03/21/00

The PS2: So, what'd you expect?

I can't believe how gloomy everyone looks in the Sony camp lately. The PS2 has come out, and it's an impressive system. It has so many possibilities, and so much going for it. Still, I hear whining from lots of people that ranges from "it wasn't what I expected" to "it SUX". Well, I for one feel that it WAS what I expected, and it does not, by any stretch of the imagination, suck (well, unless maybe you paid $800+ for it).

I stand by my previous article of hating Sony's business strategies (c'mon, admit it: doesn't the thought of no Sega and no Nintendo bother you, even just a little bit? if not, how about Crash 17 and Twisted Metal 56?), but I have never been able to fault their hardware, once they get it working like it should (Heh. Sometimes that takes awhile).

Another thing that I have to commend Sony on is their advertising prowess. Man, these guys must've hired the same spin-doctors that got Clinton elected. Twice. The hype that surrounds the PS2 is almost religious in stature, and they haven't even STARTED U.S. advertising for the new system yet. The one downside to all the hype is that nothing that Sony can do can fully live up to it, no matter what.

A lot of you are gameplayers that started with the PSX or slightly before, so you may be new to the hype game. Us old school players, however, have seen this before, many times. Systems and peripherals that don't live up to their hype are commonplace in this industry. I remember it waaaayy back in the Atari, Intellivision and Oddysey 2 days, with those stupid speech addons for the latter 2. I remember it in the Atari 5200 vs. Colecovision days, particularly with Coleco's Adam. How about the Master System/NES days, with R.O.B., Nintendo's clunky Robot, Sega's 3D glasses (which were actually cool but kinda pointless), Nintendo's Power Pad (a big controller that sits on the floor for you to stomp on Twister style), and, the Sega Master System itself, actually (It was a GREAT system. But showing pictures of the Arcade version of Outrun in their catalogs and passing it off as the master system version REALLY didn't help 'em much). The Genesis/NES days brought us the infamous Sega CD (which wasn't really as much of a failure as everyone says, not to say it wasn't one),the 32X(Okay, can't defend this one), and NEC/Hudson's Turbografx 16 (a great success in Japan, but a dismal failure here). Then there was the 3DO, the CD-I, and the Atari Jaguar. I guess the Sega Saturn goes here too, though it's one of my favorite systems, and so does the Nintendo 64. The fact is, ALL of the past and present systems can be considered overhyped, but I guess the failures like I listed stick out a little more in everyone's mind than the successes.

With the Dreamcast, Sega made a lot of promises that (so far) they haven't been able to keep, like full online play. A Fanboy's twitch reaction is to say that "SEGA LIED!! SCREW THEM! I'M SELLIN' BACK THIS PIECE OF CRAP DREAMCAST AND I'LL WAIT FER PLAYSTATION 2/DOLPHIN/X BOX/CAPCOM DYNASTY/JAGUAR 2001/YOUR SYSTEM HERE." Then, the system the fanboy was waiting for comes out, and it has the same problems, sometimes worse, or in some other way doesn't fulfill their lofty expectatations. Fanboys always seem to set themselves up for a fall.

In Japan, the PS2 came out to overwhelming sales and fanfare, but with a few minor problems(And, with the code discovered that allows Import PS2s to play U.S. DVDs, a MAJOR problem, in Sony's view anyway). Umm...what did you EXPECT? Perfection? No game system has had that yet. Once it happens, there won't BE any new systems. Here are some of the mistakes I've seen fanboys make regarding the PS2....

