The only thing more annoying than PlayStation fanboys...
... are 360 fanboys.
I'm just kidding.
All extremist fanboys are on the same level of annoying.
Console fanboyism has got to be one of the most annoying fanboyisms on the planet. Everyday, an endless dick-wag-fest over software collection, hardware features, blah blah fucking blah. I don't know what it is. Extreme cases of buyers remorse in denial? I can totally understand how people can be fans of a particular console but to shoot down the competition before getting your facts straight just proves you're an extremist fanboy and extremist fanboy's opinions don't count. Anywhere.
I find the whole console war matter subjective. Everyone lives their lives in different ways. Everyone enjoys the gaming genres they enjoy. For the current generation of gaming, I have (or have regular access to) a PS3, Wii, PSP, and DS. Sorry Microsoft. It's not that I don't like you, but I have a PC and don't have the financial means or personal interest to purchase a 360 at the moment. Also, the 360 doesn't really fit in my gaming life at the moment. Heck, I don't play a lot of the games I already have since I've been busy with work and life in general. While commuting to school, the PSP comes in handy for on-the-go gaming with short levels and save points around every corner. Right now, I've got Space Invaders Extreme and flOw. I just got LostWinds from WiiWare and it's good for half hour sessions. I'm playing GT5 Prologue on the PS3 and it's quite fun regardless of how little content there actually is. And finally, just discovered the genius that is Rhythm Tengoku Gold on the DS. It makes me cream my pants.
Back to my non-argument...
Speaking in terms of 360 exclusive hardware features, it does nothing that a PC can't do. At the same time, a PS3 can't do much more than a BD-ROM equipped PC can do. I will point out a few advantages the PS3 has over the 360 from a very non-fanboy point of view.
A) Blu-ray.
I'm not a PS3 fanboy for liking Blu-ray capabilities though it seems to go hand in hand from previous experiences of saying I enjoy the Blu-ray format. I happen to enjoy my movies and games in High Definition - not just games. If HD-DVD stayed alive, the PS3 and 360 would be on fairly equal grounds except that the Blu-ray Disc can hold a lot more than a HD-DVD could. Don't even let me expand on the potential of the prototypes of Pioneer's 16-layer Blu-ray Disc. (here and here)
(After re-reading this section, available space on the medium would only be important to the developers. There is no solid evidence that correlates size of game to quality of game. My opinions and feelings towards the medium have clouded my judgment. I'm sorry. Though, theoretically, with the rise of graphical content and quality in the current generation of games, the size required on a disc will only rise. That is the basis of my argument of BD vs. DVD, and in this case, PS3 vs. 360.)
(I seem to be on a roll with knocking myself down tonight since there is no solid evidence that correlates quality of graphics to quality of game. Man, I suck. But then again, some people play games and judge them based on visuals alone. Those people might care. Can't forget about those people)
B) Less Proprietary Hardware / Accessories.
I just finished reading up on the 360's Wireless Headset capabilities just to see how it compared to the PS3. It takes up a whole quadrant on the Ring of Light? Correct me if I'm wrong but that means only 2 players with 2 wireless headsets? Looking on PlayStation support and it doesn't say anything about a limit to how many headsets you can connect. Maybe they just skirted around the issue by not giving a direct answer. Bad Sony; minus points for you. Then again, some people don't want to play with a split screen between 4 players in an online experience. Those people wouldn't care about anything I've said about the headsets, or wait...
You don't need to buy a special PS3 headset to connect to the console; I use the same bluetooth headset I use for my cell phone. I just saved a couple of bucks right there.
Then, there's the 360 hard drive, which is proprietary. I went to my local computer store and picked up a 250GB 2.5" SATA laptop drive and slipped it into a 40GB PS3 and what do you know - I've got a 250GB PS3 now.
