In the beginning, Atari reigned supreme. On the first day, Atari lifted its joystick, pointing to the Earth, and Pong was born from the dust and air. All rejoiced in its splendor, and console gaming was (truly) born. On the seventh day, however, the world was torn asunder. Atari's creation, the Jaguar, was an ultimate failure with a large price tag driving away customers and major competition from Sega, Nintendo, and Sony. As Zeus with the Titans, Sony summited Mount Videogamus and cast Atari into the console underworld and took its seat as a new regime. Much good came of this new regime, but the pain of watching Atari die at the hands of Sony stealing market share burned me.
When Microsoft announced their entry into the console market, I was immediately on-board. I had resisted the Playstation 1 and 2 and had instead turned to PC gaming to fulfill my gaming addiction, and so hearing about a competitor to the near-monopoly of Sony had me tickled green. Powering up the black & green beast for the first time to see how combat had evolved with a little diddy called Halo was like being reborn into gaming. My passion increased exponentially and suddenly I was having difficulty dividing my time between PC games and Xbox games. My pockets were (are) not deep, and so grave choices in which game to purchase had to be made. The 360 Train arrived, and I got onboard and rode that sucker through Gears of War, Halo 3, and Modern Warfare. I was a devout Xboxite.
Through all of this, Sony was constantly nagging me...pulling at my sleeve like a little street urchin. God of War videos blew my mind, and the hype and reviews from the sequel burned at
me. Final Fantasy continued to test the boundaries of the system through impressive graphics and fantastic art design. Uncharted took story telling to a whole new level, they say, but yet I resisted. Running out into the rain outside after reading the Uncharted review, I yelled, "Who needs a reinvention of storytelling and adventure gaming when I have Master Chief?! Cortanaaaaaaaa!!!!" to which the person walking their dog screamed and called the cops. In the clink, I had time to reflect...why am I resisting so? Why am I passing up so many amazing experiences and changes to video gaming?
Indeed, you can imagine my conflict when this Christmas I received a 1st generation Playstation 3 from a friend who purchased it from a reliable source (read "no existing hardware or software issues"). Finally, I could play Blu-ray movies on my new 47" LCD tv and experience true HD gaming (since my Xbox does not have HDMI). At long last, I could experience the epic God of War gameplay and understand the Uncharted hype. And yet, I felt as if I was selling out. The giant that had conquered my childhood hero Atari had finally won me over...the street urchin turned out to be a farse, a cover. Alas, I cast all doubt aside and fired the black beast up.
Wanting to first see what Playstation Home was all about, I stupidly began downloading the patches. One after another, they sped through downloading and installing and with each 100% I grew more and more excited. My dual-console future was finally here...and then, 67% installed and....error. The patch failed to install, so I restarted the PS3 and it went right back into the installation. 67% and error. I tried over and over to restart with the same result. A quick Google search using the error code showed that this was a common error with this particular patch: the installation fails and you are put into an inescapable loop of install, fail, install, fail. I tried replacing the hard drive, resetting in different ways, and yet nothing worked. The 1 failsafe solution that I read about was to call Playstation and send it in for $150 repair. A repair needed because of a failed Playstation patch that costs $150...and through my research I discovered this was not the first time Sony had failed its customers: the Yellow Light of Death, other patch failures, the list goes on. Not once did Sony admit fault or offer a free fix.
I was defeated...and yet relieved. There was a valid reason, it turned out, for me to resist the Sony-giant for so long. Though Xbox is not angelic, it has proven to be responsive to customers. The Red Ring of Death resulted in an extended warranty, which was excellent since my Xbox died soon after that extension. Two weeks later, I had a brand-new 360 under my tv without ever reaching for my wallet for shipping, repair costs, etc. Being the new entrant into the console race, Xbox may be a bit more driven to keep their customers happy so as to continue to try to pull market share from Sony. Sony, on the other hand, sits on its throne deaf to all cries and pleas from those around it. Like a regent rolling his wrist to all who visit him, Sony is not interested in your issues.
Unwilling to pay the $150 to repair it, the PS3 now sits on my bookshelf for all to see. It serves as a reminder that despite my feeling that I am missing out on some areas of gaming, the value
of a console working for the gamer is more important. Having won the DVD-format battle and sitting pretty in 2nd place in console market share, Sony has lost sight of their customer. If you need me, I'll be in the camp that is working hard to gain my approval with my Atari tucked snuggly under my arm.
SCP
