Why You Shouldn’t – Buy the PlayStation 3!
The PlayStation 3 was the last of the current consoles to be released, and despite having about a bazillion features, it was the slowest console to generate sales, due mostly to the fact that it cost a bank-breaking $599. Although the price has come down since those early days, the PlayStation 3 may not be worth the investment. Champions tout its Blu-Ray capabilities and numerous exclusive games, but the PlayStation 3 may not be for everyone. Here are five reasons why you should just say no to the PlayStation 3.
5. You’re All About Online Features
Though the PlayStation 3 features plenty of online-enabled features, when it comes to actually playing games online, the console falls flat. Sure, games like MAG buck this trend, but if you’ve ever tried to play Call of Duty on a PlayStation 3, you know there’s a problem. In fact, if you like Call of Duty, you should just abandon hope on the PlayStation 3 altogether, as the console will not run Modern Warfare 2 (thanks to a weird update that just broke the game) and Black Ops is so hacked that you can’t take two steps without being affected by some rogue exploitation glitch. Add that to the PlayStation 3’s lack of cross-game chat and a persistent invite system, and you’ve got an online experience that is sub-par on every level.
4. You Like Playing Games Immediately
Much was said when the PlayStation 3 was released about its required install time. Sony’s response? Go make a sandwich. But if you’ve already had lunch (or are on a carb-free diet), waiting the twenty minutes (or more, in the case of games like Gran Turismo) to play a game is a little ridiculous. I don’t want to have to plan ahead for my game time, and the idea of putting a game in the machine and then going to do something else seems counter-intuitive. I recognize the idea behind game installs is a solid one, but man, sometimes I wish I could just take the longer loading screens instead. And then add this to almost-weekly firmware updates, and you may just feel like the only game to play on your PlayStation 3 is the waiting game. This is especially bad if you have a highly-scheduled life. For instance, if you only have an hour carved out for your personal game time, you can expect to spend twenty minutes updating your firmware, twenty minutes installing your game, and then you’re left with twenty minutes to play. Doesn’t quite seem fair, does it? If you like playing games in short bursts, or are just impatient, the PlayStation 3 isn’t for you.
3. You Don’t Like Disappearing Features
While the other two home consoles have been slowly adding features to their consoles to make them more competitive in the rapidly-changing world of video games, the PlayStation 3 has been systematically taking features out of its console. First on the chopping block? PlayStation 2 backwards-compatibility. Unless you shelled out the $599 at launch, you never even got the chance to check out this feature. Next up? An alternative OS. If you were a fan of Linux, the PlayStation 3 used to allow you to use the open-source platform with your console instead of the default operating system. Now? Not so much. Though you may not have ever used these features in any great capacity, it wouldn’t surprise me if even more features get axed in the future, especially in Sony’s continuing war on the hacking community.
