Saturday, December 2, 2006

Instead of buying a PS3...

If you're thinking of getting one of your kids a PS3 for the holiday season maybe you should think of presenting them with a few other options that will run about the same price.

Things you could do instead of buying a PS3:
- Fly to London (and get a cheap hotel room)
- Pay your rent for a month
- Buy 300 big macs
- Buy 4 Nintendo DS lite's
- Buy 3000 bandages
- Order 60 Large cheese pizza's
- Buy 250 gallons of gas
- Get a laptop
- Get some books from the library and return them really, REALLY late
- Buy 4 Ipod Nanos
- Buy a 1988 Mazda 323
- Pick up 3 flat panel monitors
- Buy 15 shares of Sony Corp (judging from PS3 sales I would NOT recommend this)
- Take a skydiving course and do 4 jumps
- Hire a personal trainer and have 17 sessions at the gym
- Pay for two months worth of groceries
- Buy 30 years worth of toothpaste
- Buy 210.8 gallons of soda
- Pick up 225 pounds of tuna (canned)
- Buy a 360 AND a Wii (and a couple of games)

Or...you could do the right thing:

Provide food, shelter, and clothing for two children for AN ENTIRE YEAR and still have $150 left over for something nice for yourself.

In North America alone, about 200 000 PS3's have been sold. That's 400 000 children fed, clothed and sheltered for an entire year. Maybe we should all take a break from video games and put our money to some real use this holiday season.

76 comments:

Anonymous said...

You said it.

Anonymous said...

how about no!

Anonymous said...

^
lol

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

naahhhh I rather buy a ps3

Anonymous said...

Very nice. It would be interesting so see people put down their wallets for something a little more useful. Take a third of the money you would spend on presents and give it to a charity in someones name.

Jett Loe said...

Agree completely. Here here!

Anonymous said...

Actually I would rather buy 11 pounds of plutonium. I would never want to buy a PS3 it is rubbish. Soon you stupid fan brats will see that.
(What's that!? Most PS3 games output the same resolution as xbox 360 games!? All but two!? HOLY CRAP! I JUST WASTED A BOATLOAD OF MONEY! Oh wait no I didn't I did the smart thing and bought an xbox 360 and wii instead. Whew! I almost had a heart attack there.)

Anonymous said...

Judging from PS3 sales? You mean how they have sold out immediately everywhere?

Anonymous said...

That is because there wasn't that many in stock. Also I would hardly say everywhere. I have gone into many stores and seen them sitting there.

Anonymous said...

Agree, poor people dont deserve our sympathy. Thats why I indend on buying 2 PS3s

Anonymous said...

600 bucks would get you a great one night stand with some hottie :)

Anonymous said...

$600 for rent? Where do you live?
Mine is double that...

Anonymous said...

First I commend the author of this blog, there are so many people far less fortunate and giving would not only do great things for the world but it would make you feel better and in the long run you would benefit from it. However, think about what else could be achieved if for every hour you played video games, INSTEAD pick of a book and read for 10 minutes. JUST 10 MINUTES... think about how much more intelligent you would become. But I guess that isnt "fun", sacrificing for short term enjoyment is likely to yield long term dissatisfaction. Basically if you always do what is fun and easy then when you are older life isn’t going to be so much fun. That isn’t theory my friends that is a LAW

kingdee said...

great post, nice to see something that fanboy nit picking, whatever console you love and want to have you first born with fine, but keep your opinions and thrash talking to yourself

Anonymous said...

Why would I give to a charity? They just keep a portion of it. No, you want to help people? Go buy warm clothing and physically HAND it to somebody homeless. Visit a veterans shelter and listen to their stories. Visit the VA hospital and offer a few hours of time. Then go home and play your PS3 - you've earned it at that point. Handouts are the wrong answer.

Anonymous said...

