I'm going to quit replying to every post in this thread. It's just that everybody posts something that interests me. I can't help it! Anyhoo, @ithis, thanks for that chart you made, too. Quite a bit of work must have gone into it. I chose the games from the OP at random (or by looking at my PS3/360 collection). Sometimes the PS3 won out and sometimes the 360 won out. It was almost always very close, though. The stereotype that PS3 users don't buy games is one that I wish would die, too.

I've always disagreed with the notion that the PS3 and 360 have different demographics. When you look at it, most 360 owners were probably PS2 owners before, so it's the same audience that has now alienated to two platforms. Of course there are some who were Xbox only owners, but those are (obviously) in the minority. I think the only reason Xbox gets labeled as a shooter platform is because Halo is it's signature franchise, just like how Nintendo's consoles are labeled as "family consoles" because of Mario. Since the PS doesn't have a signature franchise (I don't believe racer games can define a console), people automatically assume that PS3 owners are more diverse when in reality they are almost the same as 360 owners (again, the small difference being the Xbox only owners from last gen). So no, I don't believe PS3 owners are more diverse than 360 owners; they're both the same.

Quoted for truth!  I know a ton of Xbox 360 owners but I don't think I can name a single one that didn't own a PS2 last gen.  In fact, I only know one that owned an Xbox!  And that one that I did know wound up trading his Xbox for a Gameboy Advance because I made fun of him so brutally.  Funny how I never even thought of that.  Excellent post, Cirio.

And NOW I'm going to stop quoting everybody.......

That is starting to happen now, multiplatform games from particular genres are selling almost identical on both platforms.

And you are right, PS3/360 owners are more alike than people think they are, which is why I think they are at eachothers throats all the time.

I don't want it to be that way though, it's boring and the fact that both consoles are so similar causes nothing but fanboy wars. While I do blame Microsoft for making the XBOX 360 too similar to the Playstation brand, I also blame SONY for trying to copy Microsoft after and for not trying to differentiate themselves from the competition. I want SONY to find their roots and encourage developers to make unique games and more games in the action/adventure, JRPG, platforming genres. The XBOX 360 has shooters, WRPG's and PC developers locked down, SONY should try something different. Because SONY has been trying to chase the XBOX 360's most popular genre's, I feel abandoned, this generation has been fairly dull for me and there are not many games released these days that I will look back at and think "wow, what a classic".

Looking at the late 2011 / 2012 line-up though, things seem to be on the up for the PS3 and for games I prefer.

Going back to the point Cirio made, my analogy is this:
The PS2 is England. The Xbox is America. Xbox 1 owners were the Native Americans/Indians. A long time ago, a group of PS2 owners left them to start a new colony with the Xbox 360. Even though the people that stayed behind in the land of Playstation have a slight bit of animosity towards the rowdy, gun loving, trash talking guys in Xbox country, we all have so much in common that if you put two of them in the same room, it would be hard to tell them apart (We all love Jason Statham!). We're all still on the same side when it comes to hating Nintendo (aka the French). Also, original Xbox owners are as scarce as Native Americans.

i'd guess it comes from advertising.

sony puts a lot of marketing weight behind "odd" games such as flower, echochrome, heavy rain, eye pet. nintendo and MS seem more focused on what kind of games they advertise and generally it is the popular games. sony, for whatever reason, likes to advertise the unpopular ones ... just one more reason their marketing team sucks.

Haha, that was brilliant, and very true.

This.

It's annoying when I don't see an epic advertisement for a great PS3 exclusive.

And sometimes when they do decide to advertise it, the advert is just plain annoying.

The UK Playstation marketing team need to be fired (that guys voice just drives me insane).

i look at it this way. when your console supports varied taste that's wht you end up with it seems 360 or from MS perspective shooters are popular so thats wht the provide.

even some of the most diverse gamers i know on 360 only own COD and spend there time online shooting there asses off. i wouldn't say my comments are supported by facts past just a few hundred friends, but you'll typically buy whts more popular on your console then whts not.

if you look at all the genres in the middle of the board PS3 sells slightly more or closer to 360 or out sells 360.

one thing pepole forget is that preordes mean nothing cause looking at sells data those gaps that favor 360 we seem to constantly talk about are closing in terms of software, and if PS3's install base ever becomes more then 360's we will still see most if not all games still sell more on 360 cause this gen 360 and Wii have the largest market on lock.

i think this works out fine.