If you’re reading this site, it’s likely you indulge in the occasional video game. Though you may not want to admit it to your loved ones and friends, you’ve probably at least tried an MMO at some point in your life. It’s OK, we’ve all been there. What’s important to note is that your little antisocial indulgence probably took place on a computer. You’ve got your keyboard, mouse, headphones, microphone, and near limitless access to a bevy of software. Yep, the computer is the perfect environment for your every MMO need. How else could they possibly be played?

Computer games thrive on being highly customizable, from having access to more keys than a console controller to being easily altered by those looking to enhance their experience with modification programs. Still, there’s something to be said for kicking back on the couch with snacks and a drink, controller in hand, blazing a trail of glory across the vibrant world projecting out of your gloriously large HDTV. The problem is, can you even conceive of playing World of Warcraft on your PlayStation 3?

The MMO genre is one that, in general, does not agree with the console environment. Sure, attempts have been made, but you can’t say there have been any huge success stories. Released in early 2003, EverQuest Online Adventures is a PlayStation 2 version of the popular EverQuest franchise that is still up and running. Likewise, Final Fantasy XI’s PlayStation 2 variant is still alive, though it can be assumed that its PC counterpart boasts a larger user base. The more recent Phantasy Star Universe is still around, although not many positive things can be said about it.

The Phantasy Star franchise does deserve credit though, as Phantasy Star Online for the Sega Dreamcast was one of the genre’s first attempts to break into the console market. Though admittedly a bit light on the “massive” aspect of MMORPG – every stage was instanced and there were a limited number of stages to play through – the game did attract a large following right up until Sega left the hardware business and shut down all related servers. Xbox and GameCube versions did follow, eventually leading to the release of the PC only Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst.

Though EverQuest and Final Fantasy are respectable products, the genre has seen more failures than successes on consoles. Cancellation after cancellation has left gamers wondering if more console MMOs are ever going to happen. True Fantasy Live Online, a game being developed by Level-5 for the original Xbox, was a high profile title until it was ultimately canned. Then there was the announcement and subsequent cancellation of Marvel Universe. And lest we forget, Ensemble Studios was once hard at work on a Halo MMO. Who knows how many other projects were ended prematurely before have any light shed on their existence. Such has been the genre’s console fate. One could argue that a lack a titles is better than 10,000 games with identical gameplay mechanics (I’m looking at you, Korean developers), but something would be nice.

Don’t fret though, as there is still hope. Now that broadband access and internet-ready consoles are becoming ubiquitous, the number of hoops an MMO must jump through to be successful on a console is lessening. Plug a keyboard into the USB port of your PS3, grab a Bluetooth headset and it’s just like being at your computer. Hard drives allow patches and downloadable content to be possible. The technology is in place – all we need are the games.

And they are coming, or so we’re being told. Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XIV Online at E3, which is set to be released in 2010. Out of all upcoming console MMOs, this one is poised to have the most success if done properly. Other projects are shrouded in a bit more secrecy, but we do at least know they exist. Funcom is said to be porting Age of Conan to the Xbox 360, though when we’ll see it remains a mystery. Turbine, creators of Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online, is supposedly working on or investigating the possibility of a console project. Warhammer 40K, not to be confused with Warhammer Online, is rumored to be in development for both PC and Xbox 360 alike, though the only evidence to support this is a job posting.  And let’s not forget Sony’s The Agency, which has actually been shown to the gaming press.

But how many of these games will we even see? As evidenced by the recent E3 press conferences of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, motion sensing devices are all the rage. If we are to believe the hype being dished out, fake bows with fake arrows and invisible steering wheels are the wave of the future. There is much success to be had, but the risk versus reward ratio associated with the development of an MMO is keeping many away. It’s also easier to sell the public on fully interactive games as opposed to ones that many require part-time job hours. From a marketing perspective it’s hard to blame them.

