Biggest Disappointments of this Console Generation

[quote name='TheLongshot']The lack of quality JRPGs.[/QUOTE]

This is the first thing to come to mind. Compare to the previous gen and it's beyond disappointment and becomes utterly depressing.
 
Honestly, the only thing that really disappointed me was the lack of a true, 3D Pokemon RPG for the Wii.

Well nevermind, now that I think about it, SWTOR was pretty pathetic and had so much potential. Looking back, they should've just made KOTOR 3. It would've been better.
 
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[quote name='GhostShark']Honestly, the only thing that really disappointed me was the lack of a true, 3D RPG for the Wii. [/QUOTE]
Wait, what?
 
Okay, that's fair.

I have no idea why they haven't milked that cow yet. I haven't played a Pokemon since Blue, and even I would probably get in on that shit.
 
[quote name='GhostShark']Whoops! Edited. I shall never post from my phone again.[/QUOTE]

Well in that case, a game like that will never happen.

Not ever.
 
[quote name='GhostShark']Well nevermind, now that I think about it, SWTOR was pretty pathetic and had so much potential. Looking back, they should've just made KOTOR 3. It would've been better.[/QUOTE]

Given Bioware's recent track record, I'm not sure about that.
 
DLC aka Disc-Locked Content

It seems the days of actual new content being made post-release to sell later are gone and it's just the developers locking away some content to be sold when they feel like now. Sure, there are some cases where companies are still holding true to real DLC but most these days are going the complete greed route and screwing us over.
 
I am totally down with the mention of Disc Locked Content. That's one that is easily forgettable, but probably the most annoying. Paying for content on the disc I already paid for. That's a fucking joke. And most of the time it's little shit that would have been unlockable in-game or accessible via cheat code a mere generation ago.


[quote name='buffdrew84']Corvin....

I didn't say there weren't ANY original IP's but..... a lot of those you listed are just ok, lets be honest here. [/QUOTE]

Just OK? There are at least a dozen+ GOTY contenders there, and many others that [at least] sold enough to spawn a franchise in a single generation. That's damn impressive.

The problem is the over extended generation. Being at the end of the life cycle it doesn't make sense to introduce new IPs to compete with the AAA sequels. It's much easier to dump new IPs on new consoles when game releases are sparse.
 
[quote name='Corvin']I am totally down with the mention of Disc Locked Content. That's one that is easily forgettable, but probably the most annoying. Paying for content on the disc I already paid for. That's a fucking joke. And most of the time it's little shit that would have been unlockable in-game or accessible via cheat code a mere generation ago.[/QUOTE]

I'd lump that in with DLC in general personally. It's pretty much the same thing. Stuff held out of the game so they could get a few more dollars out of you later.
 
Here are a few complaints that ps3 owners may recognize.

The introduction of ps3 online passes that lock those who buy used games out of online play was a really disappointing development. Despite day 1ing new copies of Uncharted 1 and 2, I just couldn't support the anti-consumer precedent set with the release of Uncharted 3.

Ads or commercials in games. The most egregious example was a full blown car commercial playing inbetween races of the ps3 exclusive, Wipeout, which is completely at odds with the futuristic theme of the game.

YLOD still occurs with each new ps3 model, yet, Sony still expects you to pay them $120 for the temporary repair. Once my ps3 kicks the bucket, my old ps2 will take its place.
 
Here are a few disappointments related to Sony's ps3.

The introduction of ps3 online passes that lock used games buyers out of online play was a really disappointing development. Despite day 1ing new copies of Uncharted 2, I couldn't pesonally support the anti-consumer precedent set with the release of Uncharted 3.

Ads or commercials in games. The most egregious example was the full blown car commercial playing inbetween races of the ps3 exclusive, Wipeout, which completely clashed with the futuristic theme of the game.

YLOD still often occurs with each new ps3 model, yet, Sony expects you to pay them $129.99 for their temporary repair. If anyone here is thinking about having their ylod'd systems repaired, I would highly recommend that they seek out a reputable and cheaper 3rd party business so as not to reward Sony for their poor hardware.
 
This generation's DLC fixation blows my mind.

