As the only PS3 owner among my friends, I am frequently forced to list the pros and cons of buying a PS3. Owning a PS3 has been much like living on a stranded island, spending days camping out on the beach in hopes of finding bottled messages from other owners… they do exist, don’t they? The one time I ventured out into the greater PS3 limbo, a.k.a. HOME (Sony’s answer to Second Life), convinced me to sink the boat and book it back to my island.
A year after my purchase, I met my first PS3 “friends.” Their PS3 sat, sleek and debonair, inside a dark-brown wood cabinet, sealed behind a glass door, and next to a collection of miniature Zelda figures. To this day, they are the only people on my PS3 buddy list.
Meeting another PS3 owner is like meeting a person who shares your esoteric interest at a party; you stake out a corner and hush over the minutiae known only amongst connoisseurs—whether it’s Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within, Pandora Directive, or the movies of Alan J. Pakula, such brotherhoods run deep with chance encounters.
But I don’t like being in a secret society (especially one that would have me as a member). The serendipity is matched with equal parts isolation, and puffery—the multiplayer component doesn’t match up to the ease of Xbox LIVE, and the console, in terms of price, is still a luxury item. So, what do I tell the next person who asks me about a PS3? I suspect that most are looking for a product update, a sort of has-Sony-done-something or a has-a-game-been-released-that-will-make-this-worth-the-price-tag. I don’t have a gold ticket answer, but I can repeat my recent pitch to Bryan:
The PS3 is a more intuitive and user-friendly media machine, with an uncomplicated menu navigation scheme; it has a very respectable exclusive library (Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid 4); it has a promising commitment to high-concept casual games (Flower, Noby Noby Boy); and…I am tired of repeating the same, unconvincing bullet points.
I know where I went wrong. I’ve been making the wrong pitch. If life has taught me anything, people live in their certainty, and they ask questions to affirm their assumptions, fears, and opinions.
So, here is the right pitch:
If you are serious about games, then you must own every console. Forget the PS3’s shortcomings. How can you expect to be part of the entire conversation, when you exclude yourself from a majority of it?
Of course, I am not saying that you can’t be a serious gamer if you don’t own a PS3. I also understand it is a cash flow issue for many folks. But it is also a matter of commitment—the person who takes the extra leap demonstrates a deep gut-level dedication.
Sony is in trouble when, in lieu of saving up for a PS3, gamers would rather invest in two 360’s. The wallets are open—they just need an incentive. But Sony, with its brand entitlement, appears clueless.
The price tag is not corporate bamboozlement. But consumers are tired of this song.
