PS3 Fanboy

An Xbox fan's perspective: is it time to move to PS3?

Nick Doerr — 2008-07-04T01:00:00+00:00

Just a foreword: we're not trying to instigate any console wars or flame wars here. This is just a pretty interesting article written objectively from the mouth of a self-proclaimed "Xbot" -- whatever that is. The author goes on to explain why he feels now is a pretty good time to switch from the 360 to the PS3. He points out a few good reasons and we'll outline them below. It's up to you to confirm or deny these ideas; come to your own conclusions about the reasons and let us know!

First off, he points to the 2.40 update (once it gets ironed out for those experiencing problems), saying it brings the PSN to almost all the same features as Xbox Live and it's free. The price is no longer a complaint, considering the built-in WiFi and the ease of replacing the standard 40GB hard drive with any 2.5" SATA drive. Blu-ray is inevitably going to become the next media format for gaming and movies (digital downloads are a ways off). PS3 comes standard with Blu-ray capabilities. His next point is about the open peripherals of the PS3: almost any device you can plug into it will work and the hard drive is very simple to replace with any laptop hard drive. The PS3's media center support is great, too -- DivX codecs are supported and most audio and picture files are as well. He concludes by stating the PS3 has no RRoD problems and trophy support will become just as addicting as gamer scores.

Those are his points and he feels it's a good time to move onto the PS3. Surely, many will disagree and others will nod in accord. But it's not about making a list of features -- it's about your opinion on the matter, given the information. Leave yours below!

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Echochrome - the new Brain Age?

Kylie Prymus — 2008-06-28T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

Kylie Prymus is the first columnist for PS Fanboy. A Ph.D candidate in philosophy, Kylie specializes in the sociology of technology. Through this new weekly column, Kylie will explore the impact of PlayStation on thought and culture.

Any gamer who has spent a significant amount of uninterrupted time staring through a 2D screen into a 3D game world understands the strange perceptual shift that takes place when returning to the truly 3-dimensional space of the real world. There is a disorienting effect, a sense of unreality, in coming back to a place where perspective changes are achieved not by the subtle movements of an analog stick, but by actually shifting the head which houses your ocular apparatus. I first experienced this 10 years ago after a marathon session of The Ocarina of Time, giving my not-yet-21 self a taste of the post-college-party vertigo to come. A similar effect can be achieved by long stretches of reading, focusing on a purely 2D plane for hours and then trying to adjust to the vividness of reality.

Games also have a deeper effect on our perception of the world, one which far too much press has declared detrimental to gamers and society at large. Our actions in the game world can and do affect our real-world thoughts. Who can claim not to have had at least a small desire to put the pedal to the floor after playing Gran Turismo, especially when one of the licensed songs comes on the radio? How often do you think about the alternate routes through the grocery store a Portal gun would make possible? Beyond being whimsical fantasies divulged only in conversation with individuals at or above yourself on the gamer-nerd scale, some games can actually change the way you think in a positive direction. The intellect enhancing possibility of games has been exploited most successfully by Nintendo with their DS selling Brain Age series (despite a recent Wired article claiming it has no such benefit). Echochrome may well be Sony's answer to the Dendrite Stimulation genre. There's just one problem: what exactly does it make you smarter at?

Spend a few hours with Echochrome and I guarantee your perception of the world will be temporarily distorted. Besides the typical vertigo that accompanies any marathon gaming session, you will become acutely aware of the way your own vision is fundamentally 2-dimensional and that it is only through our lifelong experience of living in a 3-dimensional environment that we naturally assume the appropriate visual relationship to the world. Ask anyone who has lost an eye in a Cylon prison or other mishap (or for an extreme twist, talk to Stereo Sue) and they will tell you that seeing the world in 3D is not as easy as it, ahem, appears. What Echochrome does, quite brilliantly, is tweak our perception of dimensionality in an interactive way not possible with Escher drawings or Penrose triangles.

Echochrome makes us aware of the frailty of our own perceptual apparatus and creates a mild obsession with flattening the world to create shortcuts to the mailbox - unless we're budding surrealist painters, is this really useful to us? Take the example given by Colin Turnbull of a BaMbuti pygmy who, on emerging from a forest in which he had spent his entire life without seeing distances in excess of a few yards, mistook the buffalo he saw on the horizon for tiny insects. For him, 3-dimensionality on that scale simply was not possible. We can imagine him asking, like the protagonist in Abbott's Flatland novel, what lies at the next level above 3D. How would we answer?