It's way too common that we see games whose DLC is as expensive or more expensive than the base game itself, despite increasing the amount of content by only a very small fraction. Disgaea, as much as I love the series, is the worst for this: you can buy Disgaea 3 on Amazon for $20, but the DLC will cost you a jaw-dropping $49-- and that's if you take advantage of the bundle pricing.

It's especially cringeworthy when a game launches with a DLC season pass whose cost is exactly the same as the base game... I'm looking at you, Lord of the Rings: Guardians of Middle-earth ($14.99 game, $14.99 season pass which promises only some new playable characters). I've avoided buying certain games altogether just because their DLC offerings were obnoxious.

There are some who respond with "Just don't buy it." Trust me, I don't. But it still pisses me off sometimes that I only get to play 95% of the game because I wasn't willing to pay 3.5x as much (not an exaggeration. see Disgaea 3 example above).
 
[quote name='leveskikesko']Ads or commercials in games. The most egregious example was the full blown car commercial playing inbetween races of the ps3 exclusive, Wipeout, which completely clashed with the futuristic theme of the game.[/QUOTE]
This is yet another result of the astronomically high game dev costs that I chose for my biggest disappointment.

I believe a lot of what's been complained about here (though not everything) is a consequence of that.
 
Mass Effect 3- It turned into a bad Gears of War knockoff and then the end of the game just really ruined all my faith/love of Bioware. I loved ME 1 and 2 and 3 was just no...

Gears Of War/Call of Duty Mechanics- I am talking about how every shooter has become hide behind a wall and wait for your health to regenerate. Also how every shooter nowadays has the level design of follow this boring hallway. Where the variety, the innovation? It was a godsend to play Deus Ex and Serious Sam 3 because they had level design.

Games getting easier/generic- See above point. Also I noticed lack of innovation among games, yes I know it's due to the high development costs but still. It's getting too far imo.

Lack of quality RPG's- I mean yeah there is some but it's nowhere near 10 years ago. Especially for PC which had games like Baulder's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, etc.
 
My disappointment with DLC is how infuriating it is to purchase. I mean, you get a used copy of the GOTY game and some of the DLC is unlocked on-disc but there's also a code that's been used and then you get the archive pack of all three games later and they dont include any DLC and on and on. Then they have 10 flavors of DLC bundles so who knows which one to get. And then if you buy a game a couple of years after it releases sometimes you cant even get the DLC even if you want to purchase it full price.

I got into consoles because they were used to have none of that PC bullshit with the patches and the expansion packs, but now it's come to consoles and it stinks.
 
Constant fear of consoles breaking down (both YLOD and RROD experienced) and the hassle of having to transfer data to a new system

The dominance of the FPS which gave gamers less variety and other genres

Turn based strategy gaming drought - very few games in this genre

Content being cut out of main games so you will purchase day 1 DLC

No FF7 remake

Bioware releasing unpolished games
 
[quote name='beetlegum']Turn based strategy gaming drought - very few games in this genre
[/QUOTE]
They made a turn-based Xcom game.

In 2012.

I mean, it's just one game, and it's not as good as the original, sure, but they made a fucking turn-based Xcom in 2012.
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']Lack of quality RPG's- I mean yeah there is some but it's nowhere near 10 years ago. Especially for PC which had games like Baulder's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, etc.[/QUOTE]
Neverwinter Nights was always terrible. Its expansions were a bit better, and it had an amazing modding and online community, but the base game itself was awful.
 
[quote name='leveskikesko']Here are a few disappointments related to Sony's ps3.

The introduction of ps3 online passes that lock used games buyers out of online play was a really disappointing development. Despite day 1ing new copies of Uncharted 2, I couldn't pesonally support the anti-consumer precedent set with the release of Uncharted 3.

Ads or commercials in games. The most egregious example was the full blown car commercial playing inbetween races of the ps3 exclusive, Wipeout, which completely clashed with the futuristic theme of the game.