1. Gauging how good ALL the PS2 titles will be based on the first releases. Why do people always do this? The original PS came out in Japan with NOTHING but Ridge Racer and Toshinden (If ya don't remember, it was a 3D fighting game that looked great at the time and played like utter crap). If the PSX games didn't get any better than that (some of them haven't), the system would've died 3 years ago. In Japan, the DC came out with VF3TB (I love the game, and I still play it, 'cause depthwise, NOTHING touches it. But, the arcade version's about 3 years old, so I wasn't expecting the "technical marvel" most fanboys were, and it's a good thing too, 'cause it sure wasn't one) and some real reekers like July and Godzilla. These games are a far cry from the Soul Caliber, Dead or Alive 2 and Crazy Taxi we're playing now. So the PS2 comes out with games like Ridge Racer 5 (which is very good, but not as good as some were expecting) and Street Fighter EX3 (All of the EX games kinda suck, except for some nice play mechanics), and people are complaining. It seems like ALL Japanese game system debuts suck, with 1 or 2 good games and a mess of bad ones. Within a couple of weeks the system will get Tekken Tag Tournament (ALSO a disappointment in many fanboy's eyes. WTF? It's TEKKEN!!! Isn't that what you WANTED?!?) and Dead or Alive 2, among other AAA titles. That's what I'd be basing the PS2's future on, NOT the paltry first releases.
2. There's been some technical problems with the system, particularly with the 8 meg memory card, and the DVD drive. Umm...I could've told you there'd be SOMETHING like that to worry about. Preparing about a MILLION systems and even more peripherals for simultaneous release is no easy task, not even for a huge company like Sony. There's bound to be snags, nagging problems, and unforseen hassles. As we all know, there was for the original Playstation (and they didn't sort all those problems out for years!), and of course, who can forget all of the system and GD-ROM problems Sega was having with the Dreamcast? Well, I can. These things WILL happen. Sony's recent problems prove that once again. Maybe now some of the fanboys will let Sega slide a bit(doubt it), knowing that the all-powerful Sony's system has problems too. The most ignorant thing that a fanboy can do is ban a company and never buy their stuff again 'cause they got one bad system or game. If someone does that, they shouldn't have bought that system in the first place, 'cause their biased ass didn't want it anyway, and they're just looking for an excuse to bash it.
3. The PS2 games have Pop-up(!) and draw-in(!!) and slow-down(!!!) Again, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? ESPECIALLY from the very first titles. Just like with the Dreamcast, this isn't in any way a sign of the system's weakness. As long as there are deadlines for game releases, as long as there are game ports from other systems and computers, as long as there are crap companies like Ack-Lame that make garbage games for a quick buck, as long as there are different methods of programming, and as long as there are companies that actually push their games to the system's limits, there will ALWAYS BE...pop-up...draw-in...and slow-down. I figure maybe 2 more game systems from now (if the console industry doesn't die again), there may finally be an end to those minor, somewhat annoying, but overall easily overlooked problems. If the game's still fun and worth playing, WHO CARES?

Actually, it's kind of funny. I've heard rumors (READ: R U M O R S. Not gospel, not fact) that the one reason Sony feels they need to recall a bunch of systems ('bout a million) isn't because of any of the above quirks, but because of the DVD lockout eliminator code I mentioned earlier. That's actually a PLUS for importers AND Japan natives, but certainly not for Sony (it breaks more international copyright laws than even Sony's lawyers could handle). If they actually DO recall those systems (good luck gettin' the ones imported to the US), it'd cost Sony a HUGE bundle. But don't worry, they can handle it.

Now, the continuing cycle of hype continues, with Microsoft and the X-Box. Now IT'S the system that will kill everything, and rule. Yeah. Right. Actually, I see this system as somewhat of a relief, because while Sony could concievably take out Sega, and Nintendo could just go to making kid's games only (like they already are), Microsoft is NOT a company that Sony can push around. This ensures competition, at least between these two systems, even if Sega and Nintendo are out of the picture. So much for Sony's plans of domination(Hooray!).

I See the PS2 for what it is: A game system, like the one before it, with almost blinding potential...and one that will one day sit on my desk....right next to my DC, and probably my Dolphin AND X-Box, 'cause as I keep saying, I go where the games are. Like the Playstation before it, this will be a system with tons of shovel-ware (Sony's policies, ya understand), but enough good and great 3rd party software to make it worth owning. As long as Sony's 3rd parties have great companies like Sega and Nintendo against them, the great games will remain great.

The main reason I'm looking forward to the PS2 is because I didn't fall for the hype. If you did, think of it as a life lesson: if you don't expect anything, you almost always get more than you expect.

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