Modern gaming environments are all but exclusively 3D. We take it for granted, so much so that a game like Echochrome can prove challenging. I imagine that a gamer from the early 80's (at the time when the first game to use 3D polygons, I, Robot - ignoring all jokes about Will Smith's lack of acting depth - hit the market) would find the puzzles in Echochrome a bit of a bore. Those early gamers were accustomed to a 2D environment, so once they mastered what for them would be a novel control scheme, they would likely tear through every level. They would resist seeing the game as 3D just as much as we resist seeing it as 2D.

But where we resist interacting in the 2^nd dimension we still understand it, and nothing challenges us to explore the relationship between 2D and 3D more than Echochrome. If we wish to set really lofty goals for the future of this franchise we might conjecture that it will open our minds to the possibility of 4D thinking along the lines of a hypercube. To be more modest, the types of spatial reasoning required to appease Echochrome's wandering mannequin may aid in other sorts of pattern recognition, of the sort useful in games like chess, or disciplines like advanced mathematics. Or perhaps it only develops a skill in search of a useful application, making us better able to do one and only one thing: quickly pass more levels.

Besides, if you caught the Dendrite Stimulation (DS) crack a few paragraphs ago you probably don't need games to increase your intellect. If you found it amusing, however, you may want to consider getting out of the house more - without your PSP.

Did you enjoy our new column? Please give us your feedback -- we're excited to delve into the philosophy of Sony every week. Stay tuned.

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Haze + Zero Punctuation = ?

Andrew Yoon — 2008-06-18T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

Well, what do you think is going to happen? The ever-popular Yahtzee gets his hands on the PS3 FPS Haze. Guess what happens next. Tons of comparisons to Halo (and Turok) will be made ... and no one will be left standing.

Watch it here.

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If you love JRPG's, why not sign a petition?

Nick Doerr — 2008-06-08T02:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Polls and Surveys, Rants, Community

We don't normally fall into the "sign this petition" realm of things. However, many of the staff at PS3 Fanboy have felt the reason they bought a PS3, aside from their blind love for the console by itself, has been ignored. This reason is what made the PS One and PS2 so successful (believe it or not): the JRPG. Only a few have been announced, even fewer coming stateside. While we probably won't see the likes of Agarest Senki or Tears to Tiara here, we'll see Disgaea 3 and Valkyria Chronicles before the end of the year -- however, these all are SRPG's.

Over at the PS3Forums, a petition has started and is getting swirled around to many different places, with its final destination being Sony itself. The petition is to get an answer about Sony's stance on the JRPG this generation -- are announcements coming? Will we see White Knight Story, Star Ocean 4, the oft-rumored Shin Megami Tensei PS3 title at all this year? If you love JRPG's, sign their petition. It only takes a few seconds and who knows -- it might actually get us a pretty detailed answer. Especially now that Sony is more eager to secure exclusives from third party developers.

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19 months later, the PS3 is a different (and better) machine

Andrew Yoon — 2008-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

The gaming community was confused by the launch of the PS3, some 19 months ago. While it looked and felt futuristic, something felt amiss. Gaming site Ars Technica criticized the underwhelming gaming and hardware offerings of the launch PS3, awarding it a poor 6/10 rating when it launched.

However, the system has evolved quite a bit since then, and Ars Technica has finally re-reviewed the hardware, noting the various improvements to Sony's system since launch. As it goes through all the changes, it's clear that PS3 is no longer the same machine it was at launch. Media functionality has expanded significantly, with Blu-ray becoming the definitive HD movie standard. DVD upscaling, DivX support, and support for Blu-ray profile 2.0 make PS3 not only a games machine, but a media hub as well.

The redesigned Store gets rightfully applauded. The new interface is not only a significant improvement over the previous offering, it's by far the best digital store on the three consoles so far. It's fast, sleek and offers an excellent amount of exclusive content. Games like PixelJunk Monsters and Everyday Shooter have turned PSN into a bastion of original, independent gaming. Retail games, like Uncharted and Warhawk, are solid reasons to own the system.

Not everything is perfect, though. PSN still lacks the comprehensive features set of Xbox Live. Granted, players don't have to pay for PSN. There's still room for growth, and when one looks at Sony's track record in the past 19 months, it's clear that PS3 will become an even greater machine in the future. Ars Technica's re-review of PS3 gives it a score far more befitting of it -- a 9/10. Who knows? In 19 more months, it may finally become a 10.

