Sony's PS2 Online Lays Claim To TV Generation
Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting a Sony press release in which they claim online gaming using the PlayStation 2 is taking away viewers from the TV, noting that "...the audience for online gaming with the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system grew to 2.6 million this month" - though that figure seems to be the number of PS2 systems with online adapters, not the amount actually online. Elsewhere, Sony notes that online play is "...up 239 percent when compared to February of last year, with 67,708 new gamers registering during the 29 day month", and that some games have extremely committed players: "SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs players spend an average of 4.2 hours a day playing the game online." This comes shortly after news that 25 million PS2s have been sold in North America, a figure "contributing to overall worldwide shipments of more than 70 million units" - meanwhile, GI.Biz notes that Xbox Live "has been celebrating having 750,000 Xbox Live users [in the States], with a target of a million by June."
that they are talking about. Could people finally actually want to communicate in a slightly social setting instead of getting the one-way communication that television offers us.
I still personally would prefer a trip out to a local eatery etc for my social interaction, but it's definately interesting to see how much better people respond to playing other people(or at least what they think are other people, I wonder how many people have an internet buddy that is actually a chatbot)
10 minutes might not be enough time to make the adjustment. How long did it take you to learn to play first person shooters on your keyboard and trackball? I doubt you were an expert after 10 minutes. Possibly the millions of console FPS players are not all wrong. The controls can, and do work.
You forgot the word "poorly" in that last sentence. There's a reason why most console FPSes have autoaim and most computer FPSes don't.
The millions of console FPS players that actually like using a controller to play have almost certainly never tried using a keyboard and mouse.
Rob
Some people prefer a controller.
...cough
Chances are those people aren't all that serious about FPSes. If you don't really care about how well you play, then controllers are fine.
One is not inherently better than the other.
The assertion of one who has never actually tried playing the same game with both control methods. Try playing Rainbow Six, first on a console, then on the PC. Tell me which one is easier to play.
cough... Doom
Oh, no, you've defeated my argument by mentioning a decade-old game!
Rob