Is it too late, Sony? PS3 vs. PC
About three years ago, I’d be saying that PC gaming is ultimately not worth my time. But here I am, actually thinking about selling my PS3, getting a new video card, a BluRay player with Netflix and going strictly PC gaming.
Why? Because of Steam. Steam has become a bit of an addiction for me. I look forward to their weekend, mid-week and sometimes week-long sales. Let’s not forget their big market of games that’s less than $20. Additionally, this almost month-long outage of the PSN has really put the dust on my PS3 as I play online games on my PC. Since then, I’ve further fallen in love with Steam, and I’d probably still be on my PS3 had it not been for Valve’s gaming hub service.
But now, the PSN is (as I’m writing this) on it’s way back into the online world. With this slow, eventual rollout, is it going to change my perception? Or am I still potentially lost to the PC world?
See, I have a bit of an OCD with gaming – I can only really contribute to one thing … I can’t balance between multiple systems, which is why I no longer have a Wii and don’t want a 360. Maybe it’s a lack of time … or maybe it’s an investment thing – but if I’m playing on one system, I feel like I should be playing on the other.
What does PC gaming have to offer? Well, the best thing is the idea that with Steam, all your games are tied to your account. You won’t lose them, documentation is online and you can easily play with your friends. It also acts like a portal (heh) to the bigger publishing companies like EA and Activision. I really like the idea of launching a gaming hub and being able to play any game I want with a mere click of the button. No physical media, easily join a game with a friend – and I’m right at a computer if I need to multi-task.
Sony’s bad reputation. Sony’s reputation is damaged for me. Throughout their time with the PS3, they’ve had bad luck – with BluRay pirating, the ApocalyPS3 and now the “It only Does Offline” scenario … Sony just does not seem to know how to protect their stuff, or they seem to half-ass it everything they do (they REALLY should have figured out that Leap Year bug). So, should I continue to invest in a company that may drop the ball again in the next six months? Or, heaven forbid, the PSN gets attacked again after nearly a month of downtime?
What does console gaming have to offer? Well, console gaming’s big benefit is the lack of having to toy around with video settings to get a nice smooth animation – it just works. Any game you put in – will work pretty smoothly. I also think console gaming is favored over PC gaming due to modding/cheating restrictions. PC gaming also has poor controller support – and I don’t care what anyone says … as controller is more comfortable than a WASD keyboard setup. Finally, consoles don’t require upgrades. You could quite possibly be upgrading your PC numerous times over the years. With a console, it’s ultimately a one-time purchase and you’re good until the next console comes out
Trophies/Achievements. I know this part sounds bad – but I love this aspect of gaming. Sony enforces it. Microsoft enforces it. Valve does not. With Steam, it’s entirely up to the discretion of the game company. It’s nice that game companies can bypass achievements if they’d like to, but I won’t lie and say that’s not something I look for in games. It offers me a reason to play the game again once I’ve cleared it. If I finish a single-player game, that’s essentially it – unless there’s a reason for me to go back … such as achievements.
So, what do you people think? In a rare occurrence, I’m asking feedback for people who read this blog to let me know what their console of choice is and why. Should I sell my PS3, controllers and games and go all PC gaming? Or am I just being tricked by this whole PSN debacle?
I think the downtime and hacking issue has made a lot of PlayStation fans question their loyalty to Sony. I mean, it it were just downtime and no hackinga ta ll, I think we’d all be far less critical and not seriously be thinking leaving. But when tens of millions of user accounts have been stolen by hackers…along with their credit card info…it’s hard not to start questioning WHY Sony should have anyone’s trust from this point on.
Valve’s service Steam is a great one because it’s made for tech-savvy, cost-conscious consumers. Unlike Sony who just expects players to give them tons of money regardless and sat on their hands since 2006 in securing PSN, Valve knows that customer satisfaction and security is the # priority. I mean heck, look at what Steam did in just the past month: Now you have to verify your computer before you can even access your steama ccount from it. Is it a tad irritating? Sure. But is it a lot more secure than Sony saving your data in plain-text files? Oh most definitely.
I also love the idea of going CD-less, especially with PC games which typically are saved to a HDD no matter what title you’re playing. On consoles, saving big DVD games to a 20GB XBox HDD or a 25GB game to a 60GB PS3 isn’t always practical so using a disc for them isn’t so bad. But in this day and age on PCs (where most people who have a PC have an internet connection as well), using CD media just seems pointless. And the idea that I can download MY games an infinite number of times sounds great to me. Meanwhile, on the PSN, if I buy a movie or TV show and my PS3 HDD goes bad or the files get accidentally deleted, I have no way of restoring them without buying them again. :/
I’m curious to see what happens with this Sony thing. For me personally the damage has been done. Sony simply launching the PSN stuff again does not impress me or make me feel safe using it and perhaps nothing they will do from this point on will. It’s not so much I’m terrified a hacker will go back in and steal my stuff…it’s that Sony for the past 5 years apparently did absolutely nothing to prevent this sort of thing and didn’t even have a plan in motion (before this all happened) to bring their security up to date. They simply did not care. And I’m almost certain, based off that fact alone, that if word didn’t get out about the security breach, Sony would have never mentioned it publicly either.
I don’t know what Sony does with the $300+ it makes off every system sold (yes, I know that is NOT pure profit but it is revenue going back to them) but they most definitely didn’t put much into securing what is potentially the most important aspect of this generations’ systems: Online interaction.
May 16, 2011 at 12:08 am
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