What do you like and dislike most about the big 3?

[motherbra1n]

I'll start us off

Sony
What I like most:
Sony always seem dead set on pleasing core gamers, and always try their best to satisfy their die hard fans. So I think that's pretty cool.

What I dislike most:
Cannot stand how they shamelessly rip off everything that nintendo do from mario kart-modnation, wii-move, super smash bros-playstation all stars. They trash talk everything that nintendo do then have the cheek to copy it 5 years later and claim they were doing it long before nintendo had announced it (like they did with the move). Also a lot of the people that work there just seem really childish, trash talking everyone in the industry when they're sitting at the bottom of the sales charts. Also they get far too much credit for making new ips when most of these new ips are either nintendo rip offs (modnation, playstation all stars) or just something that's been done a million times before and really nothing unique (resistance, killzone)

Microsoft
What I dislike most:
I don't want to be rude, but there really is nothing that I genuinely like about microsoft. To me they add absolutely nothing of value to the industry, their ips are mediocre, generic and almost nonexistent (gears is dead, fable sucks and halo just doesnt work for me). I've watched their last two E3's and they bored the living crap out of me. Also can't stand how the mainstream media sit there like gullible idiots ass licking microsoft 24/7 and not daring to question anything that they do. They pay for timed exclusives because they don't have any exclusives and all it means is that playstation (and sometimes nintendo) gamers have to wait a bit longer, it's a very lame way of getting people to buy an xbox in my opinion whether or not it has worked.

Nintendo
What I like most:
Their games. They make the absolute best games in the world. So many games today consist of little to nothing more than travelling/walking, talking and fighting (skyrim, mass effect, the 1 million military shooters released this gen). They make the best level designs ever (on par with the likes of portal 2) and their games very rarely get repetitive. All their games play so differently to every other game in their genre (except for those heavily inspired by them of course). They always change enough but keep enough the same in the sequels for their games to feel fresh yet familiar and I know that when nintendo finally release a new big IP (pushmo and dillons rolling western aren't really that big) I can safely assume that it will play like no other game is its genre, just like f zero, pikmin, mario kart, metroid. Also, moments like these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXrsK8ICp8E

What I dislike most: Far too stubborn for their own good. They neglect any industry standard which they did not come up with first. Online, clickable analog sticks, dual analog controls (kid icarus uprising), hard drives. It frustrates third parties and frustrates us even more because it will mean that we miss out on multiplatform titles whilst they sit their counting the money they've made from the latest mario game. They do it because they think it's cool to be different in every single way possible and generally don't want seem to want to listen to anything that their fans or anyone else tells them, either because they enjoy annoying their fans or they are worried that it will make them look weak if it looks as if any decision that they make is affected by the outcry of fans. What really annoys me is that they have that it is so easy for them to fix the errors mentioned above but they just don't feel like it and think it's cool to not listen to anyone else. Well sorry but it's not cool at all. it's arrogant.

[NightsOwl]

Nintendo:

What I like:
The soul. They soul they put into their games gives me a much more full experience when I play the games.
I believe Nintendo is the last company that gives a lot of soul into what they do. For better, or worse.

What I dislike:
The only thing I could possibly dislike about Nintendo is... Their stubbornness to localize games. A lot of games I want, never make it over here. So I'm going to have to learn Japanese one day, and catch up on so many games it's not even funny.

Microsoft:
Sorry, but I've never liked Microsoft at all. They seem like all they want is money. No heart in what they make. They're empty.

Sony:
What I like:
The fact that when they use their minds, they can make very interesting and thoughtful games. They can make some good games, and put a lot of work into what they do. But with the good, comes negative...

What I dislike:
The shameless clones of Nintendo games. It's just nothing to be proud of when you insult a company (The US division anyway) and then go right behind them and do the same freaking thing, and try to one up them with a shallow, boring, clone.

[gtt]

hrm.. challenge accepted.

Sony:

What I like the most:
They put the gamer first. you don't see adds for verizon or mcdonalds or whatever in the ps3 dashboard. They use a standard harddrive in the ps3, free online, they don't put access to video services that I already pay for behind a paywall.

What I dislike the most:
The media/consumer electronics side getting all up in Playstaion business, pushing propritary media formats, and the like, moving focus to stereoscopic 3d in games to push 3d tvs. How hard they make their systems to develop for. The frequency with which they flat out copy things from other companies.

Microsoft:

What I like the most:
I really like the 360 controller, and the fact that it works so well with the PC. Live is the gold standard of online in the console space. Ease of development.