I haven't bought a new console since the release of PS2. I thuroughly enjoyed playing soul calibur 3, REZ, Katamari Damacy, Shinobi, Nightshade, MGS 2 and 3, GTA 3-San Andreas, Getaway, DotHack, Guitar Hero 1 and 2, Devil May Cry 1-3, Dark Cloud 2, Fatal Frame, Prince of Persia 1-3, The Warriors, Silent Hill games, Zone of the Enders, and there are many more games to mention than that. I choose playstation because it has many awesome games as apposed to a select few. It's not just graphics it's plot and gameplay. It's not just the console it's the games that really matter. I am happy to wait for the Ps3 because there will be a truckload of worthy games, not just a handful. I haven't bought a console in a long while and I think it would be best to buy the console that has the games I enjoy. Money is a bitch but if I would have bought an Xbox for three good games that would be a waste. If some pay $500.00 for a suit then I will happy waste $500.00 on a console that has years of fun games.

Anonymous said...

A few things:

First, Blueray 1080p is nothing. PCs have been high def and higher resolution than that for ages...

Second, N64 is the best system ever. No system will ever live up to its glory.

Third, only ONE game for the PS3 has gotten a great rating... Fall of Man or whatever it is.

'Nuff Said

Anonymous said...

sodas cheaper than gas, wow. or you could take a girl out for a meal and get laid, youll never get that if you buy a ps3

Anonymous said...

If I had $600 to spare, I would definitely give it to the children.

Anonymous said...

Yea. Like the other guys said, don't just blindly hand money to charities. In a lot of cases, the only people they're really being charitible to is themselves. It's sickening how many times the Red Cross(!) had to be taken to court and sued to hold them accountable for all the money they advertised for and got after major disasters. Basically there's a lawsuit after every mfing one. You think your Katrina donation went to help someone in New Orleans? It's more likely it was used to cover the 6 figure salaries of the administrators of Red Cross (who did such a spectacular job helping out the needy in NO that they deserve this kind of money working for a NONPROFIT). How many BILLIONS did they get in donations? And what were they giving out besides coffee and cots? Where's the rest of the money? Every disaster the top Red Cross guy has to resign for the same fucking reason. When you you stupid sheep learn?

Anonymous said...

How about feeding the poor in your own country first?

Anonymous said...

God damn, I love tuna.

Anonymous said...

Blueray 1080p is everything you bonehead. PCs had higher resolutions for a long time, yes, but what kind of content are we talking? Can we compare your 1 static background image at high resolution versus a whole movie playing at 1920x1080 in 60 frames per second for about 2 hours? Think not. Blueray is also the disc medium that holds 8ish GIGS per disposable CDlike disc. How many 8gig movies do you plan to permanently park to your hard drive Mr. Genius?

But think what you want. I'm sure you and your cassete decks will rock the world for ever and ever.

Anonymous said...

to the anonymous guy with the reading... dude, seriously WTF, read a book, what century are you in? They cram enough of that sh*t up our faces in school... and do you honestly think that reading for ten minutes is as educative as playing? I'm not really in for the violence and all, but i have got to admit that playing video games for about 6-7 years now has really added to hand-eye coordination. And what impression do you think you can make when you go out with some friends and start bragging about what dome old dude thought about... GAMES HAVE STORIES THAT YOU CAN CHANGE, they're dynamic.. And about this crappy article, would you give ALL your hard earned money to a homeless guy? Or even better, why the fu*k would you buy 600 or so big macs? or a gazillion pizzas... WTF, dude seriously now, if you have enough money, or you have raised 600$, you did it for a purpose, "buy a freggin PS3!" and not have second thoughts about it... And even if you do, go for the xbox and wii, because YOU WILL STILL GET TO SPEND GOOD HOURS PLAYING, INSTEAD OF WORRYING ABOUT THE WORLD

Anonymous said...

I have a 360 allready with sum kick ass games and are currently waitng on a Wii, whereas buying a PS3 would leave me broke and have no money to buy any of sony's crappy games.

And btw, POOR PEOPLE DO NOT DESERVE MY MOO-LAH!!!!!! lol seriously, they should do something about it instead of just sitting around and asking people for spare change.

Anonymous said...

