The Console Wars

PS3 Vs Xbox 360

So for a random reason tonight I thought I should highlight the pros and cons of the video gaming consoles. I am not really in the market for one I just thought I would give my opinion about them. If you are wondering why the Wii is not on this comparison, its because its not a game system on the same level as

Playstation 3

So first I am going to go into the pros and cons and then anything personal I feel about the system.

PROS

The biggest draw to buying a PS3 is that it doubles as a Blu-Ray player, that pretty big as the home video market is slowly upgrading to Blu-Ray. Most people are going to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player soon enough anyway might as well kill two birds with one stone with this one.

Playing online is free with PS3 no Playstation Network subscription fee, it will work fine with your internet connection, unlike other consoles (more on that later).

Most people are already used to the controller as it is the same design since 1998 when the Dual Shock controller came out for the PS1.

CONS

The game selection isn't as diverse and of my tastes as it is on the 360.

When downloading a game or demo you have to wait for it to download, the system pauses the download if you pop in a movie while it downloads something, I've seen this happen on a friends PS3 while downloading a demo and its a pain to learn after watching a blu ray for 45 minutes and see the download make no progress

It does malfunction, rate is unknown and not as publicized so probably not as much as the 360 but thats a risky assumption.

Personally...

Personally the PS3 is a great system and the blu ray is a definite bonus. But the game selection is not up to par as to what the 360 offers, in terms of exclusive titles. I am a fan of shooters and 360 defintely excels in this category over PS3. Yes I should be used to the control design because I've played it a lot through the years but I like the 360s a bit better.

I didn't include this because I don't know if its a pro or a con but the controllers have some kind of motion control like sensor in it, that isn't used and now they are getting ready to release motion sensor wands to compete with the Wii and the 360's Project Natal.

Also back in the early 2000's, so long ago now it seems, Sony was responsible for bumping off Sega out of the console market with the PS2, and ever since then I have held a grudge against Sony in the gaming industry. The Dreamcast was an awesome console but Sony with its “we double as a DVD player” sales speech helped kill the Dreamcast fast. It makes it hard to break down and buy a Sony gaming product while I have a Sega fan boy inside of me what won't have anything to do with Sony gaming, it doesn't effect anyone really but certainly has an effect on my buying habits.

Xbox 360

PROS

As stated above the console exclusives are better and are more interesting for me overall.

The controller is top notch made ergonmically for shooting gamers like myself in mind.

The integration with Windows computers is flawless and makes streaming music and video content much simpler for those with Windows PCs. There is also some integration features with Windows Mobile, but I am an Android man myself so I have no use for that.

Project Natal is rumored to be out this Christmas season and it going to be a killer add-on for the console and I am very excited to get the chance to try it out at some point, certainly tips the scale over the motion wands Sony has coming out for PS3.

CONS

RROD aka Red Ring Of Death most of us have heard about it very few of us have experienced it first hand. Its a fear that all of us have, the game console malfunctioning and in this day in age of faster and better inside parts they tend to overheat so as long as you keep the ventilation holes unblocked the console should be fine.

Paying for Xbox Live has gotten to be a joke. It is bad enough Internet bills are ridiculously high enough but the fact that PSN is free to their users, Xbox Live needs to stop with this subscription service BS.

No Blu-Ray is a shame because it is the one thing that keeps me from buying this console, and to add more insult to injury there is a probably now rare, HD DVD add-on for the system. Didn't manufacturers learn from the early 90s from Sega that most addons dont work out that well. While the Sega CD was initally successful it failed to have a few great games, instead most were terrible full motion video games and the addon soon had a worse looking cousin, the Sega 32X, those are topics for another day.

Personally...

I like the 360 game selection its awesome and massive and totally fits for me. Project Natal looks too awesome in terms of what the possibilites are with it, which seem endless and I cannot wait to try it out at a store or demo somewhere.

In Summary...

This is a tough decision because neither system out performs the other, but I have to side with the 360 with Natal coming out it slightly makes me want it more than the PS3.

The Devolution of Comedy in American Culture or Why You Tube Makes Me Sad

So today I saw one of my more favorite You Tubers, Slyth66, post a Q&A video and at the end he makes a joke about masturbation. I was kind of appalled at this because thats not typically his type of humor, but I can see why he did it, he is almost at 20,000 subscribers and still doesn't have a partnership, mind you most people get a partnership at 2,000 subscribers. So then I reflect and think about the big names on You Tube, the Shane Dawsons and Phillip Defrancos of the top of the You Tube charts all have way too much sexual humor and I think its led me to be kind of bored of most You Tube videos recently. It used to be I would look forward to everyones videoes when I got big into You Tube over the summer, now I stay subscribed to a lot of the same people but I don't watch their videos because it is usually the same old thing, its like watch more than 5 episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

I then think about the rest of entertainment culture in America specifically comedy and how it is on the same page as that of what is big on You Tube. Sex comedies are what dominate the box office these days, last year alone the best non kids comedies were The Hangover and Bruno and sadly they have gratitutious amounts of sexual humor, yet American audiences seem to like it more than other types of humor.

It just makes me sad that the era of well written comedy is dying to make for comedy that has to deal with sex. I just watched the movie today called It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and wow what a great comedic movie from 1963, just really well put together overall, more on that movie some other time, but it makes me sad to compare that to comedies of today which arent as worthwhile, yes people enjoy them, but they are not the movies people put at the top of their lists of movies that NEED to see in the year. As comedies even on Television lessen in quality, i.e. The Office, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Two and A Half Men, it makes me wonder if the art of comedy in America is dying almost as fast as film criticism is because of how low brow it has to be to appeal to a mass audience.

It just makes me sad overall because I have learned to fully appreciate comedies of yester-year but most people really don't care cuz most of their comedic interests have to depend on subtle innuendos.

I could keep ranting but it would get redundant.

Until next time...