I’m having a big problem with trying to get my head around this Ghostbusters Ps3 vs. 360 issue. Quite frankly because I’m having some issues with how the media is taking this. I’ve read the Ars Technica article, and from what I’ve seen, they were trying so hard to dissolve Terminal Reality (TR) of any blame, making it all about the PS3 hardware (and this had absolutely nothing to do with the hardware until the AT article came up…well, that and TR trying to pass off the blame). We have TR trying to make excuses, and we have fanboys making a battle ground out of a game no one gave a shit about until this all started.

So yeah, I’m left with a few possible reasons why this is going on. Either this is something the “let’s bash the PS3 anyway we can” crowd is using because it has nothing else to use, Terminal Reality didn’t know how to program, or this was a well-crafted way to sabotage the PS3 in the worst way possible.

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Wow, did THIS thing start something or WHAT?

It’s been a few days since we first heard about the X-Box 360 Japanese catalog in which it mentioned the PS3 more times than Sony’s marketing department does. From saying that the PS3 was inferior in playing multiplatform games to saying that the Arcade SKU was less than the PS3 by a few hundred dollars (you know, until you want to add the propriety hard drive and everything else that comes with the Pro and Elite SKUs, then it a few hundred dollars MORE). Through all of it, we heard one very loud website called PushSquare mention something about how Microsoft is treated in the gaming media as opposed to how Sony has been lately:

“Now we know it’s only marketing, and that’s fine, but here’s our point: the gaming community holds such a double standard towards Sony these days that we’re 101% convinced if Sony had released this pamphlet we’d be sifting through hundreds upon hundreds of: “ZOMG Sony should focus on their own system not the competition, they should shut up, make some games, Sony sucks” comments. You’ve read the ones.

We haven’t come across a single comment suggesting the same about Microsoft’s tactics. Interesting eh?”

Judging from the few articles that have popped up recently alone, coupled with what I’ve seen from the past year or so, there’s so much truth to that statement that it’s scary.

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So Jim Sterling over at Destructoid made a very interesting article saying his opinion as to why PS3 Trophies “underachieve” in comparison to Microsoft’s 360 Achievements, citing what he thought was the “clunky” XMB of the PS3, the lack of a true identity on PSN, the “syncing” of trophies, the level system, and the gold, silver, and bronze trophy tiers illustrating how “worthless” some accomplishments are. This is all well and good, and he has every right to this opinion (which is why I’m doing a DP Thought as opposed to a Media Watch on this one. I don’t think this was a fanboyish article, even though I know Destructoid is known to have some 360-fanboyish flamebait articles in the past, and the article in question has a few fanboyish claims in it, as well).

However, I have to respectfully disagree with a lot of his points. In fact, I think that PS3’s trophies are ten times better than Achievements. Want to know why? Read on as I do this by stating my opposition to each of these points.

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This is mainly about something that we shouldn’t, in the video game industry, talk about at all. However, we are here again, and this time, it’s a lot worse that anyone could’ve possibly imagined.

When we were here before, it was about Rockstar taking fifty million dollars that was offered to them by Microsoft to create two exclusive episodes for Grand Theft Auto 4. Even though Microsoft, as their Blogger Breakfast last year, made a claim, in some way, that they paid to keep any downloadable content from reaching the Playstation 3 version, we do not know the exact details since Microsoft got it wrong before with GTA4’s multiplayer component. Rockstar did correct Microsoft then, and they also made a comment in the Official Playstation Magazine in May of last year of that they wanted the game to last for years. Simply put, they weren’t going to let the PS3 version out in the cold. We still do not know all the details of that deal, and it looks like we may never learn them.