I plan on selling one of my kids for a PS3. Anyone looking to buy a kid for $599? Healthy organs.

Anonymous said...

Buying a PS3 might seem less humanitarian than feeding poor children, but you have to realize that it does create jobs.
The truck drivers who deliver them, the janitors who work in Sony offices across the nation, etc. would not have a job, and they're kids would not be able to eat if no one bought PS3's.
That's not to say that charity is bad. It's perfectly ok, but to say that people shouldn't buy what they want is a little out of line with the beauty of a capitalist economy.

Anonymous said...

Im of two diffrent oppinions.

I think Poor people need help, but i also have to wonder what kind of shit they got themselves in to get fucked over like that...

Also, Xbox 360 FTW! It has Castle Crashers...and i love all of Behemoths games...

Anonymous said...

so gas is cheaper than soda???? lame.

Anonymous said...

YOU SMELL NOW DONATE ALL YOUR MONEY AND EAT A BANANA!

Anonymous said...

No one should buy ANYTHING until we get all them kids fed and clothed!

Whose with me?!!!

Anonymous said...

solets see, lets do the math with the ps3 and then lets do the math with the xbox 360. the ps3 with the larger hd and the blue ray, all the nifty little ports (who gives a crap actually) the cell processor, which givin time will out do the 360 when the tech for making games is expanded, and the fact that bluray disc player are a shit load of money=600+tax...ebox 360 (non core)=400 + hd dvd player is wait whoops 200bucks wel crap thats 600, huh, well thats the same price, well who would have thought it. the ps3 will have many problems out the door, but lets face it, the cost overall if u want the hd especially is the same if not more in some cases. it comes down to who do u like better, sony or microsoft, so stop that point of arguing, its pointless. any, readin works, love it but still sit at hours on my pc and xbox and ps2, but still spend about 4 hrs a night reading

Anonymous said...

buying a PS3 would be a waste next to a Wii, none of games of the PS3 are new, they are just a flashier vesion of the original playstation's games

...Also feeding the poor isn't a solution it just allow them to reproduce and need more money

Anonymous said...

I have to say this is ridiculous. Most charities aren't going to scam you out of money. You should be smart and look into what you are giving to. Also, I'm definitely not going to buy a PS3. Congratulations on having Blu-ray, but the PS3 didn't even come with a component cable. So, how are you supposed to utilize this technology? Here is an awesome charity. http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Anonymous said...

I love this, you managed to lure out everyone who needs to zealously justify their purchase of video games. Christ, that guy sounds almost psychotic about his precious Blu-Ray. Well done.

Anonymous said...

Quote
"Blueray 1080p is everything you bonehead..... Blueray is also the disc medium that holds 8ish GIGS per disposable CDlike disc. How many 8gig movies do you plan to permanently park to your hard drive Mr. Genius?"

WOW blueray holds the same as a DVD? 8ish gigs, Moron PS3 fanboy idiot.
How many blueray (20ish gig idiot) movies can my HDD hold? My maths says about 100 thats let me see about 100 times the amount of worthwhile blueray titles available.

Anonymous said...

How are you going to get all that blueray data into your computer hd without a blueray drive? Are you going to download blueray movies somewhere? I'm assuming you don't live in South Korea so you might have to wait a while for those downloads. Maybe like 5-10 years.

And what about storage? How many movies do you plan on storing on your hd? 100? 100 x (25-50GB, actually idiot) = 2.5-5 terabytes. You have 2.5-5 extra terabytes of hd space you want to burn storing movies (instead of having dvd/cd sized discs)? Right. We won't even get into the DRM/HDCP issue since I'm assuming you've already hacked it yourself (on your Octocore system with 50TB of solid state memory). I'm sorry. Idiot was too nice a term for you, moron.

Dusty said...

How true is that. We live in a material world. Why can't we be happy with, shelter, food, clothing, family and friends?

Anonymous said...

don't you know how to use an apostrophe?

Anonymous said...

*SNIIIIIIFFFFFF*
Ahhh the ignorance!

