http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2073727,00.asp
PlayStation 3 Losers Need to Get a Life
December 15, 2006
By Jim Lynch
The launch of the latest generation of video game consoles has now come and gone. As usual, the launches coincided with a massive media orgy, hysterical crowds camping out at the megastores and some all-around bad behavior on the part of a lot of people.
The PlayStation 3 launch, in particular, seemed to drag down the collective IQ and social skills of a lot of people. Talk about a bunch of losers who need to get a life.
Sony's Phil Harrison believes that no developer will ever take advantage of 100% of the PS3's capabilities.
You're a Loser
Before I go into the details of why the PS3 launch was such a disaster and why so many people involved in it at all levels are losers, let me clarify exactly who I'm talking about as far as what a PS3 loser is and please note that, although I'm focusing on the PS3 launch, some of this also extends to Xbox and Nintendo gamers as well.
You're a loser if...
You paid $500 and up for a video game system.
You camped out anywhere to buy one for your personal use.
You camped out anywhere to buy one and then try to dump it on eBay or some other auction site for a massive profit.
You were stupid enough to fall for Sony (and Nintendo and Microsoft's) pretend shortages designed to stoke consumer angst and create a media event around the launch of a videogame system.
You're a parent and you actually bought a PS3 for your kid because of the hype.
You're a Sony executive and you thought your system would rule the roost...joke's on you, Nintendo is outselling you. Your system costs too much, thanks to your decision to use it to try and force Blu-Ray onto the world.
You're a game developer and you develop exclusively for the PS3. Continued...
Let's start with the media-induced hypnosis that actually convinced gamers that they had to rush out to get a PS3 or they'd never get one as there "weren't enough" made by Sony. This blatant marketing trick has been used for the last 20 years to sell video game systems by getting gullible consumers to believe that there's a "shortage" and that they must fight like hell to get their hands on the new video game system.
When are people going to wake up to this lame and sleazy marketing tactic? I can understand the younger gamers who simply haven't been alive long enough to know better, but for people in their 30s, 40s, and older to continually fall for this nonsense is just silly. Wake up losers! You're being manipulated by adroit marketing teams inside Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft that want to scare you into going on a console buying rampage so the equally gullible media shows video clips on the nightly news of people storming malls to get the "amazing new PlayStation" or Wii or Xbox.
Stop acting like one of Pavlov's dogs and start using your brain to think critically. You'll soon catch on that all of these "shortages" are designed by the video game makers to panic consumers and generate media coverage of their products. Don't fall for it again when the next batch of videogame consoles is released. Continued... Here's another thing about the PS3 launch that I found nauseating. There were so many losers out there that bought into the hype about how "amazing" or "incredible" the PS3 console performs. Guess what? At the end of the day it's still just a videogame console. No matter how "outstanding" the graphics are or how "powerful" the system is, you can't live in it and the minute you buy it, it's already outdated.
Ready to buy your PS4? I hope so because even as I write this, Sony is busy hammering away at the next "OMG IT'S SO AMAZING I CAN'T STAND IT" videogame console. So if you paid top dollar for it or...even worse...you were foolish enough to pay for it on eBay or some other places where the prices were jacked up by the profiteers, then you're an even bigger loser and you got royally taken.
Another issue with the idea of how "powerful" the PS3 supposedly is: Who cares? If the games aren't fun, then does it really matter to you if the thing can push a trillion polygons in a nanosecond? Game design and creativity will always trump hardware power. Always. The most amazing piece of hardware in the world is utterly useless without great games to play, and finding a game that is truly great and truly original is pretty damn difficult. The console systems (all of them, not just the PS3) have always suffered from too many sequels and too many unoriginal ideas.
Want proof that originality trumps uber-hardware? Take a look at the Nintendo Wii's sales figures for the first week of its release. Apparently it outsold the mighty PS3 four to one. Why? Well pricing probably played a big role, as the Wii is much less expensive than the PS3. However, one cannot easily dismiss the Wii's funky controllers and highly original use of them in game play. Many people seemed to value the new twist on gaming that Wii provides more than PS3's raw power.
It's deliciously ironic that apparently the first PS3 games don't look any better than their Xbox 360 counterparts! Sam Kennedy, Richard Li and Jason Bertrand over at 1up.com blew the lid off the PS 3 graphic scandal. And Sony expects people to pay $200 more or higher for games that look the same as Xbox 360 games? Hmmm...okay, suuuuuuuuuuuuure Sony.