But at least that’s more than what we can say for Bethesda Softworks. For what seems like a few games now, they have shafted all Playstation 3 owners so much that some of the most hardened 360 fanboys—you know, the ones that scream conspiracy anytime they are called out?–have cried foul over such business practices. A new “episode” of their Fallout 3 game, entitled “Broken Steel”, is set to hit the 360 and PC versions soon. This is the third DLC content available for the versions. What does the PS3 version get, however? Not a damn thing. They get, in essence, the core game and that’s it, thanks for coming. This gets worse, still, as Broken Steel is set to emphatically continue the main story of Fallout 3, as Designer Alan Nanes told Gamespot—probably without any fear that he would get a question from those jokers that he or Bethesda didn’t like—about the content.

But if you thought that was all, you were wrong. Recently, Atari had secured rights to release Fallout 3 in Australia. The game itself will be made available for the same platforms that it is on in the states. However, here’s where every sane gamer in the world should be calling for riots at Bethesda’s doorstep: A Fallout 3 Quest Pack—read: the DLC in box form, something in which a Microsoft DLC deal would not be able to stop—will also be available, but like the digital distribution method, for the 360 and PC only. Once more, the PS3 version just gets the core game and that’s it.

We do not know if this is unintentional from Bethesda, or if they simply just don’t care. Yes, we do know about their announcement at E3 2008 that they would be releasing “substantial DLC” exclusive to the 360 version, but what they didn’t say was that the Playstation 3 version would get nothing at all to expand their experience, in any way. Not that such an announcement that was televised worldwide via the media whores at G4, who by the way have yet to ask any tough question about anything Microsoft has done to “win” this console war just yet. Just by getting up on that stage and making such an announcement was a slap in the face of every gamer regardless of the platform he or she has chosen for their gaming experience. No one should get up on stage, willing or forced, and say that while they will release the game for both consoles, the right console to get the game on is THIS one. They should be treating both versions equally, and if they are not willing to do that, then they should either release it as an exclusive to a console, or get the hell out of the video game industry.

And then, of course, is the continued slaps in the face by Bethesda. Two times I have tried to contract them to get in touch with Todd Howard. However, both times I was shipped to marketing where I was to leave a “callback” message, none of which were ever returned. I later was told by Bitbag Editor in chief Torrence Davis that Mr. Howard doesn’t grant interviews. This is consistent with what the first person I talked to on my second call to them has said.

Why is this, Mr. Howard? Do you think we wouldn’t notice that all of the interviews about DLC content, save the quick one-liner mention that one of your cronies made to Torrence Davis about this, doesn’t even bring up the issue about any PS3 downloadable content for Fallout 3? Do you have the interviewer sign a NDA stating that they better not ask about any PS3 Fallout 3 DLC or even bring it up or else? Did you find out that I challenged you to an interview with me about this issue, and you never so much as e-mailed me back about it? Hell, that challenge was all over the internets. How could you not see it?

Oh wait, I know the answer to that one. You did see it, but you didn’t care. You ran, just as you and your cronies are continuing to run about this issue. Gamers want answers, and you are ignoring every single one of them. You are failing to show the world that you give a damn about them, and are instead giving all your love to the highest bigger. Mr. Howard, and I say this because I mean it, you are one of the biggest cowards ever in the gaming industry. Yes, Square Enix’s slimeball CEO Yoichi Wada is piece of work, but at least he answers a few tough questions. Valve’s founder, Gabe Newell, a man that should learn to program once in a great while, never knows when to shut up. You, sir, have yet to answer anyone about anything unless it’s a softball question. We have yet to see one syllable out of anyone that even challenges you on anything about DLC for the PS3, or even asks if you are planning anything. And you don’t go answer anyone and go through the back door with me and several other bloggers that you know will tell the truth about how you backstab gamers who support you.

Yes, about those very gamers. We should be outraged over this. Even if the 360 will be the only console you will have in your life, you should still be pissed off about this. Why? Because this is a slap in the face to an industry that we all love and cherish. If anyone thinks that we are taking this too seriously, then they are not gamers themselves, and should never consider themselves to be. These are the people that we are supporting, in an economic recession no less, with at least sixty bucks of our money that we sometimes have to slave for though hell and high water, and this is the thanks we get. We get a company that would rather hide behind their embargoes and then tel everyone not to ask any tough questions to them. We get a company that releases a version that will get nothing extra, while the other versions get everything under the damn sun. We get a company that sends an honest gamer with honest questions to marketing to leave a message and then ignore them.