YLOD still often occurs with each new ps3 model, yet, Sony expects you to pay them $129.99 for their temporary repair. If anyone here is thinking about having their ylod'd systems repaired, I would highly recommend that they seek out a reputable and cheaper 3rd party business so as not to reward Sony for their poor hardware.[/QUOTE]

If you buy Uncharted 3 used from GameStop, you get a free online pass that prints on the receipt.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']If you buy Uncharted 3 used from GameStop, you get a free online pass that prints on the receipt.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for alerting me, but I'm not sure if this actually benefits the consumer. For example, if I wanted to sell a used copy of Uncharted 3 locally or on CAG, the online pass I recieved would be connected to my account thus leaving the buyer with only single player content, whereas Gamestop would either have an exclusive online pass deal with Sony or pay for the online pass themselves. If anything, this "free online pass" deters me from ever doing business with Gamestop.
 
Excessive DLC, games that abandon promising campaigns for generic MP (looking at you Homefront), and Bethesda releasing another Fallout Game yet. Get on it guys, pweeze?
 
[quote name='The Crotch']I have no idea why they haven't milked that cow yet. I haven't played a Pokemon since Blue, and even I would probably get in on that shit.[/QUOTE]Probably because XD didn't sell all that well and Battle Revolution was a joke. Notice how they didn't make ANY console Pokemon games, not even a new Stadium-style game, for Generation V. Rumble doesn't count.
 
[quote name='DNukem170']Probably because XD didn't sell all that well and Battle Revolution was a joke. Notice how they didn't make ANY console Pokemon games, not even a new Stadium-style game, for Generation V. Rumble doesn't count.[/QUOTE]

Pokepark I and II. II came out this last February. These 2 games didn't necessarily change anyone's opinions about the quality of pokemon console games however.
 
[quote name='RealDeals']Excessive DLC, games that abandon promising campaigns for generic MP (looking at you Homefront), and Bethesda releasing another Fallout Game yet. Get on it guys, pweeze?[/QUOTE]

Please don't. Just give the Fallout franchise to Obsidian and never touch it again.
 
  • The Xbox 360 Launch... The games weren't that great, the hardware was rushed and I forget how many times I had to send it into Microsoft.

  • The Playstation 3 Launch... The system was overpriced, it didn't have many games and for the longest time it was just a glorified Blu-Ray player. The constant shifting of SKUs didn't help either.

  • Final Fantasy Versus XIII... Yeah. It seems like they'll be releasing XIII-3 and relaunching XIV before Versus ever comes out. We really don't even know all that much about the damn thing.

  • "Core" games releasing like Sports games.... I guess this isn't the worst thing in the world, but it is disappointing to me. I know people like Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed and Halo, but releasing one ever year just seems odd to me.

  • $60 games + $50 DLC... This probably could be in the last one, but it's kind of crazy that these games have started becoming $110 things after all is said and done. They might as well just have a monthly subscription like MMOs and release new map packs every so often.

  • Madden becoming the only Football game in town... With Madden 06 and the launch of the Xbox 360, Madden became the only pro-football game of the 7th generation. I'm not the biggest fan of these games, but a lack of competition is a bad thing. I'm so perplexed why the graphics are so bad when there's not much on the screen and it's the same players/stadiums every single year!

  • No more manuals, eco boxes, ect... I know it's just packaging and that they say it's about "saving the environment" or whatever, but it's pretty obvious it's all about saving money on packaging. Manuals don't bother me as much as the eco box. The eco box can be done right, but for awhile the eco box on the Xbox 360 was just way too cheap and unstable.

  • $50 to $60 MSRP... Seriously? The fuck?

  • Limited Editions... Seriously? The fuck? Ok, I get that people like them, but they are often not limited and we've seen the prices on these things drop like rocks way too often.

  • On Disk DLC... Paying for a patch to activate on-disk content is insane. Especially all the costume stuff.

  • Updates... The nice thing about consoles was the lack of updates. It was always on the cart, then on the disk. Now it all happens way too often.

  • The silliness surrounding the PS3 controller... First Sony showed off the "Boomerang" controller. No one got to use it, but people complained so much that we got the SIXAXIS. Sony said they couldn't put shock tech into it... Then they released the Dualshock 3 when enough people called them out on it.

  • PS3 Ports... The Xbox 360 and PS3 are very similar consoles, but for whatever reason developers all too often decided to skimp out on the PS3 version. In some cases they even outsourced it to someone else like with the PS3 Orange Box.

  • Duke Nukem Forever... The jokes about it were better than the game. It was just a bizarre title. It used an old game engine (Unreal 2 when everyone moved onto Unreal 3) and it was a mishmash of gaming styles from the 90's to it's release.