Next time there's a launch of a new videogame console and the hardware hype starts coming at you nonstop for months, take a deep breath and realize that somebody's trying to manipulate you. Don't fall for it.
Profiteering: Bloodsuckers and Fools I'm a firm believer in capitalism and I love to make money. That said, there are times when making money can take on a tainted, exploitative sheen. The PS3 launch had many profiteers buying up the maximum number of systems available to them and then trying to dump them on eBay for outrageous sums of money. At one point, there was a PS3 listed on eBay for nearly $4000! Four grand for a freaking videogame system? Have people lost their minds?
Who would pay such a price? A parent desperate to please their spoiled child for Christmas? A game junkie dying for a new videogame fix? Personally I cannot imagine coughing up that kind of money for yet another videogame console. And yet some folks out there probably did. Talk about foolish...amazing.
Turns out that the profiteers were equally as stupid as buyers and in some cases turned out to be even bigger losers. The uber-high-prices for PS3s on eBay didn't seem to last too long, as people discovered that there were more out there than they thought and that plenty of them could be had for far less than the bloodsuckers on eBay were charging. As I write this today, the highest price I could find on eBay for a PS3 was $2000. Ha, ha! Lots of luck selling it at that price sucker! There's a bunch more for less than half that, and the number of them up there will grow as more people realize that there's nothing particularly special about the PS3 and that it certainly isn't worth anywhere close to $2000. Continued... As if the herd surging and trampling each other at the stores wasn't bad enough...some real violence actually happened, including the death of at least one person. Can you imagine? Someone died because of a videogame system? Someone was actually shot? Yup, it happened. As hard to believe as it is, people have been shot and one has even died...all over a silly videogame system.
Apparently some cops behaved badly by skipping a line to get their PS3s. You know that the situation has become completely depraved when even the cops are going out of their way to violate rules just to get their hands on a videogame system. Certainly cutting in line does not compare to behaving violently, but it does suggest that the PS3 mob behavior affected even those sworn to uphold the law. Get a grip officers, or better yet, get a life. Losers.
On November 17, a man waiting to buy a PS3 outside of a Wal-Mart in Connecticut was shot. Apparently somebody tried to rob him at 3:15 a.m. outside of the Wal-Mart. There are two lessons to be learned from this situation. The first one is simple...is it really worth it to be sitting outside a Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. just to get a damned videogame system? Is your own life worth so little that you'd willingly put yourself in that kind of a situation? The second lesson is that if you are going to sit outside of a Wal-Mart at three in the morning, you'd best be able to defend yourself properly in Connecticut.
The worst example of PS3-mayhem is the killing of a teenager by cops who raided his apartment. The teen had allegedly been involved in robbing another man for two PS3s. It seems that the cops who killed him might have shot him through a door, which means they may possibly be at fault for wrongful death. All of that said, what a waste of a young life. And for what? A videogame system? Apparently so (or at least allegedly so). I can't convey how utterly stupid such a situation really is.
Me? I'll pass on risking my life for a videogame console. But hey, I'm just reasonable that way. Continued... I can already see the email heading my way "Jim, how can Sony be a loser when they'll sell zillions of PS3's? You're a fool!", blah, blah. Well Sony may very well sell a "zillion" PS3s but in some ways they've already blown it with the PS3. The launch itself, as I pointed out above, has been marred by violence and negative press the likes of which no other videogame console has ever seen. The buzz around the PS3 now is not one of "coolness" but one of hype, danger and overpricing.
Read more opinion on ExtremeTech.
Take careful note of the overpricing problem. Sony goofed royally by trying to use the PS3 to promote its Blue-Ray format. Gamers are already lashing out in anger at being forced to pay an extra $150-$200 per PS3 because Blue-Ray is incorporated into each system. Sony's arrogance and thick-headedness has already ensured that the cheaper Nintendo Wii is flying off shelves and has become of the must-have consumer item of the Christmas season. Many parents have breathed as sigh of relief that their kids have ignored the PS3 hype and are asking for the Wii instead.
Face it folks, the PS3 is a tainted product and Sony is the biggest loser of all for fumbling its design and launch.
Got a different perspective? Tell me in the forum.
