This has been a weird thread to go through

This whole thread is a beautiful snapshot of VGC life. From Zen's opening rant to Starcraft's attempt to play 'wingman' to him, from Khuutra's lengthy rebuttal to the general nonsense everywhere in between. It's like a nature show.

I've chosen just these 2 points because I don't want to lose my day to discussing this.

Firstly, these 'conditions' you paint as mere excuses for supposedly underperforming software are most often perfectly legitimate. For example, "good for a February launch" is patently fair - if Killzone 2 had been a holiday title, it would unquestionably have sold more copies. The problem I think stems from the fact that pre-release, the big activity is hyping a game up and the big omission is not reflecting more on what obstacles stand in the way, e.g. quiet release month. If it were discussed beforehand what potential pitfalls might obstruct a title's success, then perhaps it wouldn't grate so much when post-release everyone finally gets around to acknowledging said pitfalls.

As for your second point, I entirely disagree; I feel that, if anything, it was a smart move rather than a mistake from Sony. Firstly, they anticipated in advance the shift towards third party multiplatform releases due to the great cost of producing titles for an HD console. Secondly, they acknowledged both their policy of not purchasing exclusives and by contrast the depth of Microsoft's pockets for just such an activity. Therefore they bit the bullet, accepting that losing their stranglehold on formerly third party Playstation-associated (and in some cases, exclusive) franchises was an inevitability, and went full steam in the opposite direction, fortifying their relations with second parties and tasking each internal studio with creating or expanding first party franchises in order to secure for the not-too-distant future a steady sequence of releases and to ensure the diversification of the PS3's software portfolio.

@wholikeswood

Yes, lol, but you see, ALL "damage control" has a point. Just because a reason is perfectly legitimate, doesn't mean it also isn't complete and utter damage control. Unbiased people generally determine things by an end result, rather than looking at the excuses. Mario Kart Wii sold well for a kart racing game, but see, that's just a needless condition. Did it sell well for a AAA exclusive? Yes. Fuck the rest.

WOW, I'm surprised at the vastness of this thread, let's see if I can get a few rebuttals going here.

I'm just posting so I can find it again tomorrow

You are without a doubt the most completely and utterly biased person in this thread. I laugh at your attempt to dissuade my arguments. I see nothing to rebute, besides biased opinion.

You might look at the OP and see the same thing, though, so who am I to argue.

Trust me when I tell you, this isn't about opinions. You aren't kidding anyone. You may believe the things you've said, but most of us don't. You are colored by bias, and even if you accuse me of the same thing, with yourself, you've left no doubt.

OMFG, you really tore me up.

lol, yeah, maybe I'm an asshole. Maybe I'm a bitter prick. Maybe I'm the most pathetic excuse for a troll ever to set foot in the VGChartz forums. None of that, however, stops me from being absolutely right.

2 things.

Your first paragraph. The PS3 did "suck" for the first year. It had virtually no good exclusives, BR had very little content, it cost $599 dollars, and its generally accepted that the console had performed very poorly. MGS4 was a huge turning point. The console most certainly did "suck" early on, and I've be interested to hear your arguments as to why it didn't.

Your final paragraph. This topic was clearly labled as a State of the Union. The real state of the PS3, not the hyped one. Yes, it pisses every Sony fan off, who would rather live by some inflated overhyped lie, as to how "great and infallable" their console is. Unless you didn't know, many people are loving this thread, including myself, and I thought it was just grand.

If you don't like it, I could give a shit, btw. It's the way things are mostly(imho), and you'd be hard up to find a more valid opinion on this forum.

Degrading my thread in every way possible doesn't make it cease to be, and it doesn't lessen or marginalize my studied opinion. On the contrary, posters like you, attempting to guise their flaming with "intelligent commentary" do me more good than harm. You are the ones I made this for. Enjoy it. If you think I'm strong when I'm battling the whole forum, you should see my power concentrated on just one poster.

lol, it's never been lain out like this before. I know it's angering, but in the end, most of us will have to face how this turned out. Spin dies in the pages of history. There is no hurry.

I have a PS3. It's a good console.