Warning, post incompatible.

I am, at heart a PC gamer. My first computer was a Commodore 64 (which is almost a cliche nowadays) and since then I've been through every iteration of windows. I've always held consoles in high regard for ease of access, standardised hardware makes development and testing easier and therefore quality games can be created faster for a lower price, which is good for everyone. PC gaming nowadays is like a kids playground. The mainboard just wants to be friends but it won't share its RAM with the Nvidia twins which leaves the Soundcard all alone with nobody to teach it to use it's microphone port. If they all played together like good children they could have some real fun but it takes a lot of coaxing and occasionally threats and bribery (seriously, I once bought a RAM stick for my old PC that it didn't need because I had tried EVERYTHING else to get it to read a DVD I had bought. If you've ever bought a present for an inanimate object then proceeded to attempt to bribe it, you've touched a deep and terrifying kind of madness) I also respect the fact that all console makers realise that a quality device should be affordable and therefore sell the consoles at a loss because they know the profit will come from licensed games. Nvidia think that charging more for a graphics card than an XBOX360 costs new is a good idea. My latest PC cost £2750 and, because its a PC, flat refuses to do ANYTHING I tell it to. I've always taken bad compatibility as simply the price of PC gaming which is usually a graphically superior experience and therefore a little extra effort doesn't bother me. Recently though I've noticed a disturbing trend with the two big hitters in the console market. Here's my example, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. This was a game that I really did expect to be more graphics than gameplay but I was proven wrong, however this isn't a review. The first version I played was the XBOX360 version. I borrowed it from a friend, played it through, was satisfied with the experience and then gave it back. About six months later I got a hankering to play it after hearing rumours of a sequel. I grabbed a bargain bin copy from my local game shop, the PS3 version and took it home. It took me about five minutes to think, "What the **** is up with the framerate? Is my PS3 damaged, is the game a bad copy?" Anyway, I'm extremely anal about crap like this, if I think I'm right I'll go to extraordinary lengths to prove it. So I borrowed my friends 360 version and by flicking back and forward between inputs on my amplifier I was indeed able to confirm, the PS3 version looks like cheap stop motion when stacked against the 360. Since then I've noticed that this trend is true with most cross platform titles. PS3 exclusives run like silk, Killzone 2 blew me away, it just looks so perfect. Assasin's Creed drops frames and chugs. It's the same with Sacred 2, Brothers in Arms, Overlord and Mercanaries 2. My rule now is, if its PS3 exclusive, I buy it on PS3, if it's cross platform, it's 360 every time. I'm told the slimline PS3 is a lot smoother but I have one of the old shiny, fat, Spiderman font encrusted plastic leviathans and I'm sticking with it. If you have both consoles, save your eyes and go 360 for choice. Anyway Sony need to redesign the controllers, the XBOX ones are more comfortable and no, adding accelerometers and making it wireless is NOT a redesign it's an upgrade. While we're on the subject actually, Sony, listen to me, sit down and listen. Did your mum ever tell you that you'd go square eyed if you sat close to the TV? Well my question to you is, seeing as how most people store consoles under the TV, and most people don't want to stop playing to recharge a controller.... WHY IS THE SUPPLIED PLAY AND CHARGE CABLE ONE ****ING METRE LONG?