Saturday, July 17, 2010

A Love (?) Letter to Sony


Alright Sony. I'm going to lay some knowledge on you here. I've been buying your stuff for YEARS, and have been for the most part, quite happy with you. However, as of late, I'm finding more of your business movements perplexing at best and downright stupid at worst. So what I'm about to say, I say out of love.



Do you know what your problem is? You're trying to do what everyone else is doing instead of focusing on fresh ideas. "Hey guys, the Wii has motion control, WE can DO THAT!" Then you'll roll out half-baked games whose sole purpose is to show us that you can, in fact, do that. "GUYS LOOK, Motion control! Did you see it? Did you?" If you insist on pursuing over people's ideas, at least make enough games where it will WORK. So you're making Wii Sports? Oops, sorry 'Sports Champions.' 'Brunswick Pro Bowling?' Shouldn't that come with Wii-er 'Sports Champions?' DDR? I mean, 'Singstar + Dance?' Whats wrong with my dance pad for that? And how the hell do you expect us uncoordinated white devils to both Sing AND Dance at the same time? Can we look forward to Dance Dance Revolution DJ Drum Hero in the future? Releasing a myriad of half-assed games around a copycat 'innovation' is just a BAD idea. Because that's what the games will turn out to be. A showcase for 'your' idea and little else. If however, you've made a game and say 'hey, I think motion would actually bring a lot to this gameplay,' That's another story.

And to that point, I LIKED being able to control Kai's arrows with the Sixaxis in Heavenly Sword. It was FUN. It wasn't detrimental to the rest of the gameplay or clunky. It was nice and fluid, and perfectly suited Kai's levels. DO MORE LIKE THIS. I couldn't name you another title that made good use out of the Sixaxis. It flopped hard, and you did good realizing it, and by not trying to push it any further. But now! Now you're doing the same thing with the Move! You need to stop trying to walk on Nintendo's heels, and cut a path of your own. Your console has certain strengths, it has certain weaknesses. Play to your strengths. I know it's tempting to look at that big old pie that is the Motion control market that Nintendo has gathered. They did it first, and they did it best. That's how they attracted the crowd in the first place. Have you guys even THOUGHT about what games in the future you're going to be putting motion control into, once the launch titles are finished? Is it REALLY a good idea to make, say, Ratchet and Clank Motion Controlled? Or inFamous? Or Far Cry? Or Final Fantasy? Seriously? You don't have enough of the right titles under your belt justify producing this thing. Your launch titles are going to bomb. Thats GOING to happen. Why? Because if we wanted to play Wii Sports, we'd play WII SPORTS. For less money.

Okay, some pros. You have a STELLAR Graphics Processor in these things, and you make good use of it, which is great, but you're letting it become your FOCUS. Built in Blu-ray player, media streaming, nice big hardrive space, some good solid companies behind you for games. You HAVE the tools at your disposal to make great games. UTILIZE THEM. If "It only does Everything", WHATS wrong? You're rolling out the same shit EVERY YEAR. New Resistance, New Killzone, New Uncharted. I LOVE that you're making another inFamous. inFamous was one of the better games I've played on the PS3, it was unique, there was lots to do, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, it was FUN. You could roam around your destroyed city and blow shit up, or you could go around healing any and all kinds of ailments with Cole's equivalent of a defibrillator. You NEED games like this, not more generic shooters every year, in what I like to call Madden syndrome.

3D, 3D, 3D. You're jumping the gun again, Sony. How many people do you suppose can actually AFFORD 3D TV's? And are willing to shell out another $150 for the glasses? I'm sorry Sony, I don't have 5 large sitting in a bank to buy a 3D TV. And I'd be willing to bet most of your audience doesn't. You're half a decade EARLY. Had you shown this bad boy 5-7 years from now, when the technology isn't so new, when its affordable, you would make a KILLING. I love your shit, but its EXPENSIVE.

Final Fantasy XIII: Square, I just have to ask why? We've given you more than two decades of our lives, and our money. Why do you do this to us? I love Final Fantasy. But now its been reduced to a 30 hour walk down a hallway. Interspersed with enough cinematics to make Hideo Kojima wipe a tear from his eye in pride. Yes, the cinematics are lovely, but if I wanted to see a movie, I'd go to the theatre and pay six bucks as opposed to seventy. And when did Final Fantasy become God of War? "Press X to not die." Oops. that's Final Fantasy XII. XIII was 'Constantly Shift Paradigms to not die.'

And what the hell have you guys done with Enix? They released some of the most quirky and fun games to ever see the light of day. Evo: Search for Eden, Illusion of Gaia, Brain Lord, Terranigma, Bust a Groove, Valkyrie Profile, NEED I GO ON? I've haven't seen ANYTHING Enix worthy since you bought them, save for Valkyrie Profile 2. Listen to them Sony, it might just pull you out of your rut.

-Artemis out

2 comments :

  1. I'm forecasting this: Square, after seeing the avid success of Dragon Warrior on DS, moves it's Final Fantasy Series to Wii exclusively.

    I almost think it won't happen.

    But god damn would they make money. It would rain american dollars.

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  2. After the last disaster of a Final Fantasy on a Nintendo console...it's hard to say. That being said, give me a controller I don't have to flail and a REAL FF game, and I'd be all over the Wii version.

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