Still, both Sony and Microsoft are committed to 10-year life cycles, so it seems more like a matter of when as opposed to if. Final Fantasy XIV Online seems a safe bet to at least be released, with pretty much every other project in an unpredictable state. Is it a market companies want to tap? Absolutely. Are many going to do it and do it well? No, probably not. But that’s OK. Does your console really need rehashed versions of Mabinogi and FlyFF? For the foreseeable future, the console MMO market will have fewer titles than its PC counterpart, but, from a quality control perspective, that’s probably a good thing. We will wait patiently, controller in hand, for the triple-A titles to start trickling in. One day, not all that far off, we’ll be grinding out low level quests with analog sticks and shoulder buttons and you won’t have it any other way.

Oh, what a fitting title. After a particularly… interesting bender about a week ago, I decided it might be a good idea to swear off the hooch for a while, and it’s actually done wonders for productivity (I mean, have you seen TPS lately? We’re actually updating again!). Without my normal haze to cloud the daily routine of playing through all manner of crap games, though, it’s been something of a quest to actually keep my brain active. I’ve become a complete Jeopardy! junkie again (though not the PS3 game — we actually shelled out $15 here at the office and were so horribly disappointed that we wished there was a way to get PSN refunds; how can you have multiple-choice Jeopardy!? And without Trebek? Naaaah, bad mojo, that one), but then I’ve always been something of a game show die-hard to begin with.

Maybe that’s why I took so quickly to the Buzz! series in the first place. The PS2 games had just the right blend of smarmy host quips (it’s always important when the contestants get berated a little by a high-and-mighty emcee, after all) and great questions, plus a ton of different categories that usually ended up leveling the playing field a few times to keep those that would try to pull ahead by answering every question like their life depended on it (it’s called “The Sam Technique” around here for a reason, I suppose). Even when getting pies to the face constantly, though, the game was a blast, and we’d even turned it into a drinking game well before the PS3 version came out.

When it did, Sony was actually cool enough to send over beer and pizza (a seriously welcome gesture, as it was Round Table, and it literally disappeared from its little cardboard cage in about five minutes. Yes, we’re an office of Round Table lovers. The Heineken Light? I think there’s still three or four o’ those in the fridge, and we keep trying to pawn ‘em off on PR folks that stop by to no avail (what, no drinking at 11AM? Surely you jest!). In any event, Buzz! Quiz TV — that’s the PS3 one, mind you. Was a big hit here too, though that’s hardly surprising.

What did surprise, us, though, was how comparatively trimmed-down the whole experience was when it moved to the PS3. Yes, the graphics were quite nice and the game itself was classic Buzz!, but there were fewer modes and, it seemed, a few more repeats in the supplied questions, which had shrunk by a couple thousand. Granted, there was now the ability to create your own quizzes (some of which were pretty awesome, actually) and share them online, but clearly there was something else planned.

Turns out (surprise, surprise) that Sony had planned to release multiple themed question packs (about 500 Qs apiece), and have since rolled out Comedy, National Geographic: Safari, National Geographic: Undersea, Sci-Fi, Videogames and Horror Quiz Packs since the game hit back in September, which isn’t a bad run. For whatever reason (likely because we’ve all been insanely busy over the Holidays), I never really had the itch to jump in, but when Sony kicked over a code for things, I really couldn’t resist anymore.

The American Culture Quiz Pack is, surprisingly, pretty awesome. Any downloaded Quiz Packs just become an extra category, but they won’t always crop up, meaning you won’t burn through the 500 questions in week or something. American Culture pretty much covers the gamut of US geography, music technology, history, politics, people, places and so on, so there’s plenty of variety. I am starting to get a little burned out on how easy a lot of these questions are (and yeah, I understand, they have to make it accessible for anyone who drops coin for ‘em, but still). I also didn’t pick up on a whole lot of (if any; it’s been a while) new comments from Buzz himself, which the PS3 version desperately needs (especially if you’re playing solo, as it’s literally the same lines over and over and over and over…), but content-wise, things are exacty as billed.

