ID:64562
 
Keywords: console, death, gaming, ps2, rant
We all remember the lovable little tramp; the PS2 toddled onto the gaming scene just a little over a decade ago (March 1999) and despite production delays, gougers charging a grand a unit on eBay, and the general uncomfortable design of the DualShock controller, the PS2 became the best-selling console to ever hit the market. Let's all face it with 20/20 hindsight: Sony obliterated competition in the last console generation. However, despite continuing production of games for the PS2, I believe it needs to die and fast.

For the most part, game studios find it necessary to parallel-produce or umbrella-fold (what I call butchering the game to work on a console this old) the content to release PS2 versions of current-generation games on a console it wasn't originally meant for. What does this produce? Substandard games. Let's look at a pair of examples from my recent gaming history.

Star Wars; Force Unleashed. When I originally played this game, I didn't own my XBox and I was surprised to find this title in the PS2 section of my movie store at all. After playing through the game I found it mediocre at best and was neither impressed nor disappointed with it. Upon informing others of my experience with the game, they told me that the levels I was describing sounded nothing like the Xbox version, so I decided to try it again after I received my XBox last Christmas. It was loads better from level design to graphic effects and it went from being unimpressive to good that quickly.

Call of Duty: World at War; this game was one I played before I owned a 360 as well. Long story short, I hated the game -- it felt rushed and devoid of a coherent story, and I don't seem to recall having a flamethrower either (though I could be entirely off on this point). Because they had to chop up so much content to fit the game on a PS2 they completely destroyed it and I was sure Treyarch had lost their minds. Once I had obtained my 360, I decided to give the title a try after the Force Unleashed incident, and I found it to be a good game that was consistent with Activision's Call of Duty standard.

It seems they call this umbrella-folding of content "exclusive" in an attempt to give the process a clever guise, but let's face it: they're butchering it to work on a lesser console. The PS2 prevailed despite gloom and doom forecasts against the original XBox and it proved that it defined a generation of gaming (before Nintendo lost their minds), but this consistent content-folding is going to do nothing but continue to produce substandard games until the PS2's reputation takes a hit.

We already laugh at the Gamecube and original XBox, and we need to let the PS2 exit while it's still near the peak on its downward slope.

As for the future of console gaming: I see Microsoft ultimately winning. As I predicted a long time ago, they threw money around to break the Sony exclusive dam and it's only a matter of time before Sony has little to nothing left. Never mind the Wii -- Nintendo abandoned my demographic and they can go die.
In situations such as this, you blame the developers for butchering their game in order to improve sales.

Not everyone has a PS3 or XBox 360, but as pointed out, the PS2 is the largest selling console of all time, and a lot more people will have them.

It's all about being greedy, not a fault of the PS2. Further more, you monster, you love PS2 just as much as I do, don't be blinded by the dark side of gaming =(
Then they should build up from the PS2 and not down from the next-gen. Playing any number of recent parallel releases proves they're doing the latter.
Sounds like you did the same thing as me console-wise; I bought the 360 once the "elite" or whatever version with the bigger HD (and no screwups) was available. The only difference is I wasted money on a wii previous to that. >_>

I had no idea developers were still producing PS2 games... I say let them waste their time doing it. It's no different from all those subsubsubstandard Wii games designed for 5 year olds and stay-at-home moms.
If they build up from the PS2 then the game will be substandard to begin with. Just quit playing them for PS2 if you dislike it so much.
Indeed. There are certain things in this world that should not be built from the bottom-up. I personally do not have a PS3 or 360 (trying to get the money for one of them, probably the PS3) so to know that they are still willing to put in the effort to get us next-gen games for the PS2 is a really nice thing.

If you don't like it...it's their money that they're spending to send out the games...I don't see the issue on your part.
They know the PS3's price is an iffy subject, and in an attempt to abuse the PS2's market saturation they're creating crappy games from next-gen concepts by whittling the square piece down to fit in the triangular hole. It's a problem because the great money grab is ruining the defining characteristic of the last console generation and it needs to stop before this era becomes imprinted in our memory.
I don't have a big problem with it. I still say that I like it. Like you said, the PS3's price is an iffy subject, it costs alot. For those of us that want one but don't have the money, it's nice to be able to still get these new games even though we don't have a next-gen system. Lots of people flock to the PS3 just for this concept.
At this point the PS2 is pretty much the equivalent of a movie-tie in game. It's selling on cover-art alone so you're only wasting time and money making it good.

It sucks if PS2 is your only option, but if you haven't been able to save up and buy a 360/PS3 by this point then there's probably a dozen great games for the PS2 you didn't have the money to buy when they were released.
Seems like you are pretty biased towards Nintendo there. Regardless of what people seem to think, I enjoyed the Gamecube and I enjoyed the games that were released for it. Actually I spent more time playing my Gamecube then playing my PS2. The only problem I even remotely saw was online play and honestly, even then the PS2 didn't offer much more either.

Also, I didn't mind the PS2 controller at all. Never had a problem with it. So I don't really see where you are coming out with that topic.

Finally, from what I was reading, Sony is basically living right now thanks to the PS2.
The duel shock control pad, although not so bad, fails in comparison to say, the Nintendo 64 control pad.
I always hated the N64 controller. I never got used to it. That has to be the worst controller design I've ever experienced.

personally I think all of the playstation controllers are very comfortable. The Xbox controller is fine for me too, I don't really need to get used to it, but I think the playstation ones are more comfortable.
Fugsnarf wrote:
The Xbox controller is fine for me too, I don't really need to get used to it, but I think the playstation ones are more comfortable.

