About
“The PS3 Has No Games” is a phrase commonly used by gaming bloggers or forum members to critique what they consider to be a lack of games available for the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3).[1] The topic is often brought up during console-related discussions to incite arguments between advocates and critics of the gaming system.
Origin
Sony’s third-generation console PlayStation 3 (PS3) was first introduced at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo and launched in November 2006 along with 14 new titles. Grievances about the perceived lack of PS3 titles began surfacing in 2007 with the so-called “console war” between XBOX 360 players and PlayStation 3 players that often led to pros-and-cons discussions on gaming blogs[2] and forums[3] over which console was deemed the superior, similar to the online debates surrounding Mac vs. PC.
Some of the main points put forth by pro-Xbox 360 commentators include better a better online service in the form of Xbox Live and a controller better suited for shooter video-games whist pro-PS3 arguers tend to cite free-of-charge online service, better graphics on exclusives games and use of Blu-ray as a game format as its advantages. As of May 2013, there are at least 772 titles available for the Sony PlayStation 3, whereas its competitors Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii offer more than 1,000 and 1,200 titles respectively.
Spread
In September 2007, the earliest known mention that “PS3 has no games” appeared in a Yahoo! Answers[5] question. In 2008, the phrase began appearing on 4chan’s /v/ (video game) board[20] while bloggers[4] continued to perpetuate such myth by mocking that the only thing a PS3 was good for was “playing Blu-Ray DVDs.” Meanwhile, advocates of the PS3 console began striking back with rebuttals on the PS3 Trophies forum[6] and the PSXExtreme blog[7], usually with a lengthy list of video game titles that have been so far released for the console.
In the following years, similar discussions and relevant image macros continued to spread elsewhere including the gaming site 1UP[11], Blockland forums[12], Amazon video games forum[13], IGN forums[14], GameTrailers[16], PlayStation Community[17] and Gamespot[18] among others. As of June 2012, a Facebook[8] page for the phrase has 495 likes, Chanarchive[19] has 6,540 archived threads pertaining to the topic and there is an active Tumblr tag[9] for related image macros.
Notable Examples
In Filename Threads
The myth has been frequently referenced in filename threads on message boards through images of people or objects interacting with the supposedly present PS3 games, while in reality nothing else is present in the picture.
manbeingheldhostagebyps3games.jpg
Table carrying PS3 games.jpg
patrick_pushing_ps3_games.gif
Search Interest
External References
[1]Wikipedia – PlayStation 3
[2]Real Deal Gaming – PS3 Has No Games? Putting An End To The Myth
[3]High-Def Digest – PS3 has no games… wha?
[4]Twilight Lynk – PS3 has no games – Prove me wrong
[5]Yahoo! Answers – PS3 game better than Halo?
[6]PS3 Trophies – PS3 has no games
[7]PSX Extreme – “PS3 Has No Games” Argument Needs To Die A Terrible Death
[8]Facebook – PS3 HAS NO GAMES
[9]Tumblr – Posts tagged “ps3 has no games”
[10]Wikipedia – List of PlayStation 3 Games
[11]1UP – PS3 has no games?
[12]Blockland – To those of you who think the ps3 has games.
[13]Amazon – It’s so sad PS3 has no games left to wait for
[14]IGN Forums – Someone post the “ps3 has no game” comic
[15]The Facepalmed Gamer – The PS3 has no games
[16]GameTrailers – PS3 has no games and Wii is for kids
[17]PlayStation Community – My PS3 is a $400 paperweight.
[18]Gamespot – The PS3 has no games
[19]Chanarchive – Threads containing “ps3 has no games”
[20]Chanarchive – PS3 has no games, but PS3 has logs