I’ve been a vehement non-supporter of the Playstation 3 since its launch a few years back, deciding to go with a Wii for the superior launch titles and more affordable price, then with a 360 for the superior library and much more streamlined online experience. With each passing day I would laugh at the plight of the PS3 owner – badly reviewed exclusives, Square-Enix going over to the 360 and of course, the exclusion of backwards compatibility with the PS2 in all of their currently-produced models. All this considered, I managed to pick one up after much consideration. I kind of wanted a Blu Ray player and this would be a great chance to start to review some of the newer PS3 games.

What have I learned? The Playstation 3 is not that bad of a system.

Granted, it has its flaws, but they’re actually mostly involving the library with non-exclusives. However, most of the great games that came out last year were multi-platform and the PS3’s graphical power make most of the games look better than they do on the 360. To be completely honest, the pure raw processing power of the PS3 currently can’t be matched by any other system. Unfortunately, developers have no idea how to get their head around the coding process to make PS3 exclusives. So far only Sony’s in-house studios, Konami (Metal Gear Solid 4) and Media Molecule (Little Big Planet) seem to have realized the potential of the PS3.

That’s the biggest problem I have with the system, actually. I have a total of 3 games for this ridiculous paragon of processing power: Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Folklore. I have no desire to get any other games. Why? Because the 360 at the end of the day is more fun to play. I’ll be playing Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV on 360 because the online experience is better, I can pad my achievement score and I’ll be able to play with pretty much every one of my friends. (They all have 360s because let’s face it, the online experience is superior due to a 4+ year head start with developing XBox Live.)

So, why on earth would I choose to even slightly support the PS3 by getting one?

Something I’ve discovered is that the DLC for PS3 exclusive games gives you a little more bang for your buck than Microsoft. If it’s cross platform, the price will be the same, but as I was browsing DLC for Folklore, I noticed something: You can get eight extra missions, two brand new enemies and two new outfits for the main character for $5.99. (For those of you who don’t want to get out a calculator and do the math, that’s roughly $0.75 per mission, $2.98 per mission, and $2.98 per outfit if you were buying each of them separately – or if you prefer, it’s about $0.50 per item) Comparatively, the Knothole Island expansion for Fable 2, which offers roughly the same amount of content is 1000 Microsoft Points, or about $12.00. I know that they’re two completely different games and its difficult to compare them this way, but come on! It’s really difficult to beat that amount of content for that price.

If Sony starts wising up and giving developers lessons in coding for their powerhouse and actually continue to offer competitive prices for DLC, it would be very difficult for Microsoft to catch up – especially since every demo is available to every PSN user for free immediately. With XBL, you have to pay for that precious gold account to get access to the demos immediately.

As for the Wii? Animal Crossing: City Folk ain’t enough to keep us interested. Less Carnival Games and more De Blob! Seriously. I’m thinking about disconnecting my tiny little white box and putting it up for adoption.

No, you can’t have it.

- Steve

Amid this continually upward trend, there have only been two large scale failures. The infamous video game bust of the mid-80s and the total failure of the Dreamcast, the latter which demoted Sega from powerhouse player to endlessly churning out mediocre “Sonic” games. Yet, if you look past all the pretty ornaments out on display this Christmas season [add some games here], there’s some news underneath the tree that isn’t like to spread holiday cheer.

Sony’s announced 16,000 job cuts, EA chopped off six percent of its workforce, Midway canceled several games, THQ slipped into the red and Electronic Gaming Monthly is likely to cease as a print publication. Despite the veritable torrent of quality titles released, it seems that dastardly economic recession has stymied potential buyers from investing in a $60-a-pop product. While it’s tempting to blame this all on the recession, some of things events have been a long time coming. Sony, especially the corporation as a whole, has been struggling to find a stable line of profit for a while now and EA’s financial troubles where also apparent back in the summer months.

My theory? Perhaps, like many other economic sectors, the video game industry is susceptible to bubbles and bursts. Think of all the massive hype surrounding the unveiling of next generation consoles. The respective companies promised that the synergy they (the consoles) were capable of, incorporating games, movies, music and the Internet, opened up the path to immense profits. On top of that, “World of Warcraft” become a poster child of sorts, with its 10 million times $15 a month business model. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that? In addition, Xbox Arcade and the Playstation Store ushered in an era of smaller, cheaper titles.

Guided by the cheap credit of the global economy as a whole, old hands expanded their libraries and new companies tried their luck. But making games can be an expensive endeavor and public opinion can be brutal, resulting in a quick trip to the Wal-Mart bargain bin. As demonstrated by EA, the industry’s biggest publisher, even having a few blockbuster titles isn’t always enough to put you inside the margin of profitability. The irony of EA’s sudden turn of fortune has already been noted by others.

And so, with both the holiday season and the global financial meltdown fully engaged, that end-of-the-year saving grace has yet to manifest itself for many game companies. A lot of industries that rode the wave of economic growth produced by financial market manipulations have just now come crashing into shore. It seems that some video game companies will not be spared from this tsunami either. The bubble burst and there’s coal underneath, just in time for the holidays.

Yet, this surely will not be the last Christmas the industry sees. While losses may slim down some corporate structures, the video game industry is too firmly entrenched, both socially and economically, to suffer any drastic consequences. So, drink some eggnog, buy some games (if you can), enjoy the season and be glad you play games, not make them.

Fact Check: I’m not an economist and what I argue above is merely food for thought, or at the very least an intellectual snack. Please do not ask to see facts, stats, graphs or trend lines to back up any of this, as I have none of these things. If you do hold some theoritical disagreement with my thesis, by all means, comment away.

WiiWare
Strong Bad Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner (Telltale Games, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points): Strong Bad and Homestar Runner come to the third dimension! A point and click adventure from the makers of Sam and Max, this game is sure to provide laughs and puzzles galore.

Virtual Console
Break In (TurboGrafx16, 1-4 players, 700 Wii Points): A billiards game with many different modes of play, it’s really the only way to experience pool on the TurboGrafx16.

Star Parodier (TurboGrafx16 CD-ROM, 1 player, 900 Wii Points): A parody of the classic Hudson game Star Soldier, Star Parodier (See what they did there?) provides much of the same great gameplay found in Star Soldier with a humorous twist.

WiiWare
West Wild Guns (Gameloft, 1-2 players, 1,000 Wii Points): An arcade style shooting game set in the old West where you point and shoot to earn points.

Virtual Console
Splatterhouse 2 (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): The sequel to Splatterhouse, apparently this one takes place a few months after the main character Rick’s escape from the first evil mansion. The sidescroller’s concept is that he need to save the girl from certain doom.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Master System, 1 player, 500): Simply a remake of the Sega Genesis original with a couple new bosses and extra zones thrown in for good measure.