason I love the PlayStation brand is the games, plain and simple, and the fact that these games will be released on the system for far longer than they would be on others. And with Sony studios working on at least 150 PS3 titles and PlayStation Store downloads, there is going to be plenty to play that the other guys won’t have. I don’t know about you, but that (especially when compared to something like the ability to download demos in the background) is something that I can actually be excited about. It’s a shame, really. I used to remember when it was all just about the games.