Howdy!

This is Lord Roke in my first, and maybe last blog ever.

Some of my friends that I work with that also share my passion for games, which is great as we always have something to talk about by the tea machine (when other conversations dry up), but also great in that we used to play a lot of online games together. I'm not going back years and years - just to 2005/6, around the time of the when the XBOX 360 was launched / before the arrival of PS3.

There were probably five / six guys at work that are good friends that all used to own 360s and all used to regularly get together online for a session of Rainbow Six Vegas or GRAW with side order of occasional PGR 3. These were my golden days of online gaming. We were all on the same console, playing the same games, and more importantly: having fun. It didn't matter who won or lost it was just such a good laugh, and the fact that there were enough of us for a good game of terrorist hunt or a decent race in PGR meant that I didn't have to play with loads of the usual n0bs / weirdos / people that are good games - that tend to ruin the average online multiplayer gaming session for me. Plus, we were all of similar ability so the games tended to be close - but mainly it was just great fun especially with the voice comms on the 360 and the excellent system of game invites.

Then the PS3 came out (which was released in March 2007 in UK). The first thing that happened was that the half of the group that were hardcore PS3 fans switched to PSN overnight, despite having active XBL subscriptions and despite the fact that there were very few decent games (never mind online games) on the PS3 at this time. They still popped up on live occasionally but it became a lot more difficult to get everyone together at the same time for a game of RSV.

The non-PS3 hardcore (like me) stuck with the XBL as it was so much easier to get a game set up and the comms actually worked. I did try War Hawk a couple of times but not being able to speak to people and the extra hassle of setting up a game soon put me off (plus the game looked like something from the PS2 era). The next thing that happened was views on both sides [of the argument] became more entrenched - the PS3 fans wouldnt admit that PSN was not as good as XBL and to prove it decided to sell their 360s or switch them off permanently. This meant the salad days of online gaming were over. And to be honest I've hardly played online since - I had some good games on COD4 and another good mate has since got a 360 so hooked up with him as well, but it's never been the same since.

What a shame that misguided brand loyalty should ruin such a good thing. I could understand it if they moved on to something bigger and better I would have been there with them but to play something inferior makes no sense to me.

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