Just to fan more flames on the fire (only because the sacred nes was insulted):
Sony, while being high in console sales hasn't contirbuted ANYTHING substancial in the last 15 years or so they've been in the console wars. If anything they make games (and game systems) for people that really don't play games.
Let's look at the major titles they've brought to the table:
Twisted Metal (the series pretty much died after tm2 though)
GTA... no wait that was originally for the pc and developed by rockstar.
Final Fantasy..... nope that was well established on the famicom and super famicom long before sony got the rights
Metal Gear ... nope again, was on the nes/famicom a good 7 years before
God of war... while technically sony, I personally preferred the title when it was released a few years prior and called PRINCE OF PERSIA
ok so no significant software contributions to be had... surely they did something
let's look at the hardware:
controller..... nope they ripped that off from the snes
rumble feature... nope, they ripped that off from nintendo as well, and actually got sued for it
3d gaming.... well bad 3d gaming yes... They stole the concept from the pc and made some of the worst 3d games known to man. Only after the n64 had established itself, and the great mario 64 came out did they have material to ripp off from nintendo again, and thus started to make good 3d games.
Now just as a contrast let's look at what the other companies gave us:
nintendo:
mario, zelda and metroid along with more franchises than one could count
the basic gamepad configuration that ALL companies base their controllers off of
rumble pack
the first analog stick on a gamepad
the first dance mat (remember the power pad?)
the first system capable of a near-direct arcade port (snes)
the first portable gaming system
the first 3d platformer (that didn't suck)
Sega:
Sonic and virtually every major sports franchise, including the legendary madden football
The dreamcast, which came with such innovations as the first mic-enabled games as well as the first experiments in a secondary display.
Microsoft:
The first console with pc-like architecture (something all the companies are doing now).
The first console with a harddrive.
The first working, online gaming experience on a console, with working voice and reliable servers.
Xbox arcade.
So if anything, Sony has always been the lamest of the major companies. Mind you they sell well, but that is only due to the exclusive third-party liscenses they seem to strong arm their way into. They always have the worst hardware and the worst, first-party games. The only reason they even made it into the console race was because of the sega cd being a piece of junk and the psone being the only (viable) console with a cdrom drive at a time when putting useless, full-motion videos into a game was all the rage. The only reason it remained in the race for the second round was because japan had a shortage of cheap dvd players and the ps2 actually became the first readily available dvd player in japan. This round, they have essentially already killed themselves with the lack of exclusive liscenses and the insaine 600 dollar price tag, not to mention the inclusion of a blue ray player, which isn't even an established format yet and adds nothing to actual gameplay, only raising the price of the unit. Also the ps3 uses a strange method of co-processor integration, which makes it difficult to code for, so the slight performance edge it has will even out considering 90% of your third-party companies aren't talented enough to take advantage of it.
So in short, enjoy the playstation 3 because, short of a miracle on sony's part it very well may sony's last console. Of course that's just my opinion and the opinion of several critics in the game industry. Also, this is just personal opinon, but ripping off nintendo's motion detection hardware at the last minute immediately after losing a lawsuit over the rumble pack they also stole was not only class-less but a pitiful attempt to find a gimmick to get them back in the race.
The innovator of the software market is nintendo, always has, always will be. Microsoft will also be a very prominent figure in years to come, particularly in future markets like online play. Actually m$'s success is almost un-heard of considering they have only been in the race for 5 years. Kinda sad actually.. m$ has accomplished more in 5 years than sony has in about 15.
Oh and btw I played metal gear all the time on my nes, great game and VERY memorable. The ony reason you even see mgs on the sony consoles now is because nintendo made the mistake of leaving out a cd drive on the n64 and by the time the gamecube came out, sony wrangled them into a psuedo-exclusive deal.
Getting back on topic... I think the new Smash Brother's additions are quite appropriate. Glad to see Pit back on a system. Glad to see Snake in there too. My only complaint is that they haven't added enough classic characters... this is next-gen, they should add more than you can count. The punch-out characters come to mind in-particular.
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