What I dislike the most:
Having to pay for gold to view netflix or any of that stuff which I already pay for. Weird rules for developers vis a vis patches and DLC. They seem to actively want the xbox to not be a game console. The focus on kinect for everything. Kinect in general. Ads in the dashboard. wtf.

Nintendo:

What I like the most:
The software, even games they half-ass and rush out the door are more polished than 80% of the software out there. Their focus is pretty laser tight on games, I love that. Their support, if it breaks, they will take care of you. They also have the best customer loyalty program in the biz.

What I dislike the most:
Refusal to adapt to current reality. Online is a thing, get on board. Stubbornness, if it wasn't thought up at nintendo, they really don't want anything to do with it. Their adherence to the idea of the 'purity' of available software, if 2 games are up for consideration of launching, they will always go with the one that appeals to the greater percentage of their base, regardless of if there is overlap in the titles or not, regardless of if there is money to be made or not, that's why we weren't going to get the rainfall games, because of the size of the market segment that buys jrpgs.

No unified account system, nuff said. The price of digital offerings, they are, quite frankly ridiculous. The rate at which they release Virtual Console games.

They always have to do things just a little different, and it ends up hurting them.

[Eternal Rain]

Sony:
What I like:
When they come out with some that's new and original, it's a lot of fun. Even games that aren't 100% original, but still mostly are, tend to be some of my favorites. Shadow of the Colossus, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, God of War, and and believe they also own Syphon Filter if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure I'd also love Uncharted if I owned a PS3 (only current gen system I lack).

What I dislike:
The shameless copying and then acting like they're the ones who originally came up with the idea. It's so damn obvious they're copying another company (mainly Nintendo), that they need to just admit it so they don't look like liars in the eyes of gamers. The US division of the company (not the Japanese division though, they're way more humble) also does way too much trash talking towards their competition, with little to no respect being shown.

Microsoft
What I like:
The Xbox 360 is the only HD platform I own this gen, and the reason why is because the system has the most third party support, so that's a major plus (last gen it was PS2). They knew devs wanted hardware that was easy to make beautiful looking HD games for, and they delivered. The Xbox 360 controller, aside from it's clunky D-pad, is also very comfortable to use. I also enjoy what IPs of theirs I have checked out, like Halo and Fable. Plus, Xbox Live Gold is considered the best console online service for a reason.

What I dislike:
The fact they charge a fee for Gold has never set well with me. It sucks that I get to miss out on the multiplayer in most games simply because I can't afford to pay for it. They really need to follow Nintendo and Sony's examples of allowing players to play their games online for free. While I give them credit for doing something a bit more original than Sony in the motion control department (though admittedly it is similar to Sony's EyeToy for the PS2), it seems like Kinect is really just not worth owning, because the technology is just so imperfect that the motion controls in most Kinect games seem to just downright not work right at all.

Nintendo
What I like:
The company makes some of the best games I've ever played, and has a huge plethora of IPs. From Mario to Zelda, Metroid to Star Fox, Kid Icarus to Kirby, Nintendo has many memorable names. They are also one of the few companies that truly strives to create new control experiences for gamers, while also trying to cater to the controlling needs of others (Classic Controller for games where motion controls are either clunky or poorly implemented, or the Circle Pad Pro for those who need a second stick on 3DS). Their games just have so much heart put into them, and they have so many innovative minds at the company (Miyamoto, Sakurai, and Iwata was once a dev himself) that it's easy to see why many companies follow their lead in terms of design.

What I dislike:
Sadly, after the SNES, Nintendo has had a tendency to always be a step behind in terms of hardware. N64 stuck with expensive, limited memory cartridges rather than using inexpensive, and swappable CDs. Gamecube had an almost non-existent online service, and the Wii's online service was simply not up to par with what gamers wanted. The stuff they're doing with 3DS right now, and what they seem to be doing with Wii U (such as having one account number rather than many codes at once), are showing they're improving, but fact remains that it may be a while before they reach the same level as just Sony in terms of online service. The Wii U could potentially avert this issue, as not only is it giving us a new type of controller, but also is staying up to par with current gen standards and beyond, but there is always that worry it may still be behind in at least one way.

[Mirr0rR3flection]

Nintendo:

What I like:
Their 1st party franchises, their hardware, the quality their games have, the fun experience their games give to players, the hospitality they provide towards customers, and the affordability of the things they sell.