I can't say much about the PlayStation Eye or the XBox Live Vision since I have neither and I don't video chat often but I guess Microsoft gets bonus points for making the Vision compatible with Mac OS 10.4.9 and the PS3. According to the PlayStation Eye FAQ page on the US PlayStation site, the Eye won't work on a PC. Nothing's popping up on Google either so the Vision is better than the Eye in compatibility. Comparing the two in features, the Eye outperforms the Vision due to the built-in microphone array and the ability to produce uncompressed video.
C) Hardware Quality in General
Maybe there was one or two issues with the PS3 that caused it to malfunction every now and a while but (knock on wood) there hasn't been anything remotely close to the epidemic of the RRoD. Everyone I know who owns a 360 has been through it, some more than once. The albeit few PS3 owners I know haven't had any hardware issues with their consoles. There was that mishap with Firmware 2.40 that caused a few consoles to brick due to 'certain system administrative data being contained in the HDD', but that problem was fixed in a week with the release of Firmware 2.41. Also, we got a reason as to why there was the hardware failure directly from the hardware manufacturers.
Has there been a fix to RRoDs?
No, though hardware changes have caused the failure rate to drop. I'll give props to Microsoft on that one except the RRoD epidemic shouldn't have happened.
Has there been a solid and concise answer to what causes it?
No, though there are many theoretical explanations online that I don't really care to explore.
I have my opinions on the two consoles but I tried to keep them out of the facts I was stating in the three advantages the PS3 has over the 360. They are advantages to me but not necessarily to everyone who ends up reading this. Maybe the size of the medium has no effect on you. Maybe you like buying proprietary hardware. Maybe you like hardware failing on you. I don't know. I don't know what kind of person you are or how you live. I know I like my PlayStation and how it fits in with my playing style. It does everything I need it to do and has the software I want for it.
If you know me, I'm not big on console shooters; I prefer my keyboard and mouse. The biggest titles for the 360 are FPSs: Halo 3, and Gears of War. I'm not saying I wouldn't get a 360 just because of that. I enjoy racers and find Forza to be intriguing but I can't say I'm really loyal to genres of games. I love the Gran Turismo and Need For Speed (Post-Underground) series' of racers while I couldn't care less about SRS and Juiced (which I did end up playing a lot of while waiting for the next parts of GT and NFS). Juiced 2 (on the PSP) took up a lot of my time, as well as The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift. I played GRID on the PC for a bit and I enjoyed it. I should revisit it though. Like I said, I'm playing Gran Turismo 5: Prologue on the PS3 and it's amazing minus the lack of car customizations. I can turn a blind eye to that because they have all the cars I want that fit my driving styles so tuning wouldn't be necessary. Midnight Club: LA looks ridiculous. The Viral Advertising approach EA is taking to promote Need for Speed Undercover is quite entertaining.
It's not my fault that the games I truly want to play happen to be on the PS3.
As for controllers, I'm a big fan of symmetry. I prefer the PS style analog sticks compared to the lopsided analog placement on the 360 Controller. I agree that the lack of weight in the SIXAXIS makes it feel dinky but it's something I got used to throughout my gaming sessions with the PS3. Also, it was pretty bad on Sony's part to not include a controller with rumble technology for the launch. Then again, some people don't like shaking controllers. Who am I to say that rumbling controllers are better than their non-rumbling counterparts? It's all in the experience you want.
But on to the real meat, I was talking to a person from my past who knew what kind of person I was and how much of a extremist fanboy I could be when it came to gaming, music, clothing labels, electronics, whatever. The person noticed that my outlook on things has changed dramatically since I wasn't getting on their case about not liking a particular song or music group who I enjoy to the fanboy level.
I've been reading destructoid for about a year now off and on (in reality, just reading the articles on the feeds that interested me) and learned of some of the Podcasts they were doing, namely Podtoid, and later RetroforceGO!. I believe I started listening to Podtoid around episode 32 and leading up to the success of the Orange Box. I believe that because I listened to Podtoid and RetroforceGO!, I am able to separate myself from those extremist fanboys and take a few steps back and look at things from a less narrow perspective. The crowd always had something more to say than just your average OH MAN THAT GAME WAS AWESOME. Their personal interests in games varies like snowflakes but they always seem to get along in their discussions about the gaming industry.
