Well I think Microsoft is neccesary to put some pressure in Sony ,plus the Xbox are good hardcore machines with lots of good FPS and for those who want to pay for it the Live is a great service .Plus they are giving stacks of moneys to developers to assure exclusives and break PS3 ones . All in all Microsoft is welcome in the gaming world by most of its players .It should ,howewer ,remain a also-ran or secondary contendient ....if it managed to have a predominant position it could create ,unlike Sony ,a real monopoly .Its links with the hardware developers ,the fact that the produce the tools ,their possesion of the graphics libraries and OS ,the control they could exercise in the closed online field they have created ....plus the fact the have absolutely unholy amounts of cash to steal exclusives or keep games or companies exclusives to them .It could be a real threat . Sony has had a predominant position for 12 years ,but as it is seen right now they didnt have monopoly becasue you just cant lose a monopoly it depends on many things you have assured not only in being the one that sells the most .Putting aside if they have been very innovative or not its clear the Playstation brand wiped out the childish image the videogames had prior to the PSX .For people who just dont like Mario or Sonic the Playstation brand is a great refuge for good games.As for the hardware quality it has been very good .Its clear the PSX and PS2 have been weaker that the competency but it is also because they were out nearly 2 years before ...the strange thing would be the Cube ,N64 or Xbox being weaker being released 18 months later .What the Playstation machines have demostrated is a great versatility rendering all kinds of games and allowing the programmers to refine further and further their product during all the lifetime of the console .

Come back in a week Blue and try to stop trolling all the threads when you return. ;>

Thanks for banning him.

blue is banned?! if that other guy isn't banned then there is some serious injustice going on and I don't like it.

EDIT: nope. just when I was starting to like this site.

oh and in response to the OP. yea a lot is owed to Sony and MS. However, I think MS needs to get out now. IMHO.

What other guy?

And why should MS get out now? 

Gaming would not have been as wide spread without sony. They single-handedly created the european market. Now other companies can take it from right under their noses. While online gaming would still have existed, MS made it part of console gaming. I think everyone of us can be greatful of that. The N64 would definately have taken america and the Saturn would have taken Japan while europe got shafted if sony didn't come along. The gamecube would have probably had normal size disks because nintendo wouldn't have needed to be different.

If there was no Sony, or Microsoft, there would be a country called Nintenland. You wouldn't be able to look anywhere, and not see a statue of Mario, or a giant T.V. screen, featuring clips of Mario in action. Also, it would be a law for everyone to wear either a Mario hat, or a Luigi hat. Plumbers would be multi-millionairs, and every single coin, and bill with have a picture of Mario on it. NASA would have to sow a Star Fox logo on their suits. All swords would have the Zelda triforce engrabed on them. All marshmallows would be pink, and the bags would have to have a picture of Kirbyo on them. All racing cars would have a massive picture of Captain Falcon. Sumo Wrestlers would have a picture of Donkey Kong on their Sumo-pants, or whatever you call those things that Sumo Wrestlers wear. Nintendo would buy all of the franchises in existence, including Sonic, Crash, Ratchet, Master Cheif, Spyro, Snake, that God of War guy, Jak, Bubsy, that Splinter Cell guy, et cetera, and advertise them around the world. All advertisements on T.V. would have Mario on them. All music would be Mario music. Yeah, it would be horrible. Let's hope that never happens.

if sony dont enter in the market i think that the nintendo128 was a powerfull machine and the nintendo256 be a machine like the ps3 or the xbox360 or maybe more powerfull, this is the way of nintendo want go, but low power machines (ps1,ps2) win for the price and the easy development, and the DS and Wii machines be a response of this.

the violent and adult games exist before the playstation (Doom,wolfestein 3d,alone in the dark, war games, mortal kombat, killer instinc, etc) , and if sony dont exist, maybe the big games of the playstation (metal gear solid series,final fantasy series, resident evil series, etc)go for nintendo platforms or sega platforms, or PC, but sony dont create this games, remember that the major big games of the PS1 and PS2 are 3rd parties games.

and the growth of the market is a natural think that happen when the increase of the years , is not a sony miracle, for example now in 2007 in the world sell millions of cars and in the 20's sell hundreds or thousands, is a natural growth of the market, and have to add the defective playstation machines.

i think the only good thing of the enter of the playstation was the breakage of the nintendo monopoly

Just a little correction ,the european market existed way before Sony .Mega Drive (Genesis ) ,Game Boy and Super Nes sold extremely well here ,plus way before in the eighties we had a very big market with the 8 bits computers that were used solely for gaming and the Amiga ,Atari St ....

If Sony did not exist: In 1995, the Saturn launched to some mediocre succuess in Japan for the first year, only to be toppled by Nintendo. Had Sony not of taken the market so brutally, and quickly, we would of had the 2-tier race. However, unlike the MD-SNES era, I do believe Sega would of come out on top. The Saturn was a pretty decent piece of hardware , and would of ending up out-selling the N64 18/10m Units. The major issues would be that Nintendo wouldn't of changed their horrible anti-3rd party business practices. Nintendo was by far, the worst company to work for as they had brutal business practices concerning 3rd parties, that led them to be the suck-fest they were from 1995-2005. However, with only Sega to garner sales, some of the lost 3rd parties would of stayed with N64. I predict that Capcom would of gone with Sega stronger, and we might of even seen SE stay with Nintendo, who knows. In the US, the N64 would of led with pretty strong sales. The N64 did pretty well, whereas the Sat was pretty weak. With no Sony, the Saturn would of done a bit better, but not quite to N64 levels. I would assume around a 30/20 split between N64 and Saturn, with other smaller 3rd parties out there. Europe would of gone Sega at some point, as Nintendo didn't have an ultra-strong base. We probably would of seen 20/10 between Sega and Nintendo. Overall, Sega and Nintendo would be locked in an eternal battle, with neither really coming out on top. If MS never came about with Sony and Nintendo just doing battle, Sony would of been in a far better position with the PS2, as it was (imo) a bigger competitor with Sony than Nintendo. Overall, the market would be much smaller, as Sony was able to sell a $300 optical driven console. During the N64/PS1 era, we saw sales of 105/35/20, I doubt the Sega/N64 market would of been much stronger than 110m units. I can't even fathom what the PS2 era would of been like without Sony. If MS would of launched, in lieu of no Sony, I do believe MS would be in a much stronger position, if not nearing the lead with a large share of US and European markets, and maybe a slightly better market in Japan. Also, Phantasy Star Online launched on DC. MS merely stole alot of work Sega didn't have the cash to implement, and ended up being succuessful with it.