Bitter McRant-Pants #5

By Liam O'Connor

Why expensive gaming has made this topic bigger than ever.

There’s been a lot of fuss about 3rd party exclusives, lately. The recent case of Assassin’s Creed coming to the Xbox 360, for example. Or how about whether Dead Rising and Lost Planet will be on the PS3? GTA IV caused a fuss at E3 and even Rayman is causing a bit of a stir. There’s so much to talk about in regards to this topic that it’s difficult to know where to begin.

I guess the first thing to discuss is why this is such a big deal. 3rd party exclusives are nothing new; the entire NES era revolved around them thanks to Nintendo’s bullying. But things have changed. Nintendo is no longer the top dog; Sony is. And even though 3rd parties slipped like star systems through the fingers of Nintendo as it tightened its grip, Nintendo was able to keep afloat thanks to its quality 1st party stuff. Something Sony cannot do.

Let’s be honest: when was the last time you thought to yourself that you simply had to have a PS2 for a Sony 1st party title. SingStar and Buzz, maybe; and you might also say Gran Turismo and God of War. But that’s four games. Would you spend $1200 to play 4 games? The truth is that you probably own a PS2 because you like games like Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. Or maybe you like Metal Gear Solid. Or maybe you wanted Grand Theft Auto before it came to the Xbox. Sony’s empire is built on the shoulders of others.

And if those shoulders decide they're sick of carrying the weight of an empire, things can change overnight. It happened to Nintendo, after all. In fact, Sony’s bullish claims about the PS3 echo the equally-bullish claims from Nintendo about the N64. People will wait; it’s better value; we have the better machine. But anyone can toot their own horn, and we know how Nintendo's story went.

But I digress; the point is that people want games like Assassin’s Creed to be exclusive or non-exclusive depending on how much of a fanboy you are or how much money you want to save. Sony fanboys are clutching for straws, desperate to find any reason to justify their ridiculously expensive future investment. I say clutching for straws because nobody has actually seen a final build of Assassin’s Creed or even knows what it’s really going to play like. It’s no wonder that Ubisoft was being coy about its exclusivity; it generated more publicity than money can buy.

Anti-Sony fanboys want the opposite. They see Sony as having been king of the hill for far too long, and if the 3rd party exclusives slip away into the hands of others, the “tyrant” will be left with nothing to sell their system with. And while Sony’s Harrison reckons that people would buy the system even if it didn’t have any games, I’m pretty sure most people feel differently.

On the other hand, people want to see the titles lose their exclusivity and head over to the Xbox 360 or PS3 because they want to save money. (Wii can’t really be included in this discussion due to its unique nature) While “hardcore” gamers are expected to shell out for all the consoles in an effort to play everything, the reality is that most people would probably like to own one console that has all the games they want to play on it. Games like Dead Rising are system-sellers, and it’s obvious that people would like to avoid that lure if they could. And really, why get a PS3 if you could get those franchises that sold the PS2 on the 360, as well as Halo 3 and company?

People have always wanted to save money, but it’s more topical at the moment because of the high price of this generation of gaming. In the past, Americans could purchase two consoles for US$600. Now that money will buy them one. If they want to own all three consoles, it will cost them US$1250, a far cry from the US$850 it would have cost last generation. Suddenly, all consoles are the Neo Geo and it’s no wonder that people are looking for as many reasons as possible to pass on one console or another.

But this is how gaming has always been and will always be. People can speculate, or pray, but nothing is going to change. While EA is perfectly happy to release their titles on every platform known to man, other companies prefer working to a specific console’s strengths to produce the best game they can. Console manufacturers will also continue to make deals with publishers to keep certain content exclusive. And as long as we have multiple platforms, rather than some realisation of the Trip Hawkin’s dream, there will be 3rd party exclusives. The only thing anyone can do is to fork out the cash or to man it up and simply miss out on those few titles you can’t have. It all comes down to how much you want a game and how much you are willing to spend to play it.

Like what I’m saying? Think I’m a jackass? Either way, let me know via the forums.

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