Over this last weekend, I had to log some hours playing multiplayer in the delightfully frightening The Darkness on both Xbox 360 and PS3. The mighty Sterling McGarvey offered his aid in testing out this fantastic game on the PS3, so we made an appointment to meet online. Sadly, there was no real way for us to actually play the game together because the PS3 gives you no way to invite friends to play games with you! My fellow Xbots, I know this must seem strange and bewildering, but the hard truth is that some of the basic functionality that you enjoy without even being aware of it is currently not available to our Sony counterparts.
Interesting side note: Sterling and I did get to play together, and you're going to laugh with superiority when I tell you how. I started a custom game and because there are so few people on PSN Sterling was able to join it easily as it was one of the three or so hosted games available. This has been an issue with the PS3 since day one, and the lack of people playing games over PSN is a constant thorn in our sides because playing games online is a key focus of our site. It makes it really tough to do my job when there's nobody to play with online. I never have that problem on Xbox 360 (even when I had to review Chromehounds, which almost nobody but me liked).
Before you start throwing rocks and shouting cruel jibes about how much their console sucks (believe me, I'm right there with you, pelting Sterling with stones), please remember that these people are really our brothers in gaming. Just because they backed the wrong pony doesn't make them inferior. In fact, we should reach out to the poor downtrodden folk that are unfortunate enough to have blown six or seven Benjamins on a PS3 and show them what real gaming is.
To that end, I have some homework for you all. Here's what I want my fellow Xbox 360 owners to do:
1. Find a friend that owns a PS3 (and is willing to admit it -- this could be tough, I know).
2. Invite them over to your house and show them the wealth of entertainment that is your Xbox 360.
3. Try not to tease them too ruthlessly for their mistake in system choice.
4. Offer to go with them to a pawn shop to get what they can for their PS3.
There are some things that you may want to do to prepare for this interactive intervention, and I'd suggest starting out with hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace if you haven't already downloaded some sweet HD movies and Xbox Live Arcade games. Also, be sure you have a game that can be played online (not hard if you own more than three Xbox 360 games) so that your PS3-owning friend can get the full Xbox 360 experience.
It's up to all of us to make sure that no gamer is left behind. There are a handful of people out there at this very moment that own a PS3, and they desperately need your help. I know I can count on the community of Xbox 360 gamers to pull together and get these poor sods the help they need... Sony certainly hasn't.