I thought this too, but then when I went back to the SIXAXIS after playing the 360 I actually found it to be pretty poor (lack of rumble, toy-ish feel and 30cm charge cable aside).
Switching the left stick and d-pad seems to be where the major difference is. The standard button configurations we see in almost every game seem to work best with high left stick low right stick. Probably because the left side is usually limited to purely directional control while the right side gives equal attention to stick and buttons.
The PlayStation d-pad isn't great, but it's miles ahead of the 360 d-pad. That said, it's rare that a game uses it as a primary input. It normally ends up as a basic secondary input (ie, switch guns).


I sounds strange if you haven't played much 360, but it seems that once you get used to the 360 it's a more natural fit.
I think the last good game for the PS2 was FFXII; incidentally, it wasn't a content-stripped version of a larger package, but rather a large package squeezed very tightly into a small box. I'm also in the same boat as Fugsnarf in terms of not having any next-gen consoles, but that's where the beauty of having friends that do comes into play.

I never played the PS2 version of The Force Unleashed. Being that I have a PS2, I'd considered buying it. Luckily though, one of my friends in my college dorm got it and several of us immediately started games on his 360. I was fortunate enough to play that version, instead of a subpar one.

The controller thing is a bit iffy. Wii's sucks. I tried playing Smash Bros. Brawl with a Wiimote once. No. Back to the GameCube controllers. Played Sonic and the Secret Rings. Again, no. Between PS3 and the 360, I like the 360's a little better on movement-precise games, and the PS3's otherwise. For example, having played Skate. on both consoles, precisely hitting flip tricks with those analog sticks sucks. I wouldn't want to play a first-person-shooter with them. However, my genre of choice is RPG, meaning the PS3 wins out for me.

That said, I wouldn't say Xbox has the future market. Wii is a long ways off; the only game that interests me on it is Brawl. I know my girlfriend wants Metroid. The PS3 has a major win in my book in that, while FFXIII will be released on both PS3 and 360, FF Versus XIII will only be for PS3, and that's the more interesting one to me anyway.

Both consoles seem to serve a specific genre better (and the Wii serves the kiddy one), but the PS3 serves mine best.
I got Force Unleashed on the PS3. It was a fantastic game minus a few flaws in game design that DarkView pointed out in an earlier blog post of his.

In the end, I didn't like it's attempt to bridge the gap between movie 3 and 4.
The Wii is going to win because Nintendo went smart and abandoned all the gamers.

Instead, they went for the crowd of people that weren't gamers. And their devices cost a lot too.


When they're selling WiiFit in places like ShopRite or anywhere you go, you know Wii is making money compared to Sony and Microsoft.
Zack101 wrote:
The Wii is going to win because Nintendo went smart and abandoned all the gamers.

Instead, they went for the crowd of people that weren't gamers. And their devices cost a lot too.


When they're selling WiiFit in places like ShopRite or anywhere you go, you know Wii is making money compared to Sony and Microsoft.

Think about the contrast of the target demographics here. Sony and Microsoft are fighting for the favour of the people who will pre-order games months in advance, flood the respective network with activity, buy all the expansions, and wait for the next big developer's penis to come along to suck it. Nintendo's target demographic pulls out Wii Sports for family night if they have time between Sunday mass and running in a charity marathon.
Mobius Evalon wrote:
Zack101 wrote:
The Wii is going to win because Nintendo went smart and abandoned all the gamers.

Instead, they went for the crowd of people that weren't gamers. And their devices cost a lot too.


When they're selling WiiFit in places like ShopRite or anywhere you go, you know Wii is making money compared to Sony and Microsoft.

Think about the contrast of the target demographics here. Sony and Microsoft are fighting for the favour of the people who will pre-order games months in advance, flood the respective network with activity, buy all the expansions, and wait for the next big developer's penis to come along to suck it. Nintendo's target demographic pulls out Wii Sports for family night if they have time between Sunday mass and running in a charity marathon.

You make Nintendo sound like the better choice for not catering to losers.
Mobius Evalon wrote:
Zack101 wrote:
The Wii is going to win because Nintendo went smart and abandoned all the gamers.

Instead, they went for the crowd of people that weren't gamers. And their devices cost a lot too.


When they're selling WiiFit in places like ShopRite or anywhere you go, you know Wii is making money compared to Sony and Microsoft.

Think about the contrast of the target demographics here. Sony and Microsoft are fighting for the favour of the people who will pre-order games months in advance, flood the respective network with activity, buy all the expansions, and wait for the next big developer's penis to come along to suck it. Nintendo's target demographic pulls out Wii Sports for family night if they have time between Sunday mass and running in a charity marathon.

Which is why Nintendo will make more money. Family Night, Party Nights, ect. People with actual lives are beginning to buy Nintendo games. :O

And the fact that the Wii remote costs 20 Dollars or so is a big bonus for Nintendo. 80 Dollars just for four players a party? Win.

Then the new bonuses for the Wii remote and new games. Really, you don't even NEED too much from the Wii and it still ends up taking all your money.

The Actual Wii - 250 Dollars
4 Wii Remotes - 80 Dollars
4 Nunchuks for Wii remote - 28.00
4 Wii Remote Covers - 15.96
Wii Fit - 90 Dollars(Wow...K and people are really paying for this.)

And this is counting games that haven't even bought yet. So, now you just list the couple of games that are probably good for party and you realize all your money went down the drain. I'd rather get a PS3 or Xbox, but the Wii has an actual life with it and because Nintendo was smart and decided to go off into other crowds, those obsessed gamers probably won't go into it but the Wii seems to be killing up the markets. So obviously they're doing something right, if it isn't just the prices. Besides, Sony and Xbox don't have mascots that can pretty much do...Anything. o_o

Which gives Wii an expansion of fun things that would potentially target Gamer Crowds AND people who just want to play.