And we also have a company that still somehow has its apologists. There are still those select few that think that we have no right to be angry. Anything they can use in order to justify their position has been used. The Playstation 3 got an exclusive Mirror’s Edge level, even when the PS3 was the lead console for the game and pales in comparison to the type of exclusive DLC that Microsoft had paid for (Sony never asked for the ME DLC). They say that Bethesda made the point at E3, even though they never said that the PS3 would be left out in the cold there, either. They say that Bethesda’s not obligated to give anything to the PS3 version, even when that is half their fan base, and in a way, they wouldn’t feel obligated to give the PS3 version trophy support via a patch a week or so after its release.

See, this is the same exact things that they use to justify and defend Bethesda. However, there is no more excuse for this. Microsoft’s strings do not extend past digital distribution, and we know Bethesda has given the PS3 DLC in disc form before, see the Shimmering Isles. So why isn’t this stuff on disc form that people can install on their PS3s and expand the game that way? What is Bethesda’s strategy? Simply put: Money! Either Microsoft thought of something new, or Bethesda wants more checks from the money tree itself. There is no excuse for such treachery in the industry, and those that give any to try to justify it are not gamers, but accessories. They might as well sign the damn checks or fill out the NDA contracts. Bethesda should be ashamed of this.

Hopefully now we see where this exclusive DLC as a weapon tactic is leading Microsoft. While they continue to pay top dollar to the companies that do not need the money in order to keep things off the competition or make the competition one of their own, they close down first party studios and put people out of work. They give us no real exclusive games for 2009. They give us no real reason why we should be paying 50 bucks a year for Xbox Live Gold when we can get the same core functionality of it, minus a few bells and whistles that will most likely come sooner than you think anyway, out of the PSN. They continue to shove Halo down our throats because it’s all they are currently offering. Microsoft, you are running a dangerous game with your system. Do you really want to beat Sony? Do you really want to extract revenge? If so, then you are not going to do so by running this fine line. You are emphatically cutting out the safety net from below you while performing stunts you never trained for on a trapeze up five hundred feet high from pure concrete. First parties are what show off your systems, and third parties should just be what the first parties see. You really need to learn this practice and at the next E3, forget about Sony’s franchises and worry about yourselves. You have gold mines in Killer Instinct and Perfect Dark just waiting to be plucked that you’re sitting on. Please, no more DLC, because you do see what kind of monster you end up creating. You may be enjoying this now, as if you should enjoy killing the game industry with this kind of BS to begin with, but what if tomorrow, Square Enix makes a huge announcement that they changed their minds about Final Fantasy 13 DLC and they want to give the PS3 version substantial content time and time again while you get none? Hell, Bethesda is getting away with ignoring half of their fan base in favor of the highest bidder, so why shouldn’t anyone else employ the same business practices.

I am also hopeful, though I am not holding my breath for this to happen as there is always at least one, that people don’t take this as a fanboy rant. I do not like this move on the part of Bethesda, and I would be equally applaud if this was Microsoft left out of the cold. Again, to those that dare to bring up Mirror’s Edge, save your breath. You were already told the reason why you shouldn’t.

This is a call to the media: Do your damn job! To hell with the embargoes! Bring the situation up anyway, because you’re our checks and balances.

And to Bethesda, it’s time for you to put up or shut up. Either support all versions of Fallout 3 equally, or get your asses out of the gaming industry, because we don’t have to spend our time or money on you. Unlike the media, you can’t force us to spend our money on you, and there are other more deserving people we can give our money to. Those that give more of a damn about this industry than you apparently do.

Good night, and good luck.

