There was a thread a while back that asked: What are your favorite Sony franchises. While the PS1 and PS2 were EASILY the best consoles of their respective generations, I was more than a little surprised how hard it was for me to come up with franchises I loved. Of course there were some great ones (Gran Turismo, Ratchet & Clank, God of War), but Sony's consoles were great because of it's extensive library of third party hits. Playstation had ALL of the biggest franchises (Madden, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, GTA, Tomb Raider, etc.). Now, while Playstation is still home to all of gamings biggest 3rd party franchises, Microsoft is doing everything it can to have everything Sony has (and my list of must have Microsoft 1st party hits is MUCH SMALLER than Sony's).
Sony is trying to make their name with newer franchises (Uncharted, LBP, Heavy Rain), and Microsoft is making sure that it has almost all of the AAA 3rd party games that used to be Sony's. Microsoft has a sprinkling of great exclusives too. To be honest, both companies seem very similar in the end.