Look meatheads let's sit down and look at the night of the PS3.
The PS3
You come home, freezing cold, your numb fingers can barely open the box. You tear it open, heave the massive 11 pound behemoth out. You want to hook it up straight to your big HDTV but no, there are only component cables. You start it up plugging the tiny 2 foot cord from your controller to the console, standing right in front of it. You start it up and it looks exactly like the PSP menu. Oh well that is cool, the PSP menu was ok. You put in the game you bought, NBA 07, pretty dang cool. You play for a few hours, legs about to fall off the controller is done charging. You leap back into your bean bag chair, now wireless. You decide to test out the other games you got. Oh crap... I have this game for the 360 and already beat it. Hmmm, let me check what other games came out, perhaps I can order one and get it by the time I finish NBA 07. Nope, have that one for the 360 and I already beat it. Nope, same thing. Again, nope... Ahh! There we go! Something only for the PS3! Sweet! Order... Hmm back to NBA 07 I guess. Even though I have it for my PSP... Nah let me check what other things I can do. Web browser! Cool! Hmm internet setup. What!? Grr I am not dealing with my wireless router right now. *runs 75 feet of network cable across the house* OK now it works. Holy crap this is slow. Come on load! There we go. Hmm I should play a PS2 game. *inserts FF* HOLY CRAP THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE!! BLEH! You know what, I am just gonna play Gears of War tonight.

Based on a true story

Anonymous said...

yup half for the poor and half for me ....

Anonymous said...

yay, ps3 has 1080p...now when i throw out my tiny 42' LCD buy that 60in i will be actually be able to see the slight difference in detail! For only an extra 200 dollars!? AWESOME

Anonymous said...

God, people that care about things like feeding children and helping the less fortunate around the holidays are apparently PS3 bashers at heart. When will you fuckers realize that the only important thing in life is getting your shitty, same-as-every-other-port games at a system's launch? You think providing for some kid's "well being" is going to be anywhere close to as satisfying playing wunderworks like Untold Legends and Genji?

Right.

Scott Boone said...

This is an incredibly popular blog!

Hey, don't kick me out of here yet, I might have something wise to say: I believe that it is impossible to help out the world as people are not programmed to help other people. We are greedy bastards and there is nothing anyone can say about that. I don't care what one has donated to a charity or whatever as we all have our own luxuries. These can range from having a large home, a job, or even something containing sugar.

I admire the hardware in that PS3. People bash it for whatever reasons they have, but the technology that people are paying for is going to be used elsewhere that can benefit society. What do you pay for in a PS3? R&D for the advancement of technology.

Nicholas said...

Haha, yeah, crucify this blogger, he's obviously a massive douche for merely suggesting to you to try to help your fellow man.

Look, if you need all the new toys (why is HDD/blu-ray a concern right now? is DVD really that bad, are you really missing out?), there's no need to justify it: it's your money. If you dont feel inclined to help out, you're not gonna; no amaount of #'s and semantics will change that.

I myself will get a Wii when i can, and give ps3 & 360 another season or so to catch up and see what their lineup's like before making a decision; whether both systems learn to make toast or grow a vagina or do any number of things not related to video games by then won't matter.

Im not one of the assholes to comment on interent spelling/punctuation, but those of you who whined about "not sharing your moo-lah" or not reading cause your freinds dont care what "old dead people think": i weep for the future.

Anyway, I'm gonna go play a game now and not read blogs around the holidays, or most other times, because today's lesson for the day: do not fall, because no one will help pick you up, even if the game's on pause.

Anonymous said...

i have a 360 and a ps3 and didnt have to wait in line for either of them. seems like the people that bitch and complain are the ones that never get lucky in life

Anonymous said...

"don't you know how to use an apostrophe"

Don't you know how to use capitalization and punctuation?

Digital Monk said...

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for the rest of his life."

Americans have been shelling out money to the Salvation Army and Red Cross for over a hundred years. The fact that there are no metrics showing their success is troubling to me.

Anonymous said...