  • Weird design choices... There is no reason why the Xbox 360 HDD should cost as much as it does and there is no reason for the PS3 to not have a rear USB after 2 redesigns. There was also no reason to make the PS3 architecture more complicated than it had to be. It's little things like that that just made me shake my head.

  • Nintendo's Online Strategy... Nintendo's strategy is totally counter to everything that I'm used to. No usernames, friend codes (whatever those are) and device specific downloads. The Virtual Console was such a great idea, but I had a very hard time justifying buying much of anything because I knew I would lose my games if the console broke or was stolen. My Wii was actually stolen and I did lose the few games I bought.

  • Kingdom Hearts III... I loved the series on the Playstation 2 and I'm really surprised that I haven't seen a new one on consoles. It seems like it's become a handheld series and we'll never see a proper sequel. :(

  • Rare... They were one of my favorite developers on the Nintendo 64, but they've changed. They started out kind of strong with Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero. Kameo was my favorite game of the 360 launch and PDZ was fun online. It's just sad that they've been assigned to make avatar stuff and casual games.
 
My biggest is DLC, definitely over the last few years. Totally exploiting it.

DLC, DLC release schedules, locked on disc content, season passes, "VIP / premium" passes, DLC bonus via different retailers and most properly more i'm forgetting..
 
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1) Multiplayer being crammed down our throats. Sure, it's great for FPSs and sports games, but did ME3 and Uncharted 3 really need it? I would rather the developers put more effort into making more memorable single player campaigns.

2) JRPGs...enough said.

3) DLC...Already covered extensively by others.

4) Madden. I bought Madden every year from 1996-2004 in the PS/PS2 era. This generation, it just seems to have gone stale from lack of competition.
 
[quote name='whoknows']I'd lump that in with DLC in general personally. It's pretty much the same thing. Stuff held out of the game so they could get a few more dollars out of you later.[/QUOTE]

I won't defend this other than saying games were $60 20 years ago and the cost of a AAA games has risen substantially. The more I realize this the more I understand why they do DLC. It is optional and it keeps the base game cheaper. I like paying the least amount for games as I can but it is mot surprising that games are looking more and more alike when profits are razor thin. The fact a game like Bioshock Infinite could end Irrational if it does not sell well and this meant using a Game cover to attract a wider audience is pretty telling where games are at right now.
 
I recently thought of another grievance: lack of splitsceen multiplayer or co-op. Until virtual reality is "perfected", I feel that nothing remotely compares to the ability to be in the same physical room as your friends, playing the same copy of multiplayer game. My only explanations for this feature's absence are: laziness, cheapness, or a plan to sway gamers into paying for xbl, psn online passes, or, of course, more than one copy of the game itself. It strikes me as incredibly inconsiderate and dare I say consumer unfriendly, especially when we're dealing with a game on multiple platforms. I really couldn't have dreamed that this would become so common back in the ps2 days.

Next gen, I won't take anything for granted. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if newer models of next gen systems release without a disk drive, just as full backwards compatability was phased out with newer ps3 models.
 
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DLC is being far too exploited by video game companies. With DLC costing more than the vanilla game, there's no point in buying games at retail. Nowadays, I choose to wait as long as possible before the inevitable GOTY edition
 
[quote name='dustdust']DLC is being far too exploited by video game companies. With DLC costing more than the vanilla game, there's no point in buying games at retail. Nowadays, I choose to wait as long as possible before the inevitable GOTY edition[/QUOTE]

I feel the same way. It's hard to resist some games, though. Thankfully the DLC for most PC games tends to hit super low prices on its own after a while.
 
I have to agree with the person who mentioned Rare.

They were such a great company and there's many N64 games (Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64) I would love to replay on virtual console.

The Rare of today is such a massive disappointment.

The one shining light is the fact that there's Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie on XBLA, but man oh man I fucking wish they would create a third Banjo game on a current/next gen system. That and a new Jet Force Gemini game would be amazing.
 
The corruption and overpricing of DLC is the single worst thing to happen to gaming for nearly 3 decades.

