03.15.10
AC2 DRM means Playstation wins
The combination of the obnoxious DRM placed on the PC version of Assasin’s Creed 2 and the release of Final Fantasy XIII finally made me break down and get a Playstation 3. Interestingly, I’m still of the opinion that the Xbox 360 is a better value machine in a purely hardware head to head comparison, but I’ve got my reasons for getting the PS3 instead:
- PlayTV : I don’t have a DVR, or any sort of working video recorder at the moment and PlayTV looked like just what I’d want. Full HDTV compliance and a guide I can record from. The only downside is a little bit of messing around if I want to copy stuff to watch later on another device, but that’s because of the stupid “FreeView” restrictions (note that FreeView doesn’t actually give the consumers anything, it restricts what they can do with the TV signal they receive).
- Final Fantasy XIII : This game was designed with the PS3 (and its Blu-Ray drive) in mind, with the X360 coming in later, causing textures to have to be cut down for the X360 version. I’d rather see it in full original quality.
- Less region restrictions : Imported PS3 games can be played without any issues on an Aussie PS3. The X360 is restricted.
- Little Big Planet
- Most of the games I would want on the X360 are also available for the PC, and with my XBox Controllers for Windows, are easily as enjoyable. Steam allows me to purchase these games quite cheaply (if I wait for the specials) so there’s just not as much value in the X360 for me right now.
- User replaceable parts (like upgrading the HDD).
Of course, I picked up Assassin’s Creed 2 for the Playstation. No PC sale for me with that DRM – they forced me to move to a console so their idea that their DRM is saving the PC gaming industry is just wrong.