What I dislike: The region locking they have on their hardware, releasing games earlier in one territory instead of releasing them to all of them at the same time to keep things fair, lack of getting third parties on board with them for the customers that care (way too much surprising ) for 3rd parties, and the little rare flaws in their hardware that appear but aren't fixed permanently by them. (3DS top screen getting scratched comes to mind.)

Microsoft:

What I like: ....
...
...
...Theres nothing I like about them.

What I dislike: They took RAREWARE away from Nintendo. (The one who made my most favorite games.) the brocore and HD whores they cater to, you have to pay for their online >_>, the lack of any good 1st party games and they have way too many FPSs, they depend way too much on 1st parties (Start using Banjo Kazooie, Conker, and other good RARE franchises correctly Microsoft), Kinect and its games look lame, their E3 conference I saw once just bored me to tears , and ultimately I dislike them for not going away! (I'd rather SEGA have stayed rather than them and I never really even bought SEGA consoles.)

Sony:

What I like: Their powereful hardware looks good.

What I dislike: Their hardware is too pricey, the graphic whores they cater to, their 1st party games (in my opinion >:p) suck compared to Nintendos since they don't sell systems (they can't even make me buy their hardware XD , only KH can and thats a 3rd party game), they get most 3rd parties which Nintendo clearly deserves more to have them for the bitchy whiny babies who complain with "I WANTS NINTENDO TO HAV MY AWESOMELY REALISTIC THIRDS PARTYS THATS I HAV ON MYs HD TWINS!", they depend too much on third parties (Its time you Sony start building actual good non-copied 1st party games like the ones Nintendo has. At one point when I was a kid I thought Crash Banditcoot and Spyro were some of your great 1st party franchises.) , and finally I dislike that you shamelessly copy Nintendo's franchises with using any originality. (You can try for the life of you to hide it at least but nope Sony your just too lazy to do so huh.)

[thresholdXCI]

Nintendo:

Like: Good first party exclusives.

Dislike: Poor quality hardware, the fact they've alienated their fans and their ineptitude when it comes to attracting 3rd parties.

Sony:

Like: Great hardware, good first-party exclusives.

Dislike: Expensive products, lack of originality (trophies, Move, PS All Stars etc etc), occasionally obnoxious PR attitude.

Microsoft:

Don't have any experience with the Xbox, so there's nothing I really dislike about them. So take this with a pinch of salt.

Like: Their online ecosystem looks very impressive (XB Live and Live Arcade). I get the impression the former can be let down by their user-base but I don't consider that their fault. They also seem very good at negotiating deals with other providers (Sky etc) to flesh out their services as well as attracting exclusive content that their fan-base seem to care about (popular DLC etc).

Dislike: That they charge a subscription fees for online and the Xbox is (or at least was) very unreliable. This and a relative lack of exciting exclusives meant I skipped the 360.

[Eliskor]

Sony:

What I like about Sony:

They're very dedicated to their userbase and keep a consistent flow of top quality games. Like the recently released Twisted Metal. That was a huge way to keep people playing the PlayStation 3 over the XBox 360 or Wii. They admit their faults like with the PSN hacking and are pretty mature about it. Watching Sony's E3 conference last year you could tell Jack Trennon felt legitimately bad for the fact the userbase was forced to go with out PSN for over a month.

So basically I love their dedication and also they have some pretty damn awesome exclusives.

What I don't like about Sony:

The fact they think that the only thing games need to be a smash hit are top notch HD quality graphics. We've seen this kind of attitude with the numerous HD remakes of PS2 games and more are coming still (FFX HD confirmed and Nomura has stated interest in the same for KH). Graphics are really nice, but they won't justify a purchase of an old game with HD textures slapped on.

I know part of it is current PS3s can't play PS2 games, but they could've been thrown into PSN for $10-$15 each rather than $30+ which would've driven up sales quite frankly.

Microsoft:

What I like about Microsoft:

The online multiplayer. Its pretty damn hard to argue against the fact Microsoft has the best platform for online gaming. I personally don't play games online multiplayer, but if I did I'd probably go with the XBox 360 as it has the easiest and best experience among the 3 platforms.

What I don't like about Microsoft:

Their reliance on the Kinect. The thing sold well, yes, but how many of those are actually using the thing on a regular basis? Not very many I assure you of that. Its the next Virtual Boy yet they refuse to let it fade out and move onto something (hopefully) better. I guarantee you this year's E3 conference for Microsoft will be more "LOOK AT OUR KINECT 8D".