[Thanks, railbird13!]

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The trials of replacing a broken 60GB PS3

Nick Doerr — 2008-06-05T07:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

Ever wonder what happens to that glorious 60GB PS3 you sprang to the stores on launch day when it dies? How Sony works the warranty of a console SKU that no longer exists? Ars Technica sure did -- they even wrote about their experience doing just that. This is a very important read to all early adopters and reinforcement that you did, in fact, get the best model of PS3 available. But summation of the PS3 SKU's aside, we found the death of their 60GB the most pressing matter to discuss.

Their 60GB console died during a long session of Grand Theft Auto IV (what else?). Their unit was purchased in September of 2007, but manufactured in February of the same year. The laser diode has died out, hindering its ability to read discs -- everything else is still functional. They went back to GameStop to cash in on their extended warranty. They were told a new 60GB system would be in their hands in about a week. Not so. The only real option is to "upgrade" the consumer to an 80GB system -- this loses some backwards compatibility (Emotion Engine chip to software emulation) and a few other nitpicky options.

So what about contacting Sony directly? They contacted customer service and were told that if they sent the 60GB in, it would be repaired and the necessary parts replaced. They should get back what they sent in, except repaired. They decided to wait on GameStop to find a replacement and are still waiting. It seems Sony will repair your console so long as they have the parts to replace in your particular console, but it might not continue forever in regards to canned SKU models.

Moral of the story? Early adopters: be careful with your PS3. You bought the best. Treat it that way.

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Only the most positive Haze reviews here

Andrew Yoon — 2008-05-21T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

Our comments section exploded yesterday, when we ran a piece about Haze's initial reviews. The first reviews were rather scathing towards the PS3 "exclusive" FPS, and many accused us of anti-PS3 sentiment (in spite of us not having written any of those reviews). To make you feel better, we've chosen only the best reviews from Haze's Metacritic page. ~~We won't tell you that Haze's average Metacritic score is 54.~~

PSM3 Magazine UK (70/100) - "There is a certain charm to it ... almost on par with the perfect Call of Duty 4 mechanics.
GameDaily (70/100) - "Yes, it's true, the game runs at a dwindled 576p resolution instead of 720p, but we still find it attractive ... Haze is a good first person shooter."
Game Informer (63/100) - "Haze's saving grace is its co-op gameplay, which can be fun when you shoot a friend's Nectar tank from behind to watch him freak out."

As a few readers pointed out, apparently the Japanese magazine Famitsu awarded its lucrative Gold rating to the game. Considering how much the Japanese love FPS games, this is a rather stellar accomplishment. With the game on store shelves today, we'd love to hear more about your Haze experiences in our comments section.

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Five things PSN must address to remain relevant

Nick Doerr — 2008-05-15T07:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PlayStation Network, Rants

There's an interesting article over at BlogCritics -- they recently did a similar post on the Xbox Live service, so it's not like they're being one-sided. Basically, what are the five things the PSN has to address to remain relevant? We'll list their ideas below, but if you want to read more, check out their site. It's a pretty good read.

More content -- both original and classic titles: basically, more PSN releases and definitely start beefing up the PS One collection in stores outside of Japan.
Unified updates and stop delaying releases: The Japan PS Store, US PS Store, and EU PS Store all update at different times with different content. It's weird. Delaying releases (new Rock Band tracks released on a Tuesday, but aren't available on the PSN until Thursday) is also an irritation to be fixed.
Release Home: this is pretty self-explanatory. Home needs to release -- with it will be trophies, accomplishments, in-game XMB (allegedly), and launching games via Home. Releasing it would be nice, but we have to wait a bit longer.
Video and music should be here by now: Sony has its paws in tons of music and movie studios. Why is it taking so long to create and release video and music on the PS Store? It should come and soon, but who knows.
In-Game XMB: You know everything they have to say about this feature, probably. It's been cried for since the console's launch. It'll happen eventually. But it should've happened long ago.

Of course, our explanations of the choices aren't the same as those used by BlogCritics -- they go much more in-depth with their reasoning. It's a cool read and their choices aren't bad or too demanding at all. What do you guys think? What would you add to the PlayStation Network, given the chance?

