Why I'm going to get a PS3

I decided a while back that I wanted my own game console to play if I go live with my brother in Indiana to go to college or anything. I compared the Xbox 360 and the PS3 along with their game libraries and decided the PS3 had more that I'd want, including:

• Current-gen games


• Free internet


• Previous-gen games

The last one, of course, recently changed. I checked out everything I would want on a backwards compatibility list and they were all covered--then realized the list was moot with the new PS3 Slim. That's okay, actually, because buying a PS2 Slim for $100 would guarantee previous-gen playability and ultimately cost less than keeping an Xbox Live subscription anyway.

Now, I've always been a Nintendo fanboy; and like most Nintendo fanboys, I hated when others favored Sony because they had "real games" that weren't just "for kids." The trouble is, those age-old accusations are gaining more and more truth as time wears on. I'm not saying Nintendo needs to make more M-rated games or anything like that, but they're trying a little too hard to assume that there are new gamers whose only way to get into their franchises is through increasingly dumbed-down everything. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't buy into the philosophy that novelty, real or faked, makes games automatically worthwhile by way of graphics (no-brainer), storyline (Spirit Tracks comes to mind) or gameplay (gimmickry comes to mind).

To spare you from my potential to write a thorough analysis of this issue as a ten-page essay (a "proof," as I would say in logic or philosophy), let me use the following videos to point out a simple fact: Sony is on Nintendo's turf, and darn it, they're doing a better job.



Those are two of the games I intend to get. I may get LittleBig Planet while I wait for LBP2. Then there's Joe Danger, the enhanced Exitebike that Nintendo never made, and a nifty action-puzzle game called echochrome. Final Fantasy XIII is obvious, and after SC played and liked the unique RPG Star Ocean (thanks to emulation and translation patching) I figured I'd go for the whole series. I also became attracted to stealth series Metal Gear Solid when I learned about its storyline and had conversations with SC about its drawing on American culture in the reconnaissance war zone. I recently got my hands on the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection (containing the series through the PS2) just as the prices for it began the "rare and out of print" ascent, snagging it for $40 instead of the base $30--still a good deal. For the sake of the old Metal Gears 1 & 2 I purchased the special edition of MGS3 from the nerd-run small business at nintendosforsale.com, which was the best bargain I could find at the time. I also possess copies of Chrono Cross and Mega Man Legends, the latter of which I got years ago since my eldest brother left his PS1 and I happened to see the game at GameStop for nine bucks back when they carried PS1 games at all. As per my standards of reliability vs. practicality, the only items above that I own used copies of are MML and the expanded MGS3.

Needless to say, I'm getting a head start on securing the games I want. They don't stick around as long as the systems; although I ought to get my PS2 as soon as I can. So goodbye, Nintendo; you no longer provide what I look for in games with enough consistency for me to stick with you after I move and leave behind the family Nintendo merchandise.