PlayStation 3 Load Rage

As I mentioned before, Netflix in my household is utilized on a few different systems, but my choice of player has always been the PlayStation 3. Perhaps it's out of an emotional consolidation: the PS3 has barely been used since I bought it, only spinning Blu-Ray discs and one game (now two, thank you). But the possibilities of the system have always kept me intrigued. When Netflix was introduced in Canada it was the PS3 that was the first of the game systems to deliver it. So, there is that too.

But one of the biggest problems with the PS3 is installing. Never, ever, in my video gaming life, have I had to sit down and install a game for any period of time. When I was on the PC, installing was a fact of life and you only had to do it once (and more if there were patches, of course) but there, it was the norm from the very beginning. You're reading from a guy who was introduced to video games by plugging a cartridge into an Atari 2600 and playing immediately. This trend would follow for quite some time, with the only speed bump being the introduction of optical media and their inherent slow loading. But these "loading" times would be decreased as drives and technology sped up.

The next speed bump came without a warning sign: the PS3 wouldn't just play a game, you needed to install it, just like the old PC (it's been so long since I've played a game on the PC, I'm not even sure they require installs anymore). I feel like the system made a step backward. And to be fair, I'm only referring to downloaded games and demos - I haven't put enough discs into the system to see if this installing trend is that widespread. Also, I need to make a comment that installing games was an option I first found on the Xbox 360, but it was not necessary. In fact, you may be hard pressed to call it installing because of the nature of what is occurring: essentially the 360 is copying the entire contents of the disc to the hard drive. Subsequently the game is accessed from the hard drive instead of the disc. I do this all the time at work and on the PC in general, as you typically get faster load times. The 360 checks to see if the disc is in the drive, then never touches it again.

When you download a title from Xbox Live Arcade, or what have you, you download the game, then play it. You don't have the option to install; you are plugging in the game and you just get going right away. Every game I've downloaded on the PS3 I've had to install, and it takes time to do so. Tonight, I downloaded Mega Man 2, which clocked in at 282MB. this was crazy. As it turns out, it was an PS1 game disc that was only released in Japan. Also, it turns out we need to install it too. Which took about ten minutes. I don't want to gripe too much: ten minutes is not a lot of time in the grand scheme, but when you want to play a simple, emulated NES game, it's an eternity. I can complete thirty percent of the game in ten minutes. I really feel like we took a step backwards here.

I didn't want to stretch this out so much, but I should get back to my original Netflix point. In addition to installing games, you have to install system updates. These take forever. I've sat there for twenty minutes waiting for it to download, then install. The other week I went to watch some Netflix, but doing so seemed to require me to sign into the Playstation Network. OK, I can only do that if I install the mandatory system update. Netflix lets me in for a second but I'm constantly being prompted for my PSN credentials, then the system update. I'm stuck in a loop. Eventually I reboot the system and initiate the system update. After a run around the block (yeah right) I return and log into Netflix. Problem is, my system is no longer activated for Netflix. I have to enter in all my credentials - which takes ages using a remote.

A little more than a half hour later I'm finally into Netflix, watching a show. But the experience is ruined; in this age of technology, we get things fast. When there is a hiccup, we lose patience very quickly. What I think we have here is a step backwards in technology, only something like the PS3 can provide to us, a system that has always seemed a little odd and confused.