Nintendo:

What I like about Nintendo:

The community. Most of Nintendo's fan community is very awesome, sure you get some raving fanboys that'd suck Nintendo's **** if given an opportunity, but for the most part the community is pretty nice. Heck, look at Operation Rainfall. Just a few people started it out, but it grew to something that all gaming media has taken notice of. Its a bunch of Nintendo fans coming together for 1 unified purpose. Its just awesome to see. We're not here to discuss if they had any impact on the releases of Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story, but fact remains they got people talking. That's a great community if you ask me.

what I don't like about Nintendo:

They're too stuck on their stupid gimmick's that really are a hindrance in most cases. I love my 3DS, but do games really need to be in 3D to be good? I'm pretty sure many people are like me who don't even use the 3D because: A) It drains the living crap out of the battery, and B) It adds nothing to the game while draining your battery. I struggle to think of any game that uses 3D to enhance the experience and none are coming to mind.

If they wanted the systems to sell better they could try to find a feature that would actually improve a person's experience with the game.

[bobafruit]

Good idea!

Sony:
like: their support for crazy indie stuff and an open platform(compared to others). They have been open to some crazy experimental downloadable stuff. Basically they are a company of engineers and so their tech is very cool.

Dislike: mediocre IPs and exclusives. Their real interesting IP this generation has been... little big planet? and the controls in that game are way too floaty. And as much as I like the experimentation with downloadable titles, they sometimes get very interesting without getting fun.

Msoft:

like: the online infrastructure is great and works well, and they've been able to put together a slate of downloadable games that is both interesting and fun.

dislike: paying for online service is not very useful if you don't care for playing multiplayer games.

Nintendo:

like: Their willingness to experiment and blaze new paths.

dislike: there are so many possibilities that they fail to embrace, little big planet should have been their experiment in user generated content.

[bunny-cow]

Sony
Like: newer and better technologies that can actually be sustained for 5+ years. PlayStation Network is free and although rougher around the edges compared to Xbox Live, it's free! Nintendo should take a cue from them and introduce a lot of new, smaller IP's digitally where a lot of them are very well done. Their artsy games and willingness to fund creative and smaller projects are outstanding.

Dislike: Weird form of backwards compatibility depending on which system you got. The spokespeople are incredibly arrogant. They expected gamers to initially give them $600 for a PS3. The PS3 with its Cell processor became bloatware because developers couldn't figure it out how or didn't care to make visuals that surpass the 360's. Their blatantly copying of Nintendo ideas and hardware and making a PR-move by saying "Oh, we did this and it's super new!" Shoving their own Sony-branded proprietary formats. No one wants to buy memory sticks! Oh yeah, they got hacked!

Microsoft
Like: Xbox Live. The whole online community and ecosystem. Say what you will about Kinect, but I'm sad Nintendo is making us use Wii Motion Plus instead of full body movement going into Wii U. Both devices are still wild in consistency, but at least Kinect is more fun and free-moving. Their relations to third-parties is very impressive and the 360 seems like the go-to system and then the PS3.

Dislike: No backwards compatibility. Xbox Live isn't free. D'oh! Going by quantity and quality, the 360 has nothing to offer me in terms of Nintendo or Sony-like artsy games (Mario Galaxy, Flower, etc.). All the games seem to target the Michael Bay fanclub of explosions and guns and mute colors or Dreamworks-like (meaning family-friendly but unlike Pixar, they're not going to win any awards). Nobody should ever forget the Red Ring of Death! The hassle and turbulent process many people went through. Oh yeah, they got hacked!

Nintendo
Like: Nintendo games. Nintendo franchises and characters. Their use of colors both for software and hardware! The ragtag group of select third-parties on board with Nintendo are the ones that like to bring odd IP's outside the standard shooter/action fare. The hardware innovation they always bring that always gets copied. Many of their games will become timeless through the crafting of smart gameplay and artistic vision. Backwards compatibility! The entire portable market!

Dislikes: Nintendo of America. Still. Like seriously, when will they get their act together? Xenoblade doesn't make up for everything. This generation's lack of noteworthy new Nintendo IP's. Mario and Miis were in full milking mode. Nintendo as a whole seems to cut costs for profitability at the expense of long-term hardware. You can't argue that both the Wii and the Wii U could've/could use used more power in their lifespans. It takes them a hardware generation to learn from past mistakes (everything to do with online, system memory, friend codes, patches, apps, digital store). I'm hoping for the best with the Wii U because they didn't do enough with the 3DS with multimedia stuff (Nintendo Video with only 4 videos at a time is a joke, right?). I wish Nintendo had good enough online components to be hacked!