DLC is NOT "Disc Locked Content"! Instead of extending development past the initial release of a game, developers like Capcom are simply locking away chunks of their pre-developed content, waiting half a year and releasing it at ridiculous prices.
 
The absolute failure of the gaming press. They've always been PR mouth pieces for the industry but it has gotten to point where they are openly anti consumer.
 
I Think the fact Kotaku is still around. Their editorials are so fucking terrible and never go into research over anything they do. More then anything they just have articles that do more harm then good like MULTIPLE articles to fan fanboy rage or other things that don't need to be said (all the jokes about Hurricane Sandy right before it happens and people knew it was going to be a bad situation). Just shameless fucking pandering to get as much page views as possible that gamers shouldn't have to accept, especially from one of the "bigger" gaming sites.

Instead they just get worse and worse.
 
Kotaku had a legitimately good interview with Feargus Urquhart (founder of Black Isle and Obsidian) a few weeks back, and a really good piece on the decline and fall of Silicon Knights before that.

It's mostly shit, sure, but they've had some shocking displays of competence lately.
 
I Think last thing I did read on Kotaku was the Silicon Knights article and I'll admit it was a good article, but you literally have to swim through so much shit to get to things like that on there. No one needs a link to a gif image of Ryu doing a Hurricane Kick to the coast to signify the damage Sandy will do. We don't need articles on how in Japan the "hit new trend" is abunch of Japanese kids ordering tons of McDonalds fries and taking pictures of it. That or better yet, just in general they should not be giving recognition on a weekly basis to trolls with backhanded reviews they find on metacritic. There's just literally so much unnecessary shit to have to swim through to get to anything that's thought out or researched or has anything to do with gaming. Their layout also just makes it a straight up chore just to browse through things as well and despite the complaints, they just do nothing. So I know it's going to be a long time before they're competent to produce even a quarter of content on par with the Silicon Knights article.
 
You could just not go to Kotaku, because, yeah, that place is ass, but people still go there. I prefer Joystiq, myself.
 
[quote name='GhostShark']You could just not go to Kotaku, because, yeah, that place is ass, but people still go there. I prefer Joystiq, myself.[/QUOTE]
I Basically started slowing down once I saw the Sandy jokes and I just basically stopped going altogether on that site for over a month or so now. Though it just bugs me it's one of the dominant gaming sites on the web or quoted or linked to by other websites.

Also sorry to everyone for me literally just venting on Kotaku.

Otherwise only other disappointment this generation for me was the godawfulness of Ninja Gaiden 3.
 
[quote name='JasonTerminator']Sup $70 N64 games.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='blindinglights']In 1994, Earthworm Jim for Genesis retailed for $69.99.[/QUOTE]

...and there were Neo Geo games that were in excess of $100 and $200, but that's not the point. The standard price for most new games was $50 for quite awhile up to the Xbox 360. Upping it to $60 in my view was a disappointment.

However, game prices do seem to be dropping like rocks faster than ever so there really is no need to spend $60 on a game.
 
[quote name='GhostShark']You could just not go to Kotaku, because, yeah, that place is ass, but people still go there. I prefer Joystiq, myself.[/QUOTE]

I prefer message boards like this one or neogaf for their dissection of the gaming coverage on blogs. Joystiq reads to me like a listing of fairly inoffensive announcements and advertisements, whereas kotaku and destructoid are more opinionated and open about their distaste for "entitled" gamers. It all reminds me of fox news or the daily mail, both of which benefit from clicks by their detractors.

Gamepolitics and escapist magazine are okay if you really need a blog experience that addresses consumer and social issues in gaming.
 
[quote name='heavyd853']Pokepark I and II. II came out this last February. These 2 games didn't necessarily change anyone's opinions about the quality of pokemon console games however.[/QUOTE]

Nintendo's rubber band AI .. Seriously if Nintendo games did not have this I would buy many more of them, this actually ranks as my #1 gaming annoyance, it even affects Pokemon. You literately CANNOT beat some Nintendo games cause of this. The Pokemon battle tower is unbeatable in certain installments trust me I have tried, the AI literately knows exactly what you will do before you do it. Thankfully that is a small part of most Pokemon games.

Poke park may have just been the worst game I ever played, especially since it retails For $50. The game just had so much wrong with it I can't even begin to discuss it. Traded that crap into BB for double what I paid for it.