Despite any little gripes I might have about things, running through the questions here both by myself and with some of the other staffers has definitely rekindled my interest in picking Buzz! up again, and we’ve already decided that we’d be stupid not to have some kind of contest (sadly, no drinking for me) with the Videogame Pack, so I’ll probably be grabbing that this week. If we make something fancy of it, I’ll be sure to update you guys with pics of the debauchery. Something tells me it’s going to end with Sunny making me shave my head or something. On second thought, maybe pics are a bad idea.

You may have seen our story recently on the recent firmware 2.40 update and all the (potential) deliciousness it brings. We actually shied away from going all-out on pimping it because we were told from multiple dev sources that it was very much a foundation for stuff going forward. I even personally tried to tell forumgoers elsewhere that it was something that was going to take time to really gain traction.

The reality of what 2.40 adds to the PlayStation 3 experience is something that isn’t exactly tangible from the get-go. Yes, you have custom soundracks. Yes, you have Trophies, which to me is huge because rather than an arbitrary number, you now have that and an RPG-style level. Why the hell this is more engrossing to me than GamerPoints has actually caused me a bit of concern. There is quite literally zero difference between the two in the grand scheme of things; it’s still just a number, but something about the idea of “leveling up” based on grabbing Bronze, Silver and Gold trophies is, admittedly, intoxicating.

We don’t even have a full-fledged game yet patched (at least at the time of this blog) that supports the idea of the “Platinum Trophy” (you get it for earning all the Bronze/Silver/Gold Trophies, and it gives you, in effect, an “experience boost” for nailing ‘em all). But I want it. I don’t even know why I want it, but I do. It’s the RPG nut in me, and duplicative though it may be toward Microsoft’s Achievements, something about it being not another number yet, yes, still another number amazes me.

But 2.40 isn’t perfect. It went well for most of our systems, but Warren’s machine has bucked and decided to restart at random times. Still other tales persist on forums across these here tubes that tell a far more frightening tale: PS3s are getting bricked. We’ve contacted Sony, but not after all this rabble has eased a little, to hopefully get an official comment on things (we’ll let you know when we know).

It does seem that this is an issue commonly tied to people that opted to go the very route that Sony had allowed and upgraded their hard drives. In many cases, this includes the 40GB folks, which, aside from the Metal Gear Solid bundle, have already had to suffer no PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility if they wanted to play someting other then PS3 and PS one games. The (relatively) meager storage space was also a reason to throw another hard drive in there.

It does seem the solution so far is to just insert the normal system-ready hard drive back into the PS3. Things update (begrudgingly, if my 30 minutes of literally constant rebooting and searching for an update to Super Stardust HD are any indictation), but we’ll get an official word from Sony here soon… I hope.

Mandatory installs are the bane of my current generation gaming existence. They are the reason I turn off my PlayStation 3 in disgust and play antiquated systems.

I was under the impression that console gaming was the essence of true plug-n-play. My Dreamcast does it, my PlayStation does it, even my Wii does it. I put a game into my system, I turn it on, and it loads up. Why is it that my PlayStation 3 doesn’t do this? Why is it when I buy a game, I have to sit through an installation period as if I’m loading up a PC game for the first time? This is not plug-n-play and it’s not console gaming. It’s a monster that doesn’t belong in my living room.

Excessive installation time, as well as what I’ve lovingly dubbed “gigabytitis”, or sucking up great amounts of hard drive space, are two of the biggest problems with mandatory installations. Devil May Cry 4 sports a grand 20-minute install, which is over the top and leans on the high side of the scale, but the average still takes 5 minutes, time I could be going through the mandated tutorial most games force upon the user these days.

But space is the greatest concern, given the fact that the 40 GB PlayStation 3 is the only SKU on the market. Between the demos on PlayStation Network, the purchases I’ve made from the PlayStation Store, and random media bits, my 40 GB of space is nearly gone. There soon won’t be enough space to play games that require a certain amount of free space just for caching, such as Heavenly Sword and Oblivion. The benefits of Blu-ray’s extra space is moot when I have to install more than 10% of the game’s assets from the 25 GB disc to my system.

