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The PS3 library suffers from inadequacy in comparison to the conventional 360. Basically the PS3 would have to be termed a pale imitation. Meanwhile the console lacks enough uniqueness to be competitive with the Wii which lies at the other end of the spectrum. In an ideal environment the consoles would appear as a equilateral triangle with no point of perspective value, and had the Wii been conventional that might indeed have been the case.

However the 360 got to the field a year earlier, and the Wii was focused on creating a new demographic rather then the conventional one. The result is that the triangle is very irregular. The PS3 corner has an angle of one hundred and sixty degrees, and is very close to the 360 corner. The line between the 360 and the Wii denotes the gaming spectrum. The result is the PS3 is so close to the longest line that it appears to fall between the other two consoles.

I thought a geometrical explanation would be rather ingenious. However it provides a good mental picture. The PS3 is very close to the 360, but it will probably never be able to provide the volume the 360 has, and titles being cross platform will not help the PS3. While the Wii is so far out in right field that the console appears to be a radical alternative. So for anyone looking at the triangle it appears there are only two valid choices. The one on the far left or far right.

Were all the libraries more conventional there might be a quality argument. However the diversity between console approaches nullifies that point of perspective. The PS3 is trapped it cannot trump the Wii, because that is a radically different market, and it cannot trump the 360 thanks to its library girth. The PS3 cannot win by default, because it cannot overcome either approach, and thus it has the weakest library.

The logical answer for Sony to change this is for them to pull their library in its own direction as far from the 360 as possible. So that it can bring its core games closer to the more casual fair offered on the Wii, or perhaps go off in another direction entirely. Otherwise the comparison will forever be valid. You cannot win against the superior opponent playing his game, and you cannot even beet the other guy if your not even playing on the same field.

I honestly think that Sony is missing an opportunity with their library in regards to hardware. On occasion I thought that a old title such as Phantasmagoria would perhaps be a wonderful genre for the console. Using live action video, and simple point and click interface would both be casual, and yet more mature. More importantly it ties in so well with prime time television. The BluRay player alone would probably finally give such a game the volume that it needs to feel less restricted. That is the kind of thinking Sony should be doing with its library. More casual, and yet far more mature.