Jay said:
Sony ditching Linux support was a no-brainer; how is this a deciding factor for anyone looking to buy a game console?
I am pretty sure nobody ever said it was. I mentioned that it was a cool feature, and someone corrected me saying the feature was kaputt in the newer version.
Not exactly sure how kicking Linux support out was a no-brainer. If it was such a no-brainer, why have it in the first place? Why introduce this crap into your console, driving the price up, only to remove it later in order to drop the price? The answer is: they were up against it, the console wasn't selling, and they had to gut the thing and rush a cheaper model to market (PSOne and PS2 slimmed down versions both came out much further into their consoles lives, and both improved on the original, rather than taking steps back), removing everything they could do away with to save money and make it what people really wanted all along, something to play games on.
None of this is a slam against the thing, it just is. I think it tried to be far too much, when all it really needed to be was a gaming console, not the "ItOnlyDoesEverything!" machine they tried to make it into. I think that is where the PS3 fell short, and where its older brother the PS2 succeeded flawlessly.
Jay said:
I tend to think that those who bag on Sony's cost-cutting measures are completely glossing over the 360's horrible reliability record and umpteen versions that have caused nothing but confusion for anyone looking to buy one. Add in expensive hardware upgrades (having to buy proprietary hard drives that cost a fortune) and the need to buy a "premium" system just to get an HDMI port until recently, and you have one of the worst consoles, hardware wise, to ever grace the market.
I am definitely not trying to gloss over anything about the 360 or its pathetic history of crappiness. That console is an absolute joke as far as hardware failure goes. And Microsoft's nickel and diming its customers to death with things like wireless network adaptors at $99.99 and the hard drive thing are absolutely ridiculous. Fortunately, its positives far outweight its negatives. Its online gaming cannot be beat (which is the bit I care about the most), and it has a massive library of games (not that the PS3's library is anything to scoff at).
Jay said:
90% of the many 360 exclusives are garbage
90%? That is a pretty high statistic you are throwing around there. Is this based on anything other than your own personal tastes or assumptions? You may not care about games like Halo and Left 4 Dead (which is complete garbage if playing by yourself, but down right amazing with three buddies), but there are A LOT other exclusives out there that are pretty impressive that you very well might like, if they were given the chance.