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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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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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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Okay, so now we have two seperate instances of a Playstation 3 Left 4 Dead version being in the works in some kind. One was fake (a reciept from EB Games, which one should’ve immediately questioned before even looking at the reciept, because many EB Games are now Gamestop and are now referred to as such), and one that was only considered fake but never said as fake (a Best Buy preorder card). Regardless of whether or not you believe the latter one (the former one was admitted to be falsified, the guy who was behind the latter one stands behind his story), the point remains: For some reason, Playstation 3 owners wouldn’t mind having the latest Valve shooter. With Doug Lombardi last summer making the “50/50 chance” claim last summer, there is still a chance that Valve may actually try to develop for the PS3 despite Gabe Newell’s prejudice about the system.

However, to me, at least, the fact remains: If Valve really cares about their fans and really wants for all audeinces to experience a hit, they will have to make this happen. There’s more reasons, though, and here, we’ll list them, one by one.

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I’ve always thought about saying something about this since I’ve seen on N4G a heap of blogs about games being posted in the front page section, some thought out, while some just being made to get hits on their site. Although everyone should know how to weed out the crap from the thought out blogs, the simple thing about the controversy is that “blogs are not news” and that certain people are not allowed to form a public opinion because they are not in the know or haven’t spent years in the industry or in journalism.

How wrong they are! In fact, those very blogs people frown upon, the “street-level” opinions, as I’ll call them, are just as valid, if not moreso, than those high-end “professional” (book-level) opinions.

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The latest one was Tekken 6, but it didn’t start there, and with John Schappert’s comments to MCV today about him wanting MGS4 for his system, the X360, it probably won’t be the last one they will try for. However, while there are pros to this situation in that more people will be able to play these games, is there a downside to all of this? I certainly think so, and it lies with one simple notion: That by continuing to persuade these third party companies to make the franchises that made the Playstation 2 the clear winner multiplatform and giving MS exclusive perks, Microsoft is instead hurting their own credibility and admitting that without these franchises, they can’t compete as well as they would if they didn’t have them.

Now, before you flame me for being a PS3 fanboy (I’m not) and dismiss this as “flame bait”, hear me out on this one.

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Okay, I will admit to my fanboysim. I think it’s about time that I just came out and said it: I am a huge….Megaman fanboy. I’ve done the 8 original MM games and most of the X games (I’ve still to do Command Mission and X7). I was too poor at the time to play the Game Boy MM games (and now I can’t find them or that Anniversary Collection of them ANYWHERE), and I’ve yet to commit to playing GBA games without the GameBoy player (I have a DS, but not used to playing them on that yet), so the GBA and DS MM games I’ve yet to play (I should get to it, though, if I want to keep my title). However, I loved everything about the series since I was a kid. Discovered the series through Mega Man 3, and then played MM2, and then MM (thus, went backwards). I loved all of them that I’ve ever played (even some many didn’t see as really good, such as MM4).

So I bought Megaman 9 the second I got the opportunity, and it was about the only thing I played until I beat it, and now I’m getting the DLC for it and I’m trying to get all the challenges done. Capcom has said that they wanted to release DLC for the month of October, including a special stage that could include Bass (just pure speculation based upon something at the end of the same, see if you notice it). However, November could be a good month for the game’s longevity, as well, if they do it right. Here’s some of the things I would add if I were running the show:

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Yeah, I heard you, I heard you loud and clear. I’m sure gamers want to talk about the real issues, like games. Yet instead, I have to spend my time on this once more. Trust me, I really don’t want to answer to this, but seeing as how the first GG Media Watch drew some major ire, especially from what one particular website wanted to say about me and GG on their Warzone podcast.

Trust me, word gets around a LOT here in the gaming world, especially when you act like a gangster that doesn’t know two things about how to actually call anyone out on their crap. Especially when you are accused of doing things yourself that you are blaming everybody else for. Yes, I’m talking directly to you, Bitbag. This is going to be long and drawn out, like your podcast that had too many things for me to respond to briefly. Congratulations, though, Mr. Davis, you made me have to answer you instead of using my first DP Thought on GG to talk about something that mattered to everyone else in the industry. I get to waste my precious time on you..AGAIN!

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