It seems to me that, for far too long, we've been getting very excited about the prospect of this console "not sucking."
Early this gen, many of us pretty much wrote it off, but it made a comeback. It didn't become an epic console. Basically, it just started to not suck.
Unfortunately, we're treating the PS3's ability to not suck, as if it won the superbowl. Here are just a few specific examples of this fanbased ignorance:
A. We get excited because the PS3's software sales are "starting to catch up to the 360."
B. We get super-pumped over the biggest console exclusive for the PS3 selling 4 million LTD.
C. We call the big three AAA exclusive games on the PS3 "the best games in their genre," and/or "the best game/s of all time."
D. We flame multiplatform games, if they don't sell well on the PS3, despite their quality, like Bioshock. We also make up conditions as to why certain didn't meet expectations(ie: "sold well for a new IP" or "sold well for February" ect.)
This generation is very polarizing and its very sad to see that in most cases, this bias has spread through the veins of most videogame entheusiast reporters.
Now, there are a few things we need to remember about the PS3 before we start clamoring over how great the console has done this generation, by pulling itself out of the muck that it started from:
1. The console still has very poor Jrpg support by any standard. This is a travesty we can place directly on Sony's head.
2. Sony has decided to no longer support 3rd party exclusive games, instead concentrating on its first and second party party, admittedly western-centric titles, at cost to Sony fans, with profits as a motive. This is in stark contrast to the gamer-centric strategy of Sony's main competition. The Lost and the Damned, for instance, is a AAA loss likely due directly to Sony's cheapness.
This has also led to the loss of every major 3rd party Playstation brand associated game, from DMC to FFXIII, to Tekken, as well as a wealth of DLC.
3. The PS3 is still on pace to easily end up in 3rd place this gen, and in fact, it is almost impossible mathematically to come up with any scenerio which would keep the PS3 out of dead last. The PS3 lost this generation. The gamecube also, didn't suck.
4. Even if it didn't lose this generation, which it did, the console still went from the most epic of wins, the PS2, to a degredation of its namesake, the near ruination of the Playstation brand, and all of this is attributed directly to Sony's attempt to push early adoption of Blu-Ray at the expense of its gaming fanbase.
4. The console still costs 399 dollars. This, above all else, is an unacceptable fiasco.
5. The console is still significantly behind in game library according to the quantifiable methods of determination, aggregate reviews and/or overall game sales. This is an admittedly weak point, but still, it's the only quantifiable methods we have to determine such things as game library quality and more importantly, game library popularity.
6. HOME has been underwhelming, and XBL is still the superior online service by most accounts, despite huge steps Sony has taken to make the services equal.
7. Sony actually and purposefully removed Backwards Compatibility, in what we can only assume was an attempt to sell more Playstation 2s. This is an insult to all consumers, and equivelant to a price hike.
Now, sure, the PS3 has many things going for it.
1. Graphics are currently superior to the main competition, judging by Killzone 2.
2. Free online gaming.
3. Blu-Ray player.
4. Exclusive lineup for 09 appears to be good and/or great.
5. Sony has done a good job of feature chasing with HOME, controller, and trophies.
These, however, aren't the dominant claims of a winning console.
These are the braggotries of a console's fanbase, discussing a console which many expected to suck, but which actually ended up not sucking.
Just remember this console's position. Not everyone is as entheuiastic as you are about it, but that doesn't mean it's a bad console, however, in an effort to prove it doesn't suck, most of you hype it as the second coming. This isn't the Playstation 1.
The PS3 doesn't suck.
Celebrating that is fine, but let's not go overboard.
Flamers, if you must....get to it.
I don't need your console war.
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor.
You're power hungry, spinnin' stories, and bein' graphics whores.
I don't need your console war.
NO NO, NO NO NO.