PlayStation 3 Losers Need to Get a Life
December 15, 2006
By Jim Lynch
The launch of the latest generation of video game consoles has now come and gone. As usual, the launches coincided with a massive media orgy, hysterical crowds camping out at the megastores and some all-around bad behavior on the part of a lot of people.
The PlayStation 3 launch, in particular, seemed to drag down the collective IQ and social skills of a lot of people. Talk about a bunch of losers who need to get a life.
Sony's Phil Harrison believes that no developer will ever take advantage of 100% of the PS3's capabilities.
You're a Loser
Before I go into the details of why the PS3 launch was such a disaster and why so many people involved in it at all levels are losers, let me clarify exactly who I'm talking about as far as what a PS3 loser is and please note that, although I'm focusing on the PS3 launch, some of this also extends to Xbox and Nintendo gamers as well.
You're a loser if...
You paid $500 and up for a video game system.
You camped out anywhere to buy one for your personal use.
You camped out anywhere to buy one and then try to dump it on eBay or some other auction site for a massive profit.
You were stupid enough to fall for Sony (and Nintendo and Microsoft's) pretend shortages designed to stoke consumer angst and create a media event around the launch of a videogame system.
You're a parent and you actually bought a PS3 for your kid because of the hype.
You're a Sony executive and you thought your system would rule the roost...joke's on you, Nintendo is outselling you. Your system costs too much, thanks to your decision to use it to try and force Blu-Ray onto the world.
You're a game developer and you develop exclusively for the PS3. Continued...
Let's start with the media-induced hypnosis that actually convinced gamers that they had to rush out to get a PS3 or they'd never get one as there "weren't enough" made by Sony. This blatant marketing trick has been used for the last 20 years to sell video game systems by getting gullible consumers to believe that there's a "shortage" and that they must fight like hell to get their hands on the new video game system.
When are people going to wake up to this lame and sleazy marketing tactic? I can understand the younger gamers who simply haven't been alive long enough to know better, but for people in their 30s, 40s, and older to continually fall for this nonsense is just silly. Wake up losers! You're being manipulated by adroit marketing teams inside Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft that want to scare you into going on a console buying rampage so the equally gullible media shows video clips on the nightly news of people storming malls to get the "amazing new PlayStation" or Wii or Xbox.
Stop acting like one of Pavlov's dogs and start using your brain to think critically. You'll soon catch on that all of these "shortages" are designed by the video game makers to panic consumers and generate media coverage of their products. Don't fall for it again when the next batch of videogame consoles is released. Continued... Here's another thing about the PS3 launch that I found nauseating. There were so many losers out there that bought into the hype about how "amazing" or "incredible" the PS3 console performs. Guess what? At the end of the day it's still just a videogame console. No matter how "outstanding" the graphics are or how "powerful" the system is, you can't live in it and the minute you buy it, it's already outdated.
Ready to buy your PS4? I hope so because even as I write this, Sony is busy hammering away at the next "OMG IT'S SO AMAZING I CAN'T STAND IT" videogame console. So if you paid top dollar for it or...even worse...you were foolish enough to pay for it on eBay or some other places where the prices were jacked up by the profiteers, then you're an even bigger loser and you got royally taken.
Another issue with the idea of how "powerful" the PS3 supposedly is: Who cares? If the games aren't fun, then does it really matter to you if the thing can push a trillion polygons in a nanosecond? Game design and creativity will always trump hardware power. Always. The most amazing piece of hardware in the world is utterly useless without great games to play, and finding a game that is truly great and truly original is pretty damn difficult. The console systems (all of them, not just the PS3) have always suffered from too many sequels and too many unoriginal ideas.
Want proof that originality trumps uber-hardware? Take a look at the Nintendo Wii's sales figures for the first week of its release. Apparently it outsold the mighty PS3 four to one. Why? Well pricing probably played a big role, as the Wii is much less expensive than the PS3. However, one cannot easily dismiss the Wii's funky controllers and highly original use of them in game play. Many people seemed to value the new twist on gaming that Wii provides more than PS3's raw power.
It's deliciously ironic that apparently the first PS3 games don't look any better than their Xbox 360 counterparts! Sam Kennedy, Richard Li and Jason Bertrand over at 1up.com blew the lid off the PS 3 graphic scandal. And Sony expects people to pay $200 more or higher for games that look the same as Xbox 360 games? Hmmm...okay, suuuuuuuuuuuuure Sony.
