CORBIE'S GAME BLOG

I've never been what some might call a "fanboy" at all. If it's a good game, I don't really care what system or company produces it, I'm going to own it. Simple as that. I owned an NES and Sega Master System. Then I owned a Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and a Super NES. But in 1996, when Sony introduced their Playstation system, I was at the Montgomery Wards store at 8am to grab one. Even though no one in the store had a clue what I was talking about, I somehow managed to talk a clerk in the electronics department into going to check in the back where she finally came out with a Playstation system. I don't think I had been that excited about a video game system since the Super NES was released. I had high hopes for the Playstation, and now 10 years later, it's exceeded any expectations I had for it and then some.

It's been fun watching Sony take the lead in the video game market over the past 10 years, and I've even been happy with the success Sony's first portable game system, the PSP, has enjoyed in a normally Nintendo-dominated market. But there's always been a part of me that's been sad watching Nintendo, a company I grew up on, slowly falling back in the console market. Naturally, the Playstation 3 has easily been one of the most anticipated game systems I've ever seen over the past couple of years. And despite the $600 price tag bombshell Sony dropped one everyone at E3, I still believe it's the system to beat. Yet I find myself quite a bit more excited about Nintendo's upcoming Wii system for some reason. Is it just that part of me growing up that wants to see Nintendo storm back in the console market, or is it the Wii's creative and innovative new type of control that's won me over like it has many others?

PRICE: I know the Playstation 3 is capable of things, hardware-wise, that are just not possible on any other console. And having the Blu-Ray drive built in is yet another strong bonus. But $600 is still a hell of a lot of money to spend on what is still essentially a toy. That's one thing that seems to keep popping up in my mind more often than anything else is knowing that this holiday season I can spring for a Nintendo Wii, four or five games, a larger memory card, and still only spend in the neighborhood of $600 compared to $950-$1000 for a comparable Playstation 3 system. That may not be a big difference for some, but for me it's quite a step up. I also think it's going to affect a lot of parent's decisions this holiday when they are standing in Walmart staring at the Playstation 3 price tag next to the Nintendo Wii price tag. And judging from hearing many people talk on various messageboards, the price tag is going to be the Playstation 3's single biggest hurdle in the upcoming console race no matter how good it is.

CONTROLLER: Here's an idea. Let's take basically the same damn controller we've been using since the original Playstation days and use it yet again! Okay so let's borrow a little bit of Nintendo's idea with the motion sensing technology and squeeze that in just for good measure. That seems to be Sony's thinking. First they show us the boomerang controller that looks like something from Lost in Space, and then they just scrap that and once again rehash the old DualShock controller one more time. Nintendo, on the other hand, is sort of re-inventing video game control and completely changing the way we're going to be playing video games this generation, and maybe from now on if all goes well. You can't tell me that you watched those E3 Wii demos and didn't get at least a little excited. Now that we know that this whole concept actually works as well as it's sounded for the past year, it would seem that Nintendo has really hit on something here judging from the record-breaking lines at E3 just to get a go at that controller. If anything intrigues me about the Wii the most, it's definitely this aspect.

GAMES: I've always had a soft spot for Super Mario and the whole Nintendo gang. I guess that's the main reason I've owned the N64 and Gamecube even though the Playstation and Playstation 2 have taken over the majority of my console gaming over the past decade. Now with the prospect of playing all of these titles with an entirely new type of play control, it seems to have really sparked my interest in the Super Mario, Zelda, Kirby, WarioWare, and even Metroid series all over again. That or maybe I'm just tiring of Tekken, Metal Gear, and Rachet & Clank. It's a tough call, and maybe it's just a phase that I'm going through. Maybe things do happen in phases and I'm just coming back into my Nintendo phase again. Either way, after watching videos of Super Mario Galaxy, Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Metroid on the Wii, I can't wait to get my hands on them this holiday season, which is more than I can say for most of the Playstation 3 titles I saw at E3. And don't even get me started on the prospect of the Virtual Console and being able to download and play tons of my favorite 8 and 16-bit titles. Maybe now I can finally pack up many of these systems I have connected in this fire-hazard of a gaming rig I have here.

Okay, maybe I'm still pissed about the $600 bomb Sony dropped on us at the E3 show. Or maybe I'm tired of Sony rehashing everything, especially that damn DualShock controller. Okay, the controller design was good, we get it, but it's time to move on. Hell I would have even taken the boomerang controller, as it was at least different! I have to be honest, I'll most likely own a Playstation 3 at some point. I'm still a Sony fan, and there are still games that are going to appear on the system that I'll want to play. But my love of Sony and their gaming products is beginning to dwindle a bit, and I'm sure there are many other Sony fans out there that feel the same way. It's time Sony get their collective s*#t together and bring back the magic they had with the original Playstation and Playstation 2 systems. I have no doubt that people will shell out $600 for a game system, but they at least want something new and exciting for that gaming buck. Until then, it's going to be a Mewii Christmas for me and many others.