So let me get this out of the way first, I bought Playstation 3. Originally it wasn’t in my cards to get one until the price dropped a couple hundred bucks. But thanks to L.A. connect extraordinaire Dustin and Pennsylvania Jay, I was able to land a freelance job in Texas that paid me a good amount of money for almost zero work (I will save it for my new “Tales of Freelance” category). Anyway, I can’t have money burning a hole in my pocket. It’s a known fact. Sure there are more viable options like putting it away into a savings account, or using it to pay off existing debts. But Grand Theft Auto 4 was coming out in a week and I needed that game. I needed it NOW (well a week from NOW). So off to Circuit City I went (there is only 3% sales tax since it is a “development” area) and purchased a shiny new 40GB Playstation 3. The last one in the store for that matter. This clearly was a disappointment to the gentleman behind me who was in line to get one too. After throwing down the cold hard cash, I was on my way home with a PS3 in one hand and the first two seasons of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” in the other.
The Playstation 3 really is an amazing machine. I don’t regret the purchase for one second. I could go on and on about all the things I like about it. The wireless controller, the Playstation Store, the visualizers, the support for DLNA servers (I am using MediaLink right now and it fucking rocks), DIVX/MP3 support, videochat, the interface (well not entirely, I want the in-game XMB NOW), and my absolute favorite feature, Remote Play (you mean I can access all my media from my PSP wherever there is a wifi hotspot even if my PS3 is off?? awesome).
But there is one glaring negative. The online support. All of my friends have 360′s and I am impressed by how Microsoft handled the online gaming portion of the system. It really is a community for gamers. Then I look at my PS3. I have about 8 friends at this point on my PS3 and most of them are never on. So usually I have to rely on the in-game matching. For the awesomeness known as Call of Duty 4, finding a game is never a problem. But with Grand Theft Auto 4, that is another story…
Single player Grand Theft Auto 4 shows that Rockstar can still deliver the ultimate sandbox experience. Anything you can think of doing in the GTAIV universe is possible. Well almost anything. The aiming system is much improved, the driving is a blast, the soundtrack has some really great channels. And then when you want to play some multiplayer, you pop open your cell phone and select the multiplayer option. That is what I did 5 minutes into the game, just to wet my whistle…
And nothing…
I was thrown into an empty room and every so often one person would join and and then promptly leave when they see no one else is in there. Since that point almost two months ago, I have played in about four matches of Grand Theft Auto 4 online that had more than 8 people in it. It has come to the point where I just stopped trying to even play a multiplayer game. It is THAT bad.
Meanwhile my 360 using friends regale me with tales of their multiplayer antics in 16 player matches and games that are just insane. All I can do is feign interest and talk about how no one plays on PS3 and just accept the laughs.
Can anyone please explain WHY the multiplayer portion of Grand Theft Auto 4 for Playstation 3 sucks? Is it just me? Am I not being invited into the good games?
Anyway, I have given up on the GTA IV multiplayer and I am working towards finishing the game. I took a break because I am going to be making the jump to High Def soon and want to be able to enjoy some of the game in 1080…
Thanks for treating PS3 users like online second class citizens Rockstar. The single player rocks though.
Oh and if anyone is looking for me on PSN, my handle is “utterer” (no quotes of course).
