Ever since its launch in November 2006, the PS3 has received a significant amount of criticism over its software lineup, much of which was justified. During its first six months of availability, the PS3 had only received two titles worthy of praise, Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man. Overall software quality was just one of many complaints regarding the fledgling platform, but has become the leading topic in regards to why the PS3 has managed to make so many inroads over the past three years.

During the first year or so of the PS3’s initial release, many game developers were criticized for merely “porting” multiplatform titles, instead of actually taking the time to work with the PS3’s architecture (being comprised of the Cell Broadband Engine and the RSX Reality Synthesizer). Expectations of the PS3’s graphical output were very high, particularly because of some of the comments Sony executives were making (1)(2).

However, Sony’s next-gen rival, Microsoft, got their system out of the gates first. They released their console to North American audiences November 22nd, 2005, almost a full year ahead of the PS3’s North American and Japanese release dates. This gave developers ample time to develop and work, albeit for a short time, exclusively on the Xbox 360 in terms of next-generation consoles. When the PS3 came onto the scene, many developers were either unaware of the technology the mighty behemoth possessed, or were too ignorant to appreciate it.

This in turn led to PS3 titles that were noticeably inferior to their 360 counterparts. For the first full year of release, critics and gamers alike were quick to point out the noticeable gameplay issues and graphical flaws that plagued many multiplatform games.