I recently found out that my dad has an issue with one of the games coming out for the PlayStation 3. But it may not be the sort of complaint you’d expect. Allow me to give a little perspective.
As it happens, my dad is pretty hardcore when it comes to games, morso than I am at least. He began with Pong, and when I was growing up and came to own my very own NES, it wasn’t long after that he got his very own as well, alongside many of his own games, games I couldn’t touch. Not that he didn’t allow to play them; they were games he was simply better at, and I had more fun watching him.
He held out on getting me a Super NES, though… until Contra III won him over, that is. He won the patch from Nintendo Power’s “World 9 Challenge” for Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels– no warping. And moving into the 32-bit era, we each had our own PlayStation. I’ve lamented about how much I suck at Metal Gear Solid in this space before; he’s beaten them all, including the NES titles. He got a PS2 when it came out, and followed up with a PlayStation 3 long after I’d moved out.
I got to see his library recently: Resident Evil, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Tomb Raider, and more litter his shelves, along with another he enjoys: SOCOM.
Which is where the problem comes in, and where I’m inclined to listen.
What follows is an open letter from him to Sony and the developer of the SOCOM games, including the next one for the PlayStation 3:
I think I speak for all PS3 and “SOCOM” players.
I have stood by and supported SONY in its endeavors since the conception of the original Playstation to the PS3. And believe me, it’s not easy when everyone including your own son (who covers video games professionally) tries to convince you to switch to another format.
All the money you have made and what has made “SOCOM” one of the top games on the market has come directly from console users like me.
I have personally been waiting for my favorite game “SOCOM” to be released for a long time now. And what do you do? You completely turn your back on “SOCOM’s” supporters and release it under a completely new format requiring that you play it on the net with other players.
That is a total pile of B_ _ _ S_ _ _. At the very least you could have released it under both formats to include the single player option.
If I wanted to play with every Tom, Dick and Harry I would forget Sony all together and use my computer.
I think for myself and play for myself, not for someone else’s entertainment.
Get it together gentleman, and release this game under both formats ASAP, like you should have done in the first place. Your think tank has a big hole in it and it’s going to cost you in the long run. Those who have put billions of dollars into your pockets over the years are starting to look favorably on systems that they can “trust” to do right by them.
Sony, by any means of the imagination, does not have a corner on the gaming market.
Robert Oxford
(Totally disillusioned with SONY)
In my own defense, I did try to persuade him against the PlayStation 3 awhile ago when there really was nothing going for it.
Nonetheless, I can relate. Online gaming is great and all, but sometimes I just like to be able to play a game I enjoy by myself. Moreover, I like being able to return to said game months or even years down the line, when support for such a feature as online may have dried up and there are no servers running it or other people playing it online.
And that’s not even counting the people who simply don’t like playing online; why can’t they still play SOCOM, too?