Next time there's a launch of a new videogame console and the hardware hype starts coming at you nonstop for months, take a deep breath and realize that somebody's trying to manipulate you. Don't fall for it.
Profiteering: Bloodsuckers and Fools I'm a firm believer in capitalism and I love to make money. That said, there are times when making money can take on a tainted, exploitative sheen. The PS3 launch had many profiteers buying up the maximum number of systems available to them and then trying to dump them on eBay for outrageous sums of money. At one point, there was a PS3 listed on eBay for nearly $4000! Four grand for a freaking videogame system? Have people lost their minds?
Who would pay such a price? A parent desperate to please their spoiled child for Christmas? A game junkie dying for a new videogame fix? Personally I cannot imagine coughing up that kind of money for yet another videogame console. And yet some folks out there probably did. Talk about foolish...amazing.
Turns out that the profiteers were equally as stupid as buyers and in some cases turned out to be even bigger losers. The uber-high-prices for PS3s on eBay didn't seem to last too long, as people discovered that there were more out there than they thought and that plenty of them could be had for far less than the bloodsuckers on eBay were charging. As I write this today, the highest price I could find on eBay for a PS3 was $2000. Ha, ha! Lots of luck selling it at that price sucker! There's a bunch more for less than half that, and the number of them up there will grow as more people realize that there's nothing particularly special about the PS3 and that it certainly isn't worth anywhere close to $2000. Continued... As if the herd surging and trampling each other at the stores wasn't bad enough...some real violence actually happened, including the death of at least one person. Can you imagine? Someone died because of a videogame system? Someone was actually shot? Yup, it happened. As hard to believe as it is, people have been shot and one has even died...all over a silly videogame system.
Apparently some cops behaved badly by skipping a line to get their PS3s. You know that the situation has become completely depraved when even the cops are going out of their way to violate rules just to get their hands on a videogame system. Certainly cutting in line does not compare to behaving violently, but it does suggest that the PS3 mob behavior affected even those sworn to uphold the law. Get a grip officers, or better yet, get a life. Losers.
On November 17, a man waiting to buy a PS3 outside of a Wal-Mart in Connecticut was shot. Apparently somebody tried to rob him at 3:15 a.m. outside of the Wal-Mart. There are two lessons to be learned from this situation. The first one is simple...is it really worth it to be sitting outside a Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. just to get a damned videogame system? Is your own life worth so little that you'd willingly put yourself in that kind of a situation? The second lesson is that if you are going to sit outside of a Wal-Mart at three in the morning, you'd best be able to defend yourself properly in Connecticut.
The worst example of PS3-mayhem is the killing of a teenager by cops who raided his apartment. The teen had allegedly been involved in robbing another man for two PS3s. It seems that the cops who killed him might have shot him through a door, which means they may possibly be at fault for wrongful death. All of that said, what a waste of a young life. And for what? A videogame system? Apparently so (or at least allegedly so). I can't convey how utterly stupid such a situation really is.
Me? I'll pass on risking my life for a videogame console. But hey, I'm just reasonable that way. Continued... I can already see the email heading my way "Jim, how can Sony be a loser when they'll sell zillions of PS3's? You're a fool!", blah, blah. Well Sony may very well sell a "zillion" PS3s but in some ways they've already blown it with the PS3. The launch itself, as I pointed out above, has been marred by violence and negative press the likes of which no other videogame console has ever seen. The buzz around the PS3 now is not one of "coolness" but one of hype, danger and overpricing.
Read more opinion on ExtremeTech.
Take careful note of the overpricing problem. Sony goofed royally by trying to use the PS3 to promote its Blue-Ray format. Gamers are already lashing out in anger at being forced to pay an extra $150-$200 per PS3 because Blue-Ray is incorporated into each system. Sony's arrogance and thick-headedness has already ensured that the cheaper Nintendo Wii is flying off shelves and has become of the must-have consumer item of the Christmas season. Many parents have breathed as sigh of relief that their kids have ignored the PS3 hype and are asking for the Wii instead.
Face it folks, the PS3 is a tainted product and Sony is the biggest loser of all for fumbling its design and launch.
Got a different perspective? Tell me in the forum.
