Eee! Fanboys!
Posted on | July 15, 2008 at 11:13 pm | 1 Comment
This is the week of E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, being held in Los Angeles. It’s the big American video game trade show of the year, and it’s when all the video game companies make their upcoming hardware and software announcements. Many sites, like Joystiq, are publishing reports from the show floor.
One of the big announcements was that Sony is going live with its video download service tonight, with support from many major studios. So now you can download SD and HD movies and TV shows directly from the PlayStation Network (PSN) to your PlayStation 3 hard drive and watch them from either the PS3 or the PlayStation Portable (PSP). There are different pricing options for renting and purchasing. Seeing as how it takes me a very long time to download game or firmware updates from PSN due to my apparently slow wireless and DSL connections, I don’t see this as a service I’m going to be using any time soon. The thing would be downloading all night. I’ll stick with NetFlix. But it’s an interesting idea and undoubtedly the wave of the future.
It looks like Microsoft and Sony had a lot of interesting things to announce, but Nintendo not so much. They’re resting on their Wii and DS laurels. There’s still not much in the way of interesting third-party games coming out for the Wii, and their announcements do nothing to nudge me any closer to purchasing a Wii. The most interesting (and unexpected) Nintendo announcement was the unveiling of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS. Nintendo finally gets a GTA game, and it’s on the DS instead of the Wii! Bizarre. It’s likely I’ll be picking that up when it comes out, especially if the gameplay and use of the stylus is innovative.
Which brings me to a Pet Peeve of the Day: The useless divisions in video game fandom. People, especially younger people, seem incredibly invested in supporting a single company, to the point of endlessly slagging the others. Really, you people reading this who have no exposure to the video game world (probably most of you) wouldn’t believe how strong the vitriol is. I’ve never quite understood it. If I could afford to, and had time to play more games than I do, I would own a Nintendo Wii and a Microsoft Xbox 360 as well as my Sony PS3, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Xbox (I recently traded in my PS2, since my PS3 will play my PS2 games). The main reason I bought a PS3 instead of a 360 or a Wii was because of the Blu-Ray drive. The second reason is that despite the lack of games, it seemed to me like it had the most potential and longest lifespan. That doesn’t mean I don’t see the value in the other machines. The 360 has an incredible library of games and the Wii has some really innovative and fun gameplay. I did actually consider the 360 before I made my PS3 purchase, because it was also going to get GTA4 and Bionic Commando like the PS3. And though the PSP is a more powerful handheld machine than the DS, I still find myself playing the DS more often because of the interesting design and because there are more of the kinds of games I like to play on it.
But you see a lot of very immature and vulgar rantings in the forums and blogs and such about how one particular box is the best and the rest are crap. It doesn’t make any sense. It takes brand loyalty too far. They’re all good systems. It’s like someone’s choice of a video game system is a reflection of who they are, and so they have to defend it to the death. Well, we are talking about teenagers here, for the most part, and they’re still trying to find their identity.
I pay particular attention to the Sony announcements because my main machine is the PS3. But I also keep track of what’s interesting in the other worlds. It’s all connected. Someday there may be a killer must-have 360-exclusive game that will make me run right out and buy a 360 system. Heck, I bought both a PS2 and an original Xbox. And if Wii’s ever become readily available, I may pick one up to use as a party machine. It’s all good, as someone once said.
So, can’t we all just… oh, never mind.
Latre.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 69°F), though it was a short run with no tunes since the iPod battery was dead. It’s been awhile since I last ran because I managed to pull some leg muscles or something when I was doing yardwork, pulling weeds, on the 4th of July weekend. Yes, I’m pathetic.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “hate my prius”.
Comments
One Response to “Eee! Fanboys!”
July 16th, 2008 @ 4:11 am
> wouldn’t believe how strong the vitriol is.
> I’ve never quite understood it.
I guess it’s down to me to break the sad news to you, Roger, since no one else has seen fit. Turns out, it’s human nature to divide the world into more manageable groups, and then disparage the others so that you feel more worthy for belonging to your own club.
You think the videogame world is divided? I read an article last week about violent divisions in BUDDHISM. Kid you not. “My guiding light of peace and universal love is calmer and more enlightened than yours”, I guess is the gist.