No VIP's for gaming

Mass Effect 2 defects to PS3

Today the folks over at EA announced that one of its flagship titles "Mass Effect 2" will be teleporting its way to the PS3 this January. Since the first game was released back in 2007, the Sci-Fi series has remained on the XBOX 360 and PC and was met with great success. So why the hell does publisher EA need to move Bioware's biggest franchise to another system? Money is the obvious reason, but is it really necessary?

Sony fanboys shudder at this image

Not so long ago in a galaxy not so far away the word 'exclusivity' used to be one of the biggest catchphrases in gaming. Franchises like "Final Fantasy" and "Metal Gear Solid "used to run on one console, but now it seems developers are being forced to sign deals where they're forced to create multi-platform games (Insomniac studios, makers of 'Ratchet & Clank' and 'Resistance' have one such deal in the works). Exclusivity is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. For years console makers have always marketed why their system is better than the next. Sony purists swear by their consoles claiming their system offers the better single player games while XBOX was the more multi-player friendly system. Whatever the truth may be we're starting to see a gaming market where many titles are becoming multi-platform, and in my eyes that sucks the big one.

Kicking Sony's ass since 2001

As a hardcore gamer, the decision to commmit to a particular system varies on multiple angles. Which system has the best processor? Which has the best online capabilities and functions? Which is the cheapest? Which also acts as a DVD/Blu-Ray player? So many questions factor into what is the best bet for gamers but now it seems the most important factor is fading away...the games! I remember always asking myself which system has the better games. Now it seems there are so many triple-A titles that are multi-platform that there's really no need to commit to a certain systems anymore. Besides some minor hardware differences like blu-ray, wireless controllers, etc., it's becoming even harder to tell the difference between which system a multi-platform game is playing on. Sure publishers may nickel and dime us with exclusive downloadable content on certain systems, but really, most of the time it's useless content like a multiplayer map or challenge mode. We can live without it. Even worse, console owners who've committed to a hefty purchase like a PS3 back when it was $600 are seeing their exclusive titles go bye-bye to Microsoft. It's almost like that feeling you get when you know of a certain band that no one else has heard of, and then suddenly they become mainstream and sell out and play on MTV's VMA awards every year. It's like losing a puppy.

Uncharted...Proving that your PS3 is still worth something

Exclusivity is good. First party developers like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo need to make these kinds of deals more prominant in gaming. It spurs console sales, and opens up a new social aspect that's onverlooked. I love it when a friend of mine tells me that he/she has a game that I can't play. I just want to go over to their house and hammer the balls out of it and make a night out of it. Franchises like "Uncharted," "Halo," and "Gears of War" are single-handedly spurring console sales, and I think it's time for publishers to stop going the Call of Duty route and realize that sometimes single-platform is the way to go.