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Microsoft's Greenberg slams Sony's failed promises

Andrew Yoon — 2008-05-09T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Polls and Surveys, Rants

Speaking to Destructoid, Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, added fuel to the red-hot fanboy fire when discussing PS3's upcoming lineup for 2008. Greenberg's statement is certainly going to inspire some truly extraordinary comments from PS3 and Xbox 360 fans alike. While he is a Microsoft spokesperson, we wonder: do his complaints have merit? Read on:

"I know a lot of folks enjoy watching the console wars and we would never underestimate our competition. But answer to your question specifically, didn't Sony promise all of this last year including Home as well? We have been fighting Sony's promises from the day we entered the market and if you remember at that time it was all about PS2 being an online cybercity with partner announcements from the likes of RealNetworks and AOL. Then three years ago at E3 they showed what PS3 games would supposedly look like with the Killzone 2 video, that we are now learning will ship four years later. That means that we will have shipped Gears of War and Gears of War 2 before they can even get Killzone out the door," he said. "Think back to GDC 2007 when Sony promised to leap ahead in online with the Sony Home unveil. Here we are two years later and multiple delays for a product that appears to have little to no buzz. Where are the achievements? The friends list integration across all games? Where is the long-promised video store? Where are all the other products using and networking with their CELL chip? How come Blu-ray did not result in better games? What happened with Sixaxis and rumble? Where is the complete 1080p game library we were promised? If Blu-ray as they said would be such a catalyst to PS3 console sales, then why have PS3 sales over the past couple months not seen any lift since the format victory?"

Certainly, being a Playstation devotee has been frustrating. The system has been plagued by a slow start, and a number of key delays. Home and in-game XMB continue to be promises that have failed to materialize. This is a "ten year life cycle" on Sony's part -- but should that mean we should wait so long for the good stuff?

[Via GameDaily]

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PS3 software has leading percentage of 'good' games

Andrew Yoon — 2008-05-01T15:47:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

With help of review aggregate site GameRankings.com, website Gamefunk decided to see how many "good" games were on each of the three home consoles ("good" being defined as anything over 80%, "bad" being games below 60%). Of the three, PS3 rose to the top, with the least percentage of "bad" games, and the highest percentage of "good" games. Take a look:

Xbox 360: 374 games: 26% good, 24% bad
PS3: 122 games: 33% good, 17% bad
Wii: 189 games: 11% good, 37% bad

While the software library of the PS3 is rather small, in comparison to the other two, it's more likely that a shopper buying a completely random game from the PS3 shelves will fare better than when shopping for the other consoles. While we have to endure through a bit of shovelware on our system, we feel bad for the uneducated Wii shopper, where "bad" games are seemingly the norm.

[Via Joystiq]

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Is Sony the Apple of Gaming?

Nick Doerr — 2008-03-24T23:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

It seems more and more often this year, press and publicity are acting kindly towards Sony and the PlayStation 3. In a recent opinion piece about the current generation of gaming hardware, BusinessWeek writer Matt Vella posed an interesting question: is Sony the Apple of gaming? He breaks down each console with their respective strengths and concludes Sony's console is the "Media Master".

He said the PS3 has "a facility with media that translates into sleek user interfaces more polished than either Microsoft's or Nintendo's. Both [Apple and Sony] have also had a propensity for tenaciously backing media formats with mixed results, most recently AAC and Blu-ray successfully." He goes on to say that Microsoft and Nintendo also have Apple-like strengths, citing them as the "Ecosystem Expert" and "Disruptive Innovator", respectively. What do you guys think? Is this even an appropriate comparison to make?

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10 reasons why the PS3 is relevant again

Jem Alexander — 2008-03-04T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

If you're reading this blog, then you probably don't need convincing that the PS3 is "relevant" in the video game industry today. You probably already know exactly what makes the system great. If not, however, be sure to check out our latest feature, entitled "10 Reasons why the PS3 relevant again."

We've put together a decent list that covers all of our bases with regards to hardware, software and firmware. All the wares you could ever need in a decent current-gen console. If you agree or disagree with any of the points, or feel that something was left out, let us know in the comments.

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Anaylst: Wii owners will want to move to PS3

Nick Doerr — 2008-03-03T17:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

iSuppli (makers of iAnalyze) has determined PS3 to be the victor of the current "console war." There are millions of Wii owners right now, and many will likely want to upgrade to a new system in a few years time. 2008 is already being hailed as the PS3's big turnaround; Wii owners will look to it as their second console of choice.