Bought a Wii at 10% off on launch day ($225); found an awesome deal on a premium Xbox 360 at Microcenter (after 2 $100 rebates it will be $200 for the system). So I spent $425 for a Wii60 combo. That leaves $175 to buy some extra controllers and games instead of getting a PS3 and NO games. Suggestion to Sony: work on some cost-savings and price reductions soon.

Anonymous said...

Didn't have the cash for the PS3 because I just bought an arcade Galaga for the same price. (I'm a fan of vintage). Although I would have purchased one if the funding was there but, it really comes down to the capabilities of your tv. I can only do 1080i, which is good enough for me when it comes to 360 and wii which I have. I just can't justify purchasing something that I won't be able to use to it's full potential.
Honestly, how many people have 1080p televisions? I guess sony figured if they have the money to drop 6 on our system, maybe they have 3g for one of our tv's too. Make that money boys.
Also, the line-up and lack of included accessories isn't up to par for the price in my opinion. So, you'd be out the door @ $700 with 1 game and a cable. I can't really talk because I dropped $550 on an arcade game that's as old as I am but, it just wasn't feasable. As far as charities go, maybe all the smashmyps3.com and the guys sending them over niagra falls should have donated that money, or "physically handed" it random homeless for more alcohol or whatever. My .02

Anonymous said...

Yeah I bet the Sony fanboys are upset that there has been a shakeup in the company and the new guy said there would be no Playstation 4. Serves Sony right, they always come up with "their" own formats. Sony's biggest mistake will be spending too much time on developing blu-ray and not enough time keeping developers happy and making games. I thing it looks good on Sony. Bad batteries, bad cameras and now bad consoles. Time to stick with just developing games.

Anonymous said...

I have a PS3 and it has sat and collected dust for the last week. The online service sucks. The controller sucks. Pretty much all the games suck. Resistance is the only decent game, but even it is disapointing. Thank god I only paid 200 bucks for it after trade-ins and gift cards.

Anonymous said...

Charity is a joke unless you physically perform the act yourself. When people get lazy and throw money at organizations, their money mainly gets burned up in the peoples pockets who run the show... don't be fooled by "not for profit"... anyone ever watch those jokes on the religious channel asking for money?


buy whatever games you want, and next time you see someone in person struggling to survive, then is the time to shine

Anonymous said...

^ well said.

Anonymous said...

Judging from PS3 sales? You mean how they have sold out immediately everywhere?

-That's because they give 2 to every store in order to make the rabid fanboys line up for weeks forgetting how much money they're throwing away =D

Oh and DS > PSP =P

Hilarious article BTW

Anonymous said...

so basically what you're saying is that when you buy a PS3, you're hitting homeless kids for massive damage.

Anonymous said...

life's not fair, get over it.

Anonymous said...

"life's not fair, get over it."

That's resigning to apathy.
Good job.

Anonymous said...

A happy customer said...

That is because there wasn't that many in stock. Also I would hardly say everywhere. I have gone into many stores and seen them sitting there.

Show me one store that has ANY in stock an hour or two after getting any in, and I will show you that you live in B.F.E. and your population in the town is either too poor to buy one, or too stupid to know what it is.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe I read this entire page. More so I can't believe that I was laughing during the first 10 posts and was hoping for the end of the human race after finishing the rest.
Is anyone else waiting for Armageddon?

Just to participate, I can only remember a few things that I would like to comment on.
He wasn't seriously suggesting you buy 300 Big Macs.
It was funny that soda is cheaper than gas. Hell if it wasn't for gas prices we could all buy one.
Launch titles for all systems have problems, it takes time for developers to learn the systems.
There is no way that there are PS3's sitting on shelves in your local store, and the fact that there is a shortage could not possibly be the reason they sold that many. Anyone that waited in line 7 hours sleeping standing up would sure in the hell have bought one still.
I shouldn't touch the charity topic, but here it is. If you are one of the few honorable, zealous, and caring people in the world that sincerely donate their time and money, you wouldn't be on the internet belittling those that don't. We all should, we all don't. Nothing will change that, but we can still try to.
Being human is not an excuse.
Do what makes you really happy, unless it is a 600 dollar hooker, definitely buy a PS3 instead of that, each visit to the venerial doctor would be a new game.

