PS3 VS X360: So, who won ?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Depends on what metric you want to use.

Market share?  Basically a tie.  Sony slightly ahead on hardware and Microsoft slightly ahead on software.  Basically a tie.

Profits?  They both lost a ton over the course of the generation.  (While Nintendo made record profits.)  Again basically a tie. 

Which one accomplished their goals?  This is the most interesting metric.  Sony had several goals for the PS3:
1) Continue the success of the PS2.
2) Make Blu-Ray the dominant disc format.
3) Develop the PS3 with PC-like capabilities effectively putting a Sony PC in every gamer's living room.

In contrast, Microsoft only had one goal: Stop Sony from accomplishing their #3 goal, which is a threat to Microsoft's core business.

How did they do?  Sony accomplished their #2 goal.  They didn't accomplish #1 and #3.  Microsoft, on the other hand accomplished their only real goal.  PS3 started out with a lot of features that Sony eventually removed.  Among these were having 4 USB ports and being Red Hat Linux capable.  (PS3 also had other PC-like features that didn't get removed like an internet browser.)  The USB ports soon got scaled down to 2 and Sony removed their Linux capability.  The latter feature is really the big one, because you can't really have a PC without an OS.  (Also they pissed some hackers off by doing this and Sony's system got hacked.)

In the end, I have to give it to Microsoft.  They accomplished their only one goal.  Sony, on the other hand went into Generation 7 overconfident and they got seriously humbled.  Among the 2 losers of Generation 7, Microsoft is the winner.