But I don’t have issues with just the mandatory installations themselves; I also have problems with the fact that I can’t browse the rest of my PlayStation 3 while it’s happening. I’m completely at the mercy of the great PlayStation Installation God, and I don’t like it. Mandatory installations not only waste precious time I could be using to press Start through all the menus and logos at the beginning of every game, but I’m forced to sit by the wayside as my $400 contraption entertains itself with the 1s and 0s spilling off the deliciously blue tinted disc in its drive. If this device is truly the media hub of my living room, and Sony wants it to act as such, then it needs to function like the laptop sitting three feet away from me on my coffee table that let’s me surf the internet, chat with friends, read email, and play other games while still installing programs of my choosing.

There is one saving grace to all of this: the PlayStation 3’s hard drive is easily upgradeable. The fact that at least 20% of my total hard drive space will be spent on mandatory installations (and more if I choose the right selection of games) isn’t enough, but all the other media will strip the drive of space in no time. However, it’s a breeze to put a 500 GB SATA hard drive into the PS3, and one of the booklets included with the system even walks you through the process (you’re still be under warranty, afterwards). But that doesn’t excuse mandatory installations, since no cosole gamer should ever be forced to upgrade a piece of hardware just because they want to play a few games and make a few purchases from the wonderfully provided PlayStation Store.

What should be done about mandatory installs? Don’t make them mandatory. If I choose not to have the speediest load times in my games, that’s my choice. And if I want to install it, tell me what’s being installed, be it textures, levels, music, or whatever else the developer deems important to enhance my gaming experience. But under no circumstances should the developer force the installation on me (like they do now) or keep the installation information a secret (again, as they do now).

Changing mandatory installations would go a long way to ridding the headache of purchasing a new game and not getting the chance to play it until an hour or more after you pop it into the machine. But since its easy to force the installation on the end user, it’ll become a crutch that many developers use to smooth out the game experience without knowing how it ultimately affects the consumer.

Wishing for it to change is a pipe dream, I know, as mandatory installations are here for the foreseeable future. Obviously, in the case of games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Devil May Cry 4, it’s not hurting game sales, since gamers will put up with anything to get their hands on the latest and greatest titles, but it is hurting goodwill and becoming a constant complaint among the very audience likely to buy these products. One thing Sony can’t afford to sour is good will and, maybe, if enough voices rise up in unison over this issue, they’ll see how big of a problem mandatory installations are for any of the current (or future) SKUs on the market. With how responsive Sony has been with issues concerning their customers, perhaps that will get things changed. And any change can only be good change.

If ever you’ve wanted to know the sure-fire sign that it’s a slow news day or there’s a need to fill some space with cheap content, you need only look for a Top ____ List. Top 10, Top 100, Top Boobies, Top Explosions… Yes, they’re sometimes (okay, often — okay, usually) pointless bits of fluff, but this one is different. Why? Because… uh… well, because it has lots of pretty pictures! Also, despite the title, it’s not really Top anything, it’s just our ramblings about what makes us giggle like schoolgirls with excitement.

No, in all seriousness, it’s important because for the past year and half-plus, the PlayStation 3 has been the industry whipping boy and only most of it is self-generated. Thing is, every Sony system takes about two years to get its shiznite in gear and start properly rocking. The only difference this time is that Sony has competition from two different sides and both are doing some things better. So how do they turn things around? Simple: G-A-M-E-S. Software is the key to providing initial attraction and maintaining it into the long term.

Surprisingly, though, both of the other systems either haven’t really talked about what they have coming for this year beyond a select few titles or simply don’t have much right now to show. Sony, on the other hand, is poised to rock a serious block o’ awesome throughout most of this year. Sure, some of these games might slip, but at least as a value proposition, this is what gives the PS3 some serious rallying power.

10. Grand Theft Auto IV

Were this a popularity list, all ten entries would be GTA IV. It’s that big. There will not be a more significant game than this one, be it because of the inevitable controversy, the sheer amount of awesomeness burned onto the disc or the fact that people will likely be sharing their experiences with the game for years to come. The only game that will top GTA IV in raw hype will be whatever follow-up Rockstar ends up making. Speaking of hype…

9. Metal Gear Solid 4

Again, if we’re just talking hype here, MGS4 could probably claim its own list. The fact that every person we’ve talked to that has finished the game talk about it in a kind of hushed reverence should say a thing. Will be it amazing? Oh yes — the only question is how amazing?

