Sony's latest debacle with the 2.4 update illustrates the sad state of the company. Nearly three years after the 360 offered these features, Sony releases a botched firmware update for a half-baked implementation (no cross-game invites/voicechat, no BGM for all games, trophy system released without any games that actually support trophies after nearly 2 years of releases, etc.).

It's hard to imagine a company falling so fast, so far - you almost have to try to mess up this bad. In my 30+ years of gaming this is, by far, the worst performance I've ever seen by a major console company in a particular generation. I'm not basing success on hardware sales, but on a company's performance. I'm a 42 year old marketing exec who has been gaming literally since Pong. Any company that see's it's market share decline by nearly 60% from one product release to another would be considered a colossal failure in any other industry.

Sony should have had the foresight to establish the infrastructure and ground rules so that ALL games in the library shared a standard set of features like MS did. Despite launching a year later, Sony still wasn't ready to release PS3 (or Blu-Ray for that matter) and just threw out the hardware without a set of guidelines. As a result we are treated to the segmented implementation of features, which results in a fractured user base and poor adoption of available features (again, just like the poor adoption of BD-Live features since Blu-Ray didn't have set standards at launch). For the life of me, I don't understand the defensive and apologist attitudes of so many Sony customers.

Sony used to be a very disciplined company, but now it seems to be run by committee resulting in the persistent delays and half-realized implementation of features the PS3 has become defined by. I've had a PS3 since 12/31/06 and have a PSP and PS2, so I'm not a fanboy. I love games and own all the systems so I can play any game that catches my eye. It's just frustrating to see a company that had such a strong reputation throw it all away in such a short period of time as the industry is better off with three strong competitors in it. I hope Sony has the humility to be chastened by these events and get it right for the PS4.

There has been a strange dichotomy regarding PSP hardware sales versus software sales to date. While the PSP hasn't enjoyed DS type sales, it has steadily built up an impressive install base these past few years. Despite this, PSP titles never break the NPD game charts leading me to wonder what all these PSP owners are playing. Maybe there really is a a problem with people hacking the system to illegally play games. Either that or it's appealing to gadget geeks who are using it for the other multimedia capabilities.

I think developers are still struggling with how to design a game for the system as we still see a lot of PS2 or multiplatform ports. Maybe the lack of a second analog nub is creating confusion on what type of gameplay mechanics should be utilized. Regardless, I think the system has developed a decent number of must-own games and I thought I'd list them below for consideration.

1. Lumines I and II

2. SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 1 and 2

3. Medal of Honor Heroes

4. Puzzle Quest

5. Jeanne D'Arc

6. Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

7. Daxter

8. Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Logan's Shadow

9. Field Commander

10. Burnout Legends

The games above represent a decent variety of shooters, platformers, puzzle and racing games. I think one thing they all share in common is an understanding of how to develop for a system with fewer buttons and the ability to enjoy a game in shorter sessions. Additionally, for the platformers and shooters, these games effectively handle camera control without a second analog nub which seems to be the downfall of many other PSP titles. Using the face buttons to look is not ideal, but these shooters do a good job of scaling the difficulty and A/I while also taking this into consideration in the actual level design.

Several of these games also make effective use of the WiFi capabilities of the PSP (even supporting voice chat) further extending the life of these games with online play. Who says the PSP doesn't have any games?

I was pretty impressed with the recent updates regarding XNA at the Game Developers Conference this week. I think this may have flown under a lot of gamers radars or that people may not understand the full implications of this initiative. My roots are in PC gaming and I fondly remember all of the great mods for games like Half-Life, Unreal and Quake. Neil Manke's "They Hunger" HL mods are still among my favorite gaming experiences ever! Sadly, the mod community has mirrored the precipitous decline of pc gaming in general the past few years.

I hope that Microsoft's XNA initiative may help to resurrect this hotbed of creativity. By giving out the tools for free which allow cross-platform development (PC/360/Phones/Zune), MS is creating incentives for both individuals and start-up developers to take the plunge and benefit from some much needed exposure. Offering a preview trial on Live to coincide with GDC is a boon to the early adopters of these tools and exhibits great promise for what is to come starting this Fall when Community Games will be added to the 360 (presumably part of the Fall Update).

Having a low cost of entry to the Creator's Club ($49 for 6 months, $100 for a year) is a simple way to ensure that the self-policing nature of the system isn't over-run by malcontents. To be clear, the development tools are free - it's just membership in the Creator's Club to have a vote that costs money. I find it commendable that MS is willing to trust the XNA community to determine what is objectionable, rather than policing it themselves in a heavy handed manner. Whatever gets approved by this community can then be offered on Marketplace or independently by other channels (PC, etc.).

Both Sony and Nintendo have also made efforts to find and foster homegrown development to their credit. Nintendo with the upcoming WiiWare and Sony is looking for homegrown talents and putting their games on PSN. However, these are console specific and WiiWare tools are cost prohibitive to most individuals and Sony doesn't help with the development tools. By providing XNA for free to over 400 universities/trade schools MS is making an investment in the future which may pay dividends in goodwill and loyalty years from now.