I don't have time to enumerate for you every instance of L. H. Franzibald's bald "acquisitions" from my pure texts. Suffice it to say that I have found a fitting place for his creative output. So there is no confusion, it is the same place I might hurl a soiled tissue or perhaps the wrapper from a King Size Snickers, its noble work having already been accomplished.
I really must stress to online PlayStation 3 partisans the extent to which they were not at E3. Those of you playing "the home game" might have seen a trailer or two and come away with the idea that with grace and pride your grey altar stood high over conquered foes. Ain't the case.
Like Nintendo, they should have kept that price close to the vest. Maybe even buried it inside the vest, or folded it lengthwise and hid it in the sole of their shoe. Because what happens after you hear that price is you traverse their media gauntlet, and with each new game you see, you ask yourself if it is worth six hundred dollars. That game, by itself. Is this Karaoke game, which is, as I understand it, a very good Karaoke game, worth six hundred dollars? Six sixty, if we are using tawdry real numbers? With only thirty songs built in, what is be the price per song I choose to download - which is to say, what is the actual price of the game? Wait, is SingStar even a launch title? God of War, I mean, uh... Heavenly Sword looks cool, but when is it coming out? Do we even know what the launch titles are?
They've gotten a lot of traction differentiating themselves from Microsoft by offering "free online play," which people hear as "free Xbox Live," and I don't know that we can believe anything of the kind. Until it is absolutely verified that we are talking about single sign in, single friends list, unified architecture, and invites across products from different publishers, they are not replicating the competing premium service. The PlayStation 2 has "free online play" as well, and it becomes apparent fairly quickly that it is free (which is to say, $40) because they have given the user nothing, and the developer nothing, and the publisher nothing.
It is in this spirit that I have resolved to give you nothing as well, as much as you want. You might be wondering how you or your friends can get a piece of this nothing that I'm giving away. Just close your eyes. Yes, that's it. Open your right palm. There. Now savor your nothing, to the extent that one is able to savor the void.
The reality is, of course - and this is a dark piece of market wisdom - that if a game good enough or important enough is released, price recedes as the primary factor. Their stable of thrall developers worldwide will eventually necessitate a purchase, a fact I find unpleasant. But I'm not going to pay a premium for games that will be released at some distant point in Earth's future.
It is very, very early to consider one's self a fan of the PlayStation 3.
(CW)TB out.