Reverend Anthony (Burch) and his love for unique gaming experiences (gameplay, storyline, etc) and his descriptions of such (both in writing and vocally) paint a lovely picture, most of which I steal when trying to describe similar gaming experiences I go through to other friends. He's supposed to be this hateful sonofabitch due to his Rev Rant on RfGO! and according to the descriptions I hear from the other podcasters but I've had angry friends in the past and he's nothing compared to them. Anthony's a big teddy bear in disguise. The fact that he can have such a deep love for Metal Gear Solid, Half-life 2, and BioShock means he must care for other things, like people, and... things.
Aaron Linde has taught me how to not care about other people: in the sense that it doesn't matter what other people like and dislike, and also in the direct meaning of that statement. I stopped caring about people. Period. (I kid.) For a recent example, his opinions on the FFXIII "scandal" in the recently passed E3 decreased my tunnel vision on the situation and, like I said, I don't care anymore. My sister was up in arms when her friend broke the news to her. I was mostly confused when I heard the news. I heard that there would be 360 exclusives for XIII and that it would be released sooner than the PS3 version. You just have to wonder... BD vs DVD: how will it translate between the two mediums? Personally, I still haven't finished X-2, and haven't even touched XII, though I did beat Crisis Core, but still, the Final Fantasy Series is on the back burner for now.
Jim Sterling focuses more on being aware, knowledgeable, understanding, and, sometimes, tolerant to certain topics and issues. His colourful and sexually explicit explanations for many things (Nicole Wiebe being my personal favourite) never cease to both amaze and disgust. I wish to be his pupil in pushing the envelope of the most horrific things to say in a podcast. Also, we can't forget his phone conversation with the one and only Jack Thompson on The Podcastle.
Tiff Chow, who is totally a friend on twitter, teaches me that women never play video games and never talk unless told to. Though, when she does get the occasional sentence out, her insights are highly valued and fairly deep for someone who doesn't play video games. She also apologizes too much.
Dyson's afk from RfGO! so I can't say much on him right now. He's an awesome host but I can't recall much since it's been a while. He is, however, the reason why I order Pizza Rolls whenever I see them on a menu.
He should be higher up on the list of shout-outs but CHAD CONCELMO IS THE BEST GUY EVERRRRRRR!!! :) :) :) If I had 1/100th of the positivity that oozes out of him per second, I'd probably be one of the happiest guys in the world. His love for... everything just makes me smile all day long. Happy people rock. :) :) :)
Colette Bennett totally breaks the female mold that Tiff makes in Podtoid. Then stomps all over it. Then runs it over with a steamroller. She's awesome personified. I can't really put my finger on a specific trait that she brings to the table other than awesomeness, instead she's gonna have to win the "most likely to be an awesome IRL friend" award.
Lastly, but definitely not least, Tohper Cantler brings absolutely no enthusiasm to the table other than the occasional curse word to show he means serious business. His monotonous style is one to be reckoned with. Just kidding. He's pretty enthusiastic for someone who doesn't love to be totally out there like Chad. It kind of reminds me of me when I'm not in a Chad mood. Tohper's taught me how outward reactions have nothing to do with how a person can feel on the inside. If, on the RetroforceGO! scale, a BEST WEEK EVER!!! is the same as a Yard Sale, then there's definitely a lot of emotion Topher has but isn't bring up to the surface. This may be helpful in cases of meeting people for the first time, and with shy people.
Thanks to these totally amazing 8 people who take time out of their own busy schedules to have some of the most memorable skype conversations, I can say that I've learned to not be a bitch about such trivial things and how to respect others more than I have in the past - when it comes to opinions. When people don't have their facts straight and don't bother to know any better, I still lay the smack down on them. It's only right to do so. (I kid.)
So in response to the console fanboys, I don't really care which console you love. I just want to read some decent arguments when you post on how much you hate the other. Also, if your post has nothing intelligent in it, at least make it appear intelligent by using proper punctuation and double checking grammar and spelling errors.