This is in part due to their assumption that Sony will slash the price of the PS3 again this year to entice the Wii audience. Blu-ray dominance also plays a part in this, they say. Mix in some AAA titles as well as the variety of pick up and play titles on the PSN, we'd say that there will be a big jump in PS3 sales, too. But whether or not it's due to the Wii audience seeking a more powerful console is anyone's guess. We'll just say it's because the PS3 will rock this entire year.

[Via GameDaily]

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PS3 has best average review scores of current gen consoles [Update]

Nick Doerr — 2008-02-14T01:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

As you may or may not know, video games get reviewed. These scores, sometimes arbitrary in nature, add up over time as more games are released for consoles. Are we being elementary enough? Anyway, as things stand right now, apparently the PS3 library has a higher average review score than the other two current gen consoles.

With the 360's longer life, it has had an opportunity to collect more "shovelware," lowering its average review score. Surprisingly, in spite of Wii's success, there are many titles the critics deem of poor quality. (Titles like Zack and Wiki and No More Heroes are quality, but don't sell for some odd reason). Still, we're impressed PS3 games can hold this title for the time being. Just like any other system, it will have its fair share of great games, average games, and downright awful games. Let's hope it can produce more of the former.

[Via Kotaku]

Editor's Note: Hey everyone. There are a few points we'd like to clarify for those of you arguing the comments section. These figures were provided by Next Gen (all our sources can be seen by clicking "Read"). Also, there are quality games on all three systems, no matter which one is your preferred system. Some of the more inflammatory language has been edited out of this post, and we apologize.

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Tim Schafer muses on the wonders of Uncharted's 'half-tuck'

Andrew Yoon — 2008-01-23T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

Avid readers of Joystiq and PS3 Fanboy know that we have a small crush on Tim Schafer. Why? You can find out for yourselves. After reading his latest blog entry on Uncharted, you may also become his fan.

"I just finished Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and I will tell you this: I liked it a lot. It had beautiful environments, fun platforming, and the awesome phrase, 'I'll kick you to sleep!' You should all go play it right now. It was all super next-gen, but the most next-gen thing about it to me was Drake's shirt. Check it out: Somehow it's tucked in, and yet not tucked in, at the very same time. Of all the technical marvels contained in Uncharted, this was the one that really mystified me."

This is easily one of the most entertaining rants we've seen, that affirms both Uncharted's undeniable quality and the mysticism of the half-tucked shirt. And, coming from the mouth of Schafer himself -- you can know that this is truth.

[Via NeoGAF]

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Are comparison videos biased or just misunderstood? [Update 2]

Nick Doerr — 2008-01-16T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants, News

We don't normally like to get into the game of pointing fingers, but we were alerted to an interesting tip regarding the infamous "comparison videos" used by website GameTrailers. They're a good site and we respect them. They put up new video content promptly, and [insert more compliments here]. However. A lot of debate is going on currently over their comparison videos which are being touted as heavily biased against the PS3.

Straight from GameTrailer's mouth regarding the videos: "We don't create these videos for the fanboys. That's not the point. We create them so that people who own both systems can be a little more informed on which version to buy. It's the fanboys that turn the comments section for these videos into a debacle. As for using RGB or adjusting the white levels on the PS3, that completely defeats the point of these videos. We play both systems on default settings with the same cabling. If we were to adjust the settings on the PS3 to make it look better then we'd be sacrificing the integrity of the video. It's not the other way around."

So what they're saying is that they aren't taking advantage of the PS3's full-HD capabilities. It's built for that. But they aren't using it that way in their videos. Either crank both up to their maximum potential or get out, we say. Feel free to leave your thoughts as well.

[Thanks, Christian!]

[Update 1: Took out an uninformed sentence regarding Xbox video output. We apologize for the inaccuracy.]
[Update 2: Gametrailers offers another explanation here.]

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Uncharted shown too early, says Naughty Dog

Andrew Yoon — 2007-11-20T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

Many wanted to burn an effigy of PS3 Fanboy writer Andrew (that's me) for my negative impressions of Uncharted at E3 earlier this year. "It's too bad that uncomfortable controls, glitches, and a finicky camera are getting in the way of a potentially excellent game."

Of course, things turned around quite significantly. The game received a 9.5 from both Nick and Andrew in their joint PS3 Fanboy review -- a remarkable improvement from the earlier builds, as noted on the fancast. So, what does developer Naughty Dog have to say about such a drastic turnaround? Speaking to 1UP, Evan Wells noted that "Something else that I would say might change is something you guys pointed out in your 1UP Yours show -- the fact that we showed the game so early. In fact, we knew at the time that it wasn't, you know, solid -- in particular the A.I. and the gunplay."