Lack of good Pokemon console games is a big annoyance

Lack of games especially RPG's on the Nintendo 3ds

Nintendo constantly pushing back release dates, don't say a game will come out in April then have it actually come out in November, just don't say anything until you are sure of the date.

Launch window of the Wii U, seriously launch window does not mean November to March, Launch window should be 2 months at most

$40 3DS games, really..... 90% of the 3DS library does not even come close to justifying that price for a game $30 should be the absolute maximum price any portable game gets released at...ever

Vita's proprietary memory card... Enough Said

DLC of course, but I usually don't play the types of games they tend to over milk on. If a game is like that then it seems to go to the bargain bin super quick unless its CoD.

Nintendo not having a universal account system, I will not purchase their digital games until they do. As a plus I just found out games are tied to a Wii U console, if you buy one used, you can redownload whatever games the previous owner did. Not personal experience, I read it in an article. Not good if your console breaks or if you purchase digital games, sell your console and decide to rebuy the console later on. A lot of people bought the 360 and rebought it, those people could just download their profile and all the games to the new console and still have them. With Nintendo you lose your console, you lose all your digital games, no exceptions.

I am not sure if it is an annoyance but I am sure it is for some people. I have decent rechargable batteries but most people don't. The Wii and the Xbox do not use rechargable batteries. This causes a lot of people to literately have to pay to play or else they can't play cause the batteries are dead. Just trust me, this IS a much bigger problem then anyone on this site knows it is. I spend a lot of time with people that love and want to use tech but could care less about understanding it. I know a ton of families who have probably spent several hundred on batteries for the Wii and XBox 360 controllers alone over the years. I know one family who probably spends at least $200 On alkalines a year, I gave them about 20 new alkalines, and they burned through them in less than a month!!!! It's difficult to understand good rechargable batteries and probably not something most casual Wii owners care about. Seems cheaper and easier to just buy a new PS3 controller every 3 years or possibly longer (and even then you can get replacement batteries for the PS3 controller).
 
[quote name='SolidSnake86']Biggest dissapointment? Lack of good Gundam games in the U.S.

I just don't dig the Dynasty Warriors Gundam games. The last time I played a decent Gundam game was Encounters in Space for the PS2, which I'm currently replaying just to get my fix. Sieg Zeon, indeed.[/QUOTE]

Bingo.... And Skyrim sucked in general.
And when are we getting a macross aka robotech game on current consoles!?
 
Here's my rundown:

Day I buy the the PS3 and I'm greeting with "Please wait Game's installing" "Please wait Game's downloading update" "Please wait Game's installing Update" Please wait System is downloading update" "Please wait System is installing update"

Really???? COM'on MAN! As you can see, I'm not a big fan of my Sony Update Station 3. Although the exclusives are cool. Heavy Rain, wow once my system let me play it... It was amazing!

PS Vita - Well need I say more?

Day I buy the Xbox 360, fire up Call of Duty 2 and it sounds like a helicopter flying overhead. No that's not the surround either. It made me think... Is this the future of gaming? If so it's a really loud place. Thank goodness for the Slim!

Wii - Nintendo says HD isn't relevant right? WRONG!
 
I was really disappointed with the quality of third party games for the ps3. There were only a handful of the, that you could say really performed well on the ps3. Things are better now, however for a while ps3 owners had to suffer with inferior versions of multi-platform games.

I've enjoyed the call of duty games this gen, but I really find it disappointing that they never fixed glitches that are a pan of these games. Specifically looking at quick scoping. I also don't like the size of the maps (generally too small) which makes the spawn system annoying because it seems like when you kill someone they spawn right behind you.

Madden was disappointing in every release they've had this gen. They could never get the offensive and defensive line interactions correct, the game still has nano blitzing and a host of other ongoing issues that were never fixed. The exclusive NFL contract really put EA in a situation where they had no competition for the entire console gen, and thus had no incentive to improve their product. A very sad situation for those of us who likes football games.


The endings for borderlands 1 and 2. Both sucked.

Ps vita... Great hardware but Sony has done a great job finding ways to punish those who choose to buy it. High price memory, no possible way to transfer psp games over to the new system, and a bunch of games that should be good but weren't.
 
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