Anonymous said...

I could help shelter a family for that amount of money.

But that family doesn't have Ridge Racer. Riiiiiiiidge Racer!

Unknown said...

Anonymous said...

Judging from PS3 sales? You mean how they have sold out immediately everywhere?


Yeah. They sold out. All three of them per store.


PS3 fails, and soon all you fanboys will know it. Try Nintendo Wii instead.

Anonymous said...

wow whoever was talking about running a 75 ft network cable across your house... your wrong!

The ps3 is wifi!!!!

The 2 ft controller cable is more like 9 ft!

well cyall fanboys around!

you have to understand that the 360 has been around for a year. The ps3 just came out...so ya it might look a tad better but its twice as powerful. So give it at least a year! then come back and sat everything you just did!

there are plenty of good games that i love, just as much as resistance. Motorstorm is awesome, so is COD3

Actually sony has sold 1 million ps3s so far! Thats my state!

Wiis get boring, bad graphics, annoying hike the balll every play and you have to act it out, break everything within 12 ft

xbox is last gen, has 3 good games, never heard one person say they didnt buy an xbox for just halo. PAY TO PLAY when ps3 has same thing for free.

Anonymous said...

WHy not just do what i did, buy 360/wii/and a ps3! :D and yes you can go ahead and call me a spoiled little b*tch, and i can go ahead and say HAH IM PLAYIN the 3 TOP SYSTEMS WHEN AND IF I FEEL LIKE IT!!! WUAHAHAHAHHAHA ps3>starving kids. HAH

Anonymous said...

what a Ps3 has that Xbox doesn't
1) Blueray drive included
2) 1080p
3) Web Surfing
4) Larger HHD
5) FREE Online Playing
6) WIFI
7) Memory Card Readers
8) Motion Sensing

Think about these facts....
After 4 years of online the xbox will had cost you the same amount
The PS3 has the ability to use any already owned bluetooth headset, bluetooth keyboards, or any bluetooth mouse

Also who would want to eat 300 big macs or drink that much soda? If you do then you could just cook you own food and drink water and it would be like getting it for free.

Anonymous said...

Any one who doesn't like PS3 is a dumbass, the xbox is a good system but it is no where near the PS3, maybe when they release the xbox 361 or what ever they are calling it later this year it will be closer to the PS3 because it will have HDMI output. As for anyone who bought the Wii, I'm so sorry for you, the Wii is just a fad, and in about a year that fad will be replaced with something new...the Wii will never live up to the xbox much less the PS3. Honestly who cares about giving to money to charities...do what makes you feel good if you want to buy a game system which ever one you want...then do it. Oh and I do have a 1080P TV (50") and i have a PS3 and an xbox 360, and I will tell you that the PS3 is far better then the xbox 360, Sony has some details to iron out but give it time. The future is PS3 don't be stupid because you don't have one

Anonymous said...

You jealous little losers, you can't afford something and yet waste energies making little "smartie-pants-point-making" blog entries and comments like this.

I bought my ps3 and I dont really feel I should be giving the money to charity instead. Why dont you also mention how we the "1st world" waste energy resources etc for banale things like having fun (videos, theaters, theme parks...) while the rest of the world dies starving to death...

I just don't get the stupid thing about spending money somewhere else: you pay for what you get. Noboy forces you to buy anything so if you can't afford it move along (and yeah right, like you are going to spend $600 in charity anyways).

kkthbye

Ivan ^ŮŽ^ said...

You can get more gas , than soda!? o_0
WOOOW
soda is increasing with the time!
hoho

Anonymous said...

has anyone here got anything better to do than moan about ps3s?

Anonymous said...

Buy ps3

Anonymous said...

whats with all the abuse about which console you have? who cares how much you like xbox or ps3 i mean come on how childish can you get arguing and giving abuse. what has the world come to

P.S I have PS3:P

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