This particular announcement I was not anticipating, but I have been saying for awhile that the higher development costs on "Next-Generation" games was going to lead to a situation where third party exclusives became rare ... I expect that this is just the tip of the iceburg ...

I'll say it again, the third party exclusive is all but dead. People ought to be buying systems based on the first party selection and side features. This is why Home and Live are so key. This is why the differences in the featuresets are so important. Microsoft have set themselves up well by creating a very compelling online service, and Sony has anticipated this shift by buying up and developing a huge number of first-party developers. Only time will tell who had the better philosophy.

Not as big of news as people are saying. I mean, its great for the 360, but DMC is not THAT big of a franchise. Check the sales. DMC1 was the best-selling title in the series, and it wasn't among the top 50 games on PS2.

Individually, it isn't that big, but it seems like developers now expect games to sell well on 360 in the West, more so than Wii or PS3. Wii is different enough that developers will be able to capitalize...but to the average gamer what really seperates PS3 from 360? My room mate has not used the DVD player on his PS2 in 3 years..I doubt he is the only one, and the format war negates even that advantage...

It's only a matter of time before it's announced that Metal Gear 4 is not a PS3 exclusive anymore either and is heading to the 360 as well.

This all reeks of pure financial sense. As stated in various posts already, 3rd-party exclusives are basically dead (except when held by contract, and money has exchanged hands). It just doesn't make financial sense anymore. The PS3 and 360 are close enough in ability to make this possible - and its great for gamers. No longer should you have to purchase a console to play a specific game (except for a few) - now you can buy a console based on the one you want, and play the games you want. The DMC announcement doesn't really affect Japan - it may result in the sales loss of a few PS3's (short term anyway). But its much more important in the US/Europe - where more and more gamers will decide/realise that a 360 *is* actually good enough - and that if they have one, they don't need a PS3. Now it really is up to exclusives to sell consoles (and I personally think Sony has the weakest portfolio there). (also note that this doesn't really apply to the Wii - as its different enough to not really be 360 or PS3 compatible). PS - anyone else see this comment from Capcom: