dovka

I recently upgraded my XBOX 360 to a PS3. That it to say, Kijiji is awesome for selling people things when they have no idea how much said things are worth.

Case in point, I sold an XBOX 360 (Elite) with:

• 120GB Hard Drive
• Two controllers (one wired one wireless)
• One quick charge cable
• One headset
• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 & 2
• Gears Of War I
• Bioshock I
• Fallout 3
• Mass Effect I
• Rock Band (Disc only)

For a grand total of $550.00, which was rapidly transformed into a Playstation 3 and several games.

That being said; I think the PS3's online mode far exceeds the 360; it's free and offers the exact same service set. Not to mention that streaming media from a Windows Based PC is as simple as turning the machine on. Microsoft has had years to work out the bugs in the streaming features on the 360. However the system is unreliable at best, and unworkable the majority of the time.

Also, the PS3 has Blu-Ray….which I've yet to use. But is somehow a huge selling point for the console, according to the Self-Admitted-Non-Gamer EB Employee. (Seriously, why work in a store that you don't even USE what you're selling? And who the fuck hires people that have no idea about the industry they are servicing.)

I'm an occasional reader of Penny Arcade. That is to say, I view what comes in front of me with a certain amusement. Sometimes they are dead on. Sometimes they miss, but the comic itself is fairly iconic. The other "Arcadeism", if you will, are the news posts from the creators, Tycho and Gabe. Normally, I avoid them based on one simple fact: You don't learn a godamn thing. Apparently they are not happy with the new Final Fantasy, but I don't see HOW based on the post.

And so the PS3 has finally been released in Europe and the UK after what seems like years of waiting for it and it has met a quiet hum of excitement. When the X-Box 360 was released there was a huge excitement in the air people at gaming shops talking about it and happily taking them home. The Wii release beat this you couldn't move for people wanting Wii's - I was working in a music shop at the time and we had people queuing up outside despite the fact we weren't even stocking them, unless you had ordered about 12 months in advance you were very stuck for getting one.

I went into town today and I was offered a PS3 at every shop I went too. Is this Sony shipping millions of PS3's to UK shops? (Nope they shipped 200,000) or is it the fact that at £425… in March. No-one can be bothered. People are still recovering from Christmas/New Year on their Credit Cards, even Valentines Day which has become nearly as expensive as Christmas for a lot of people. March isn't the best time of the year to ask people to spend more money and I think most people in the world who want a console already shelled out the money for a 360 or a Wii. Or is it that people are really not that interested I know I'm not, I don't know anyone who is and no chance I'm spending that much money on it to play Medal of Honour, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (seriously way to be new and exciting), whatever NBA/NFL games there is or the plethora of Tom Clancy games that I'm sure will roll out. At least the Wii had Zelda on release there is nothing on the PS3 till Metal Gear 4 is released sometime in Q4 of 2007.

Of course Sony knows this this is why; "At the London launch everyone who bought a PS3 also received a free 46-inch HD television and a taxi home." Beg more Sony?

I'm not saying the PS3 will fail because it obviously won't (you have brand loyalty and because of franchise games and rich bastards with money to spend). I'm not even saying it's a bad console, you're an idiot if you say the technology is bad. But with all the mistakes Sony have made from E3's and it's other "worldwide" launch to all the cutbacks with the sup-par European PS3 this is another bump. I think it's surprising that something which is meant to be the most amazing console has been released to such a yawn or is it a culmination of their mistakes? In my opinion, the FFXII launch was much more exciting and that was a game not hardware.