Aswell Canada, Mexico, probably Brasil and many other countries like AUS or NZ where Xbox was the best selling console on holidays last year.

i believe 360 was ok with the model which started end of 2008. everything which broke in the years after were still console from 2005-2008. not sure what the name was. jasper or something?

To be honest, I'm not so sure Sony will go to paid network access. In fact, I think PSN being free has been part of the reason why the PS3 has a higher sales rate than the 360, and why it continues to out-sell the 360, outside of a few well-developed countries.

So, really, it seems to me that both strategies have been successful, and I see no reason for either to change Next Gen--though I guess some of that might be relative to how successful PLUS has been (I have no idea).

As far as LIVE being worth the price, that's entirely subjective, and there really is no point arguing over it. Some people love it, and are happy to pay it. Personally, I do most of my online gaming on the PC, and am definitely not going to pay for LIVE just for now-and-then access. In fact, that was one of the primary reasons I went with a PS3.

PS3 levels??
I was always pretty sure 360 failed more often than PS3.

Man you must have gotten a rly bad PS2 lol. None of the consoles I have ever owned broke since original nintendo until this generation. All the consoles I have owned this generation, my consoles have broke. Reason I am more disappointed in this generation then others.

Not by much anymore if you go by this survey. 500k+ is a rather large survey. DIssapointed they couldn't get more tho

The very first PS2's actually had a significant issue, a minor fix but after about 2 years of use they were all destined to have their laser heights off balance. They added a securing plastic tab to later models to prevent it. I had a PS2 that lasted 3 years and it had this problem, after attempting to readjust the height to allow for games to work a few times it eventually wouldn't read anything no matter where I placed it. I did end up buying a PS2 a few years ago since the newer PS3 models ditched backwards compatibility. 

Someone commented about how the media lifted up the Xbox360 and really carried it this gen, despite all the failure rates. And it's true. Microsoft paid gaming sites like crazy to promote there console, review games on their console instead of the competition, and just about anything you can think of in terms of "marketing".

And when it comes to the install base, Sony's PS3 is only approximately 2-3 million behind the Xbox360 on total lifetime sales. But everyone knows the year long head start added a lot to that little gap. Not to mention when you take the 50% failure rate for approximately 2+ years Sony's PS3 is actually far and away the leader of the two. Think about it, Microsoft sells approximately 7-8 million Xbox360's each year (Especially during those early years when it was still "hot"). Over two years time that's 14-16 million Xbox360's sold. If there's a 50% failure rate, that means 7-8 million boxes had to be re-bought. Many people had theirs fail and need replaced and average of 2-4 times!!! And that's just for their highest failure rate time period. The numbers of "re-purchased" units are likely MUCH higher. That means in all actuality Xbox360 is about 5 million (easy) BEHIND the PS3, and that's with their full year head start.

I get so tired of fan boys saying how Sony is in 3rd place or dead last just cause they don't care to start smear campaigns and prove just how far ahead they are over Microsoft. It's more realistic to say that the PS3 had a slow, expensive, rocky start and Xbox360 wasted their "first to market" status with a busted failed piece of hardware, What boggles my mind is how people can still stand behind that box and call it King....when it so clearly is not.

Yeah, so the media carried the xbox when there were reports everywhere of the massive fail rate because of RroD? It didn't damage the publics view of the console and make other people choose other consoles such as the Wii or the PS3. RroD damged M$' reputation, not strengthened it. I like how you said "Think about it" and didn't actually do any thinking yourself.

I've never heard of a console in my life has broken so many times that people had to repurchase or send in for refurbished models 1-8 times in my life. On a technical level this is the worst its ever been. Only in America could a crappy product be so high on the charts just for two exclusive games and a annual multiplat as well. Then again....looking at the American pop charts I can see why. lol