Sony, Sony, Sony.... *shakes head*

Sony has admitted that the PS3 is hard to code for. Not only this, but they designed it that way.

It's part of their plan for the PS3 to be a ten-year console.

A direct quote from the Official Playstation magazine by Kaz Hirai, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment says: "We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that (developers) want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?"

The PS3 has been struggling behind the XBox 360 since before it even launched (something to the tune of 8 million less units sold) yet they insist on making things HARDER for developers to develop for? Sony seem to be doing everything they can to make the PS3 fail, and the more worrying this is that it isn't working. They did this with the PSP as well, but the damned things just won't die off.

Anyway, lets look at this from simple terms, in that there are two PS3 exclusive games you'd really want to own: Metal Gear Solid 4, and Little Big Planet.

First, MGS4. I think it was a HORRID decision by Hideo Kojima to have that game only on PS3. He didn't make a game, he made half a game and half a blu-ray movie, and that's why it's on the PS3: blu-ray discs, so more storage for all the FMV.

If you cut that game back to more gameplay, less footage, and better levels, you could easily have it on all three consoles yet, even with Solid Snake appearing originally on Nintendo consoles and making his return to them with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kojima didn't let Snake come full circle for his final outing, when it would have benefited everyone involved had he done so.

Now, Little Big Planet. Little Big Planet (LBP) seems to go against this Sony theory of "make it hard to use, and hard for anyone to get" in the most major way. (See: The Onion on Sony NSFW)

LBP has tons of user made maps, many of which are ridiculously involved and made with the same tools as were originally used to make the levels for the main game. Anyone can make a map and upload it to the web.

LBP is the main selling point for the PS3 right now, and it's the only lasing content they have right now, despite wanting to be able to have people using and buying PS3 games for the next 9 years. I see problems with this...


I will admit, I have been stung by Sony.I got, one Christmas, the Sony NWA-3000 20GB mp3 player, which was one of the first with an OLED display. It's the model where, if the screen is off, you can;t see there is a screen there, and it does look damn cool. Except for the part where it lasted under a year, yet I know 3 people who bought them almost a year later (around July, September and October for the three) and all there's still work fine, yet mine and another friend who got his at the same time as me both have non-working product.

I never bothered asking Sony for a refund/replacement etc, because the things were so shoddily made that I had caused accidental damage in daily use, which is obviously a way for them to escape their responsibilities under the warranty.


My only advice is this: Sony make everything hard for themselves, and their customers, and always give a good number of months after release before buying a Sony product (Sony Ericsson phones generally excluded from the rule thankfully) since there is a high likelihood it won't work for very long, and there will be little support since they will release a new version with half the battery life and twice the features you never use inside of a year.


On a brighter note, It's becoming more and more likely they WILL be pushing out USB3 onto their laptops faster than expected, though still not till February/March time 2010 (which, in Sony time, means they'll rush it out for the xmas release the year AFTER it's expected, so hopefully Novemeber 2010, when Asus will already have managed to get it affordable into a EEE series computer)