I Feel Like Complaining About Game Consoles
posted on 08:31 04/03/2010 by planetidiot.com
I own all 2 1/2 current gen systems so I'm unbiased. Aside from the fact that I called the Wii 1/2 a current gen system of course. Here's what annoys me about each of them:posted on 08:31 04/03/2010 by planetidiot.com
Xbox 360
- The startup: This seems like a minor thing, but the fact is my Xbox 360 annoys me every time I turn it on. It flat out refuses to boot up until you change the input to the one it's using. So if I keep my PS3 in HDMI2 and the Xbox 360 in HDMI1, and I'm on the PS3's input, I have to hit the input change button on my TV like 6 times. This would be fine if the Xbox would use this time to load up. But no, it has this attitude where I just have to see it's little intro screen. I could swap the inputs so the PS3 is in HDMI1, but why should I change? It's the one who sucks.
- Paying for online: I'm not going to do it. Until my games are selling so well that I feel like investing in a gold membership to make online games, I'm just never going to pay for online. I already pay $100 a year for the creator's club license. And I don't care that Xbox Live is the best online experience for gaming. I just don't play games online very much. When I do, I play with 1 or 2 friends and I do it for free on the PS3. Which is also where I don't have to pay to watch streaming Netflix. Even the Wii has free streaming Netflix. So what exactly is worth paying for, all the features I don't care about or the ones I get for free on other systems?
- The D-Pad: I've bitched about the sad state of digital pads in the past, but it's really driven home when I'm writing a game. See, I program a game on the 360 to do something when I hit down and something different when I hit left or right. When I hit "right" on your controller and my program is registering that "down" is being pressed, you have made an unacceptably shitty controller.
- PS: I didn't buy your absurd $100 wifi adapter. I bought a wireless 802.11n bridge for like 70 bucks. Nyah.
Playstation 3
- Installing... Installing... Installing..: Super excited to play your new exciting game? You just got it home, put it in your PS3 and... you have to download and install an update. And it takes 10 minutes. Why? On the Xbox 360 it installs an update in like 5 seconds, so you don't even notice it. On the PS3 it takes forever. If it's gonna take that long, I don't want the damn update. Just let me play the stinking game!
- Improve the store: It takes about fifty button presses to download a and install a demo from the PSN Store. It should take one. Why would I ever not want to download something in the background? What is it with you guys and progress bars? Download and install the thing without me having to wait for you to do it, and do it in one click. Sometimes I download demos twice because after all 20 confirmation screens I'm not sure if I actually downloaded it or not. And no, I don't want to tell everyone on facebook that I just downloaded a demo.
- Let me program the damn thing! Now that Linux isn't available on the PS3 (thanks to their latest feature-removing firmware update), there's absolutely no legitimate way for a hobbyist to program it. Microsoft has XNA and the Indie Games channel, how about doing something similar? Level building in Little Big Planet was fun while it lasted, but honestly once I got my hands on XNA I never looked back.
- PS: Nobody wants to rent your overpriced nonsensically time-restricted videos when Netflix gives unlimited streaming on the same damn console. Also, nobody did even when Netflix wasn't on the console.
Wii
- Ugh. I don't even know where to start. You know what? Forget the Wii. Make the HD Wii 2, give it a proper modern online experience and then we'll talk.
- And while you're at it: come out with a new DS already. And no, not the same DS with a camera slapped on it. New hardware, high-res screen, more memory and a kick ass CPU and graphics chip. I'm tired of looking at N64 games on a system not powerful enough to do Sim City or Civilization properly.
- Murder: game-specific friend codes. Murder them forever.
- PS: For the record I was a die-hard Nintendo fan when the Wii launched. Now, not so much
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