Squilliam said:
My prediction is that from Q3 until the end of this year the total sales for the Xbox360 worldwide will exceed the PS3. Here are my reasons for this prediction: 1. The Xbox360 games library to be released this year is both of high quality and it is diverse in genres and scope. The Xbox360 will be stronger in the RPG, Action, Shooter and Strategy genres. It will make a compelling choice for any gamer especially those that like the Action or RPG genres as they have not been catered to well so far. The games being offered encompass a wider market share and some do not have competing offerings in the competitions lineup so far. Standout games like Fable 2 or Too human are perfect examples of this. The 360 arguably had better line ups since it's launch yet the PS3 has still sold 10 million consoles faster , this year the 360 has been outsold from the start yet the PS3 still has a smaller games libary , the games released on the 360 to an extent don't affect the performance of the PS3. Also taking into consideration that the PS3 also has big game names this year Socom , Resistance 2 , Metal Gear Sold , Little Big Plannet it further damages the 360. The Xbox360 has sold well inspite of the fact that the Playstation brand is at least 10x stronger and the problems with RROD. This is a continuation of the good games but targeting more of the RPG gamers with games that have much greater mass market apeal. MGS4,Resistance, Socom, all target the hardcore market that has had a lot of good games thrown at them. Most of those fish have already bitten. The point is this, Too human and Fable 2 are accessible. Socom and MGS4 are not. 2. There have been many rumors floating about with regards to things such as: A: Wireless support. Won't increase sales noticably Except for those who need it, and wireless penetration is increasing... especially in the target market for these consoles. B: Increased HDD size. Won't increase sales noticably , won't eliminate the problem of the xbox arcade. Actually it will. People from my experience will put a tick in the Xbox360 box for having a bigger HDD, they won't think "Will I need 60gb". There are a lot of uneducated consumers out there for whom it will sway. The Xbox360 arcades problem is in its lack of purpose not in the lack of a HDD. C: Blu Ray. More money for Sony and the other owners of blu-ray , further increases the likelyhood of blu-ray becoming the standard. Sony owns less than half the blu ray drive patents and Microsoft does own patents to the codecs used. A and B are obvious choices for their strategy of online media delivery. Taken together with C it could make the Xbox360 the ultimate media delivery platform, there have been too many rumors of Blu ray to be considered false, now that the Xmote is all but confirmed I feel confident in making this prediction also. Xmote's success depends on how well it's implemented , considering decent games take at least 1.5 years to develop ( with the exception of exceptional developers i.e insomniac) , this will either result in the day of XBOX 360 exclusives to accomodate the new controler or we won't see it properly implemented until 2009-2010, so it doesn't really help the 360 this year. A more functional 360 won't affect PS3 sales full stop, the PS3 already has all that (wireless as standard , swappable HDD , blu-ray) There are a lot of games that could benifit from Xmote support even now. Games like GOW1/2 would be prime examples. There are also games that can't be ported from the PC to the Xbox360 because of the control schemes. If it works they will use it. A more functional 360 will affect PS3 sales full stop. Right now they have an exclusive on Blu Ray, people who know they need wireless obviously won't buy a 360 will they? Bringing equality on the hardware front is good, it means for people who crossshop between the Xbox360 will be more compelling and hence greater sales. Done. | 
