It's been well over 2 years since I've had a PlayStation 3 and I've never really given online play any consideration, in large part because I have a 360 as well and I'm not the biggest fan of competitive MP. But now NHL 10 is out and the bulk of my friends are playing this game and they all have PS3s, so it was a no brainer to pick up the game on Sony's system. This is where my issue starts.
The PlayStation Network is garbage.
I'm not talking about actually playing a game and encountering lag, I'm talking about everything prior to that. Setting up a game, viewing your messages, not being able to have voice chat, no party support, no game invites; all of those things are completely disconnected or non-existent and it really knocks the experience down several pegs.
If this were the first year of PSN I'd be little more inclined to forgive these shortcomings, but when we're approaching year 3 and it's still so far behind Xbox LIVE I can't help but voice my displeasure.
My first bone of contention is the fact that Sony stupidly decided not to include a headset with the system, which to me is a massive blunder. I also find it disappointing that Bluetooth is the preferred tech, since the only voice chats I've had has been between myself, a friend and all the background noise is his room. I'll chalk that problem up to the fact that he has a generic BT headset for a cell phone, but my point still stands, not having a certified, tested headset packed in with every system is proof positive that Sony's online strategy is "fly by the seat of it's pants".
I find more often than not, I am setting up games with friends over the phone and that should not have to happen.
Now to be fair to Sony, I don't know how many patents or proprietary features Microsoft has that may be responsible for Sony's lackluster online, but something tells me it's simply them not knowing or caring.
"It's free, what do you expect?" is likely the Mission Statement at Sony. Just like Home will forever be in beta.
I'm really not trying to influence people one way or another, I really like both systems, but my experience thus far with NHL 10 has been so rife with issue that I needed to write something. Heck, maybe someone with more PSN pedigree will be able to give me some pointers and then I'll change my tune, but for $50 a year Xbox LIVE is a steal for the seamless integration it offers.
This morning I decide to fire it up and see what this unnecessary response to Xbox LIVE is.
So here I am, home sweet home - "Let's create my character".
Boring.
Now I am in my apartment, I can look out the window, I can change the wallpaper, but not with anything from my own collection, just presets which makes it look pretty generic. So much for customizing my own space.
Now I see a chair! I can move it and sit in it!!!!!
73 seconds after being placed into my apartment I want to leave, so I do.
Now I am in the Central Plaza and I see lots of other people, none of them are my friends and none of them ever will be because that is lame. Cyber-friendship is lame.
Ooooooo! I see a mall, let's go inside. There is a clothing store, a furniture store and neither of them have anything in them.
While I look around the mall I see many losers, dancing, talking and just standing around, many of the latter as "blown away" as I am with the experience.
I leave, never to return. Now it's off to the bowling alley! I'll admit, this portion is neat, but I didn't really care for the arcade games they had and it sucks that you have to actually wait till someone is done using it. So I immediately left. Never to return.
Now I visit the music dealy, whatever it is and see a whole bunch of nerds/losers dancing to terrible music. I go to the menu selection spot and I am able to choose between 3 songs, all of which suck. I wish I could stream my own music and force everyone to listen to what I want.
I leave.
Off to the Home Theater. Quickly walk around, get a seat and wait.........for............the.............SOCOM Confrontation trailer. As I leave I wonder what the whole point of this is, sadly an answer is never found.
I head back to my apartment to cry, but there is no emoticon for crying. But there is a PS button on my controller and when I hold it down for a few seconds I get a nifty message called "Turn Off System", which I happily choose. Now the mystery of what Home is or isn't is finally over.
There was a time when I would go out of my way to defend Insomniac Games, because they gave me the ability to play Ratchet & Clank, which was at one point my favourite game series. I also really liked the early Spyro games too. Much of that credibility carried over to this current gen of consoles and when I played Resistance: Fall of Man, I defended it, even though I really didn't care for it. I also never finished it.
Soon after that we all got wind of a new PS3 R&C game and that got me obviously excited, but when I actually played it I was a little shocked at how bored I was with it, but I couldn't process what exactly it was that was different. The gameplay was tight, the graphics were great and the story and characters I'd loved were all there. Something had changed and again I never finished the game.
Now it's holiday '08 and all the great are coming out and one of the PS3's heavy hitters is Resistance 2, so naturally I am going to pick it up. So I play the campaign for a couple hours over Tuesday and Wednesday and I'm mildly into it, it's functional, but nothing in it really amazes me and then Gears of War 2 comes out and completely tears me away from R2.......probably for ever too. It's just made me realize how boring the campaign is and how craptastic the PS3 controller is for FPS games and how the 8 player co-op could be cool, but I don't know 8 people that have PS3s and even if I did, there's isn't a 100% chance they'd have headsets, because stupid Sony doesn't include anything.
I also couldn't care less about multiplayer, I just don't play it anymore...for any game.
As I re-read this blog post, I realize I have no real point and my sentence structure is deplorable....but whatever, the point I'm trying to get across is that Resistance 2 is boring and that I no longer hold Insomniac in high regard.