8. WipEout HD

Who would’ve thought the MotorStorm a modified version of the Formula One CE Engine was this flexible. Not only does WipEout HD look amazing (especially the new living equalizer that is Zones Mode), it also runs like a dream in bullet point-friendly 1080p/60fps. Just like WipEout games should. The fact that we’re capitalizing that E should show just how big a fan of the series we are, but don’t worry. After playing the bestest HD anti-grav racer ever, you will too, just watch.

7. SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation

Ahaaa, but the PS3 isn’t quite done with kicking out the brown straight to your peepers just yet. No, there’s still trrrstststsss to kill In the Name of Freedom with SOCOM Confrontation. Sure, the single-player part of the series may have hit a peak a while back, but the online is still one of the franchise’s biggest draws. With Confrontation, all that pesky offline stuff is ditched for a pure multiplayer experience that’s… well, considering we only got a peek almost a year ago, we’re gonna go ahead and say with a bit of faith that it’s going to be fun.

6. Home

Laugh all you want, buddy; Home is more than just a Second Life clone. Sure, there’s all the chatting/customization crap, but this is also the portal to 3D representations of your Accomplishments in games. Yes, virtual trophies are our reason for looking forward to a graphical chat room. But hey, it worked for Gamerscores, right?

5. Resistance 2

You might notice there’s no link to a game page with tons of screens and movies here like there is in the titles of all the other games. Why? Because Insomniac Games hasn’t been kind to gift us with pretty, pretty pictures of their new epic yet. So why is it on the list, you may ask? Because, silly person, the first game was rad-tastic and with the promise of 60-player online multiplayer, a completely separate 8-person co-op campaign, a full single-player game and all the crazy ass advancements that Insomniac has been making to their core engine, it would take a miracle for the game to not blow us away. So there.

4. MotorStorm 2

Oh, hey, another game without pictures? All these words are starting to get in the way, we know. Here’s the difference, though: we’ve got video of this one. G’head, click the title of the game there and check out the teaser trailer under the Movies link. See if that doesn’t just make your pants just a liiittle bit tighter. Don’t worry, it’s probably just the end of the trailer. Probably.

3. Killzone 2

Words can’t properly describe how technically impressive Killzone 2 is. Not even still pictures can illustrate just how close Guerilla Games came to the infamous CG trailer (yeah, that one). Luckily, we have a trailer of it just for you, at the link just above. Honestly, we don’t even care if the game turns out good (okay, we care, we do), those visuals are going to justify HDTVs all over the place.

2. LittleBigPlanet

Truly, there may never be a more “awwwwww”-worthy game on the PS3 in its entire lifespan. Not only is LittleBigPlanet contender for Game of the Year already (and we’ve only played like an hour of it so far), but it represents a grab-the-bull-by-the-horns approach to embracing and channeling user-driven content like few games ever can. The charm is undeniable. The freedom is incredible. The creation of giant levels filled with blocky penis-like shapes will be unstoppable.

1. How to Destroy Your Credit in One Year: The Game

Ah, the most gripping and visceral of them all. The one game on this list that will stand head and shoulders above all else. Yes, kids, it’s The Game… of Life. This list, Sony-development-heavy though it may be, really only represents a sliver of what the PlayStation 3 is going to get that already registers as a 7.8 or higher on the Awesome-O-Meter. There is a ton of incredible content not only on the PS3, but on just about every system out there this year, which means that the greatest battle of all will be on our poor, defenseless bank accounts.

They will be drained, oh yes. They will be drained.

Agree with our made-up list? Disagree? Want to just call us a bunch of doodie-heads? Fine, Sport, hit our fancy new forums and made with the name-calling. Just make sure you do it with lots of extra, pointless words. It’s the TPS way!