@ elnino334

I don't think the console is that much ahead, especially considering Halo 3 is already on the market. Microsoft did a good job with making people upgrade to the 360 from the Xbox, this by completely dropping XBox game software support like a brick and by putting popular XBox franchices (and serving popular game gernes) onto the 360. But I would really be impressed if the 360 actually ever reaches a userbase of let's say 40 million. I think long term competition with the PS3 will be rough on the 360.

I also think the PS3 will remain viable as a product for a longer period of time.

elnino334 said: Well if you haven't bought a 360 wouldn't it make sense to buy one since it has a much larger library?  You would get great games from 2006-2007 alot cheaper.  Isn't that one of the reasons the PS2 is still doing so well? At this current time all the great games on the 360 can be played using the arcade 360 and until that is no longer the case how it a dumb move to spend $280 though will be cheaper in due time to play those games which will be $30-50. Again nothing against the PS3 but the 360 is a solid purchase especially if all you care about is games.

We will see. The 360 is a great machine, but so was the xb, and it died (I have owned them both). It has everything to do with where it sits on the market.Oh, and if library size is your thing, then the PS2 or the Wii would be a better choice. The type of people that drop 300+ on a gaming rig, want the most technologically advanced games. If you wanted less than that, there are a lot better choices.

 

MrMafoo said: elnino334 said: Well if you haven't bought a 360 wouldn't it make sense to buy one since it has a much larger library? You would get great games from 2006-2007 alot cheaper. Isn't that one of the reasons the PS2 is still doing so well? At this current time all the great games on the 360 can be played using the arcade 360 and until that is no longer the case how it a dumb move to spend $280 though will be cheaper in due time to play those games which will be $30-50. Again nothing against the PS3 but the 360 is a solid purchase especially if all you care about is games. We will see. The 360 is a great machine, but so was the xb, and it died (I have owned them both). It has everything to do with where it sits on the market.Oh, and if library size is your thing, then the PS2 or the Wii would be a better choice. The type of people that drop 300+ on a gaming rig, want the most technologically advanced games. If you wanted less than that, there are a lot better choices.

 i must have missed something...where are those technologically advanced games that are supposed to be available on PS3 and not on x360? 

DMeisterJ said: elnino334 said: It payed off in 2005 as it allowed the 360 to launch at a more reasonable price and earlier then the PS3.  Now it is paying off as it looks like HD-DVD is going to be losing the HD format.  If blu-ray ever becomes mainstream they could just come out with a $99 player or something and make those 360 owners looking for the format happy.  Of course there is that other aspect about future games needing the extra space and if that is the case then it will just be something to deal with.  I don't think it will be an issue but obviously some disagree and we shall see.  As someone who had stopped buying DVD's years ago this whole format is a mute point especially once people start getting used to streaming or downloading right from their TV's., 360 or PS3  Clearly you are delusional... On Topic:  The PS3 having Blu-Ray has helped get 9 million + bd players out there, vs the under 1 million for HD DVD, so it in fact, won the war for blu-ray because it wasn't in the XBOX 360.  Whether or not sales will rise or whether or not it will be bought solely for a bd player are yet to be seen, but this can only help sony, and this is not good in any way for MS, as if they had inclulded the HD drive, it would mean they would have sixteen million HD DVD players versus 1 million.  There is no positive spin for microsoft.  :(

Do you think MS would start supporting blu-ray anytime soon or your just saying MS would never do blu?  Just curious as to why you think is delusional to think MS couldn't come out with an addon a couple of years from now at a lower price with the $99 just an example.  Would be nice to know what you meant so I may respond better but to be clear that was just an example of something MS could do.  They have said in the past and recently that they could potentially support it.

I agree with you on your second point.

MrMafoo said: elnino334 said: Well if you haven't bought a 360 wouldn't it make sense to buy one since it has a much larger library? You would get great games from 2006-2007 alot cheaper. Isn't that one of the reasons the PS2 is still doing so well? At this current time all the great games on the 360 can be played using the arcade 360 and until that is no longer the case how it a dumb move to spend $280 though will be cheaper in due time to play those games which will be $30-50. Again nothing against the PS3 but the 360 is a solid purchase especially if all you care about is games. We will see. The 360 is a great machine, but so was the xb, and it died (I have owned them both). It has everything to do with where it sits on the market.Oh, and if library size is your thing, then the PS2 or the Wii would be a better choice. The type of people that drop 300+ on a gaming rig, want the most technologically advanced games. If you wanted less than that, there are a lot better choices.

 The 360 and XB are ok machines.  If they were great they wouldn't be getting totally anahilated by the wii and they would have sold a lot more WW then their over-priced competitor with almost no great games.  And 360  games aren't the most technologically advanced games, are you slow, they are arguably the prettiest but far from technologically advanced.  This gen the Wii has motion sensing, PS3 has Sixaxis and the 360 well it has the same stuff as XB but prettier.

MikeB said: @ elnino334 One thing I always found interesting is people not seeming to give credit to the 360 for being ahead especially by so many consoles. People seem to forget it was 100 mil vs 25-30 ps2 vs xbox so whos next gen system would you predict would be kicking butt right now? I don't think the console is that much ahead, especially considering Halo 3 is already on the market. Microsoft did a good job with making people upgrade to the 360 from the Xbox, this by completely dropping XBox game software support like a brick and by putting popular XBox franchices (and serving popular game gernes) onto the 360. But I would really be impressed if the 360 actually ever reaches a userbase of let's say 40 million. I think long term competition with the PS3 will be rough on the 360. I also think the PS3 will remain viable as a product for a longer period of time.

I have to disagree in terms of how far ahead it is especially when it comes to the USA which is what I truly care about.  Bottomline line is going to be a tough battle for both. 

@ elnino334

The US and to a lesser extend Australia and the UK are areas of concern for Sony with regard to the PS3, but I think the anticipated PS3 exclusive blockbusters will help Sony to completely overcome this problem for the long run.

Personally I care most about Europe, I am European.

Just for fun I'm going to argue that both MS and Sony messed up by going for big, powerful machines aligned to PC orientated games leaving Nintendo to design and release a console that sells better than both (at a profit) and is shifting bucketloads of software for the same company.

More on topic it's way too early to make this call. Impact of a BR win in format war is not clear, 360 sales are not good globally given the head start, and the dominance of Wii and DS (and their software) should be giving both Sony and MS serious pause.

Quite a good debate you guys have going here.

Kyros said: "How is Microsoft 'heavily involved' in HD DVD?" Again they are part of the Standard group (which makes them as involved as Panasonic is to BluRay) they were producing a HD-DVD player in the form of the add-on (the best-selling besides Toshiba), they designed big parts of the HD-DVD software (compression, menu interaction etc.). How much more involved can you be if you are not Toshiba?

If that is truly the reason, why didn't MS announce plans to the whole world they were going to release HD DVDs in their Xbox 360s in 2006? By going with an add-on, it is clear to me they wanted to have a form of HD, but wanted enough detachment in case it failed. And hindsight is 20-20, so ... guess what? The 360 is still selling and not tied down by HD DVD's demise one way or the other.

HD DVD and MS's marriage was one of convience. If it failed, MS could walk away and anull the relationship. If it succeeded, like MS was betting, they do a wii bit deeper.

It's just business, plan and simple.