It seems I’ve gotten the attention of a few people when I made a story about Kotaku’s stealing, plagiarizing, whatever you want to call it, of the Smarthouse story (or was it the other way around, I’m not even sure anymore). The N4G moderators felt the need to censor the story after it reached 530 degrees, and someone who we won’t name but his comments about the story are here.

Thing is, though, when you really look at this situation, it is just one of the many that I have faced since I have opened the site: so many don’t want the media outlets that they know don’t do the right thing being called out. It’s annoying and ridiculous, and it has to really stop, because the gaming industry and the gaming public has had enough of being lied to.

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It’s that time again.

We haven’t done this in a while, but we figured that there is a reason to bring this back for a week (we have enough people to do this for that have really effed up big time).

Conservative “Christians” World Net Daily, Nerve Media, and our old friend Greenie all made this list. And oh my God, do we EVER have winners for this week. Just remember that this is just ranked based upon opinion only. You judge who really deserves top spot, since they all deserve it this week.

Here we go, this week’s nominees for Worst Person In The Gaming World.

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We’ve heard the complaint countless times, and it’s starting to sound more like whining than anything else (see Gabe Newell or Hiroshi Takai): That the Playstation 3 is hard to develop for. We’ve now seen that the PS3 is just a different coding process, and it’s becoming akin to learning how to ride a bike: Once you know how to ride it, you never forget how to do so, and you just want to ride all the time on it. We’ve seen Rockstar being able to realize it, and Bioware recently admitted that they were just intimidated by something different (hmm…would say a few things about what we could hear in the future about the Mass Effect franchise, doesn’t it?).

But now it gets even more interesting, because of the February 27th drop date of Killzone 2. Here’s a game that is sure to make ever PS3 fanboy smile and make them be able to give a HUGE middle finger to those that ever doubted the damn thing (now if they could just get that price cut). However, not only will the “hard to develop for” be squashed with the release of the game, but the release of its ENGINE to developers. It basically means this: Now these whiners have nothing left as an excuse as to why they shouldn’t develop for Sony’s system.

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You know, it’s funny about the upcoming Killzone 2. Everyone now has an opinion about not only the game, but the people defending it from the influx of anti-Sony sites like Kotaku and GameDaily that would love to screw around with the Metascore. But that Edge 7/10 needed to be explained a lot more than it was. I’ve always said that if you are going to be in the minority as far as opinions about a certain thing goes, you better damn well have a good explanation as to why you’re in that minority. This is why Ben Durka said something on PSXExtreme about that Edge review. It was highly inconsistent (just as inconsistent as Famitsu is), the things they said did not justify the score, and it just reeked of either anti-Sony bias or plain stupidity. No one’s saying that no one is allowed to have a negative reaction to KZ2 or anything like that, but Edge seemed to just want some attention in the influx of everyone that would disagree with them.

But Variety had no right to go about posting what they did. Sony fanboys are like Rush Limbaugh? Yeah, right, bud, and people like you are just like Ann Coulter-geist: Generalizing every single person from one side of the equation and saying that they are the scum of the Earth while the other side comes out smelling like a goddamn rose.

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I thought that, because so many websites do things like this (a weekly recap of the big news of the week), that I thought that GG should have its own version of the weekly recap. However, as always, I want to put my own spin on things, and make this into something that a few people outside of gaming journalism do sometimes. If you watch NFL Gameday on the NFL Network a lot, you might be privy to this segment (since they do it all the time at the end of the night episode). It’s something called “What Have We Learned”. Here, instead of just giving you a boring recap, we’ll give you a rundown of what we were taught FROM the news of the week.

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With the Pittsburgh Steelers winning a record 6th Super Bowl win in what is to be one of the most memorable 4th quarters in Super Bowl history (I knew it would be a good game. Didn’t think I would almost be hurling things at the TV screen when Fitzgerald was allowed to run through the seam after that catch to give Arizona their first lead at the worst possible time, though), and with me not doing this in a while (and with some awards to give), I figure to redeem myself for not doing this in a bit in order to once again give the latest list of nominees for Worst Person In The Gaming World.

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