The early criticisms of the game were pretty unanimous across the critical mass, and that has imprinted a negative image on many gamers. Granted, the team used the feedback and really focused their development. "And we put it out there hoping we'd get the benefit of the doubt that we still had seven months of production left and then of course, we got the feedback...and it was good feedback, and in some ways it was a great focus test for where we were headed." But, had Naughty Dog refrained from showing the game so early, could Uncharted have made an even bigger splash on the gaming community?

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Comparison: Is the 40GB PS3 such a bad deal?

Andrew Yoon — 2007-10-18T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Guides, Rants, Hardware

Click for full resolution image.

Is the 40GB PS3 really such a bad deal? We stacked a number of systems side by side to see which gaming console is the best value (at least, in terms of hardware). For example, when compared to the Xbox 360, the $399 PS3 may seem like a pretty good deal, provided you're looking for built-in wi-fi and an HD movie player. These two peripherals cost $99 and $179 each for the Xbox 360.

However, let's not forget that the 20GB Xbox 360 includes some backwards compatibility support (the 40GB PS3 does not). In addition, you get two free games with the system.

The 60GB PS3 is in an interesting position right now, as it currently costs the same as the 80GB model. For the same price, you can get a larger hard drive and a free game. The only difference? The 80GB has more limited backwards compatibility support. Patrick Seybold from SCEA reminds us that "There are no plans to lower the price of the 60GB model. The 60GB model has nearly 95% backwards compatibility, so consumers looking for that feature have the option while supplies last."

[Update: Chart updated with user suggested information. Updated with minor corrections. Thanks, readers!]

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GamePro compares PS3 sales to those of Gamecube

Andrew Yoon — 2007-10-02T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

A lot of people are seemingly comparing the PS3 to a number of other systems. First, it was a 3DO. Now, it's a Gamecube. GamePro took ten months of NPD data and made an intriguing graph showing the sales for both the PS3 and the Gamecube. Although Nintendo's last-gen system featured a number of genre-defining hits, such as Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4, it failed to capture the same market share as its competitors. The current momentum of PS3 seems to suggest that Sony's system may meet the same fate, if it continues to follow its current trend.

There are differences, of course. Gamecube had a relatively short life span, with Nintendo reusing the technology in its currently best-selling Wii console. Sony has stated a potential ten-year life cycle for PS3, one that suggests they're planning for a much longer life cycle than that of the Gamecube.

Although a price cut and a redesigned system may revitalize sales, Sony could always follow Nintendo's footsteps in the years to come: simply duct-tape two PS3s together and call it the PS4.

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Factor 5's Eggebrecht annoyed at ESRB's censorship

Nick Doerr — 2007-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Rants

Perhaps comparing the ESRB to the Communist hunter Joseph McCarthy is a little extreme, since there's not really a Red Scare in videogaming, but Factor 5 President Julian Eggebrecht made the allusion when stating the ESRB was essentially choking the creative life out of games during a speech at GCDC. What we mean by that is the ESRB fails to approach games as art. Eggebrecht voices his wishes: "I would be happy if in games we could talk about homosexuality, but we're not even at the point where we can admit that humans have heterosexual relationships, and that is a real problem - and it tends to show that games are not being seen, even by our own ratings boards, as an artform."

He mentioned a cheat code in Lair that unlocked a "Hot Coffee" pot -- an actual coffee pot, which others at the GCDC got a kick out of, but he digressed from the humor behind the GTA: San Andreas fiasco. "If you cannot have satire about these things, that is approaching the realm of McCarthyism." Pressing further, he mentioned the movie Eyes Wide Shut, which dealt with relationship issues in marriage, among other things. Eggebrecht wants to see games with that much ... ambition hitting shelves, which require games to be placed on the same art pedestal as film.

Eggebrecht finally got to the meat of his argument -- censorship in Lair. Sony sought a "T" for Teen rating, since the game appeals to teenage gamers, but the ESRB continually knocked it to an "M" for Mature rating due to blood and visible "chunks" of other dragons getting slapped away in fights. In the end, Eggebrecht said, "they let us through with a Teen even though you can use fire - you can set up to five, six thousand people on fire. They burn, they run around and they scream, but of course that wasn't a problem [due to the absence of blood]."

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Is Aaron Greenberg right? Has Sony failed to keep its promises?
	Yes - Sony needs to keep its game up
	No - he's just a Microsoft shill