Thread over and a classy avatar to boot, can't get any better.  

EDIT: wow at the coincidence, the real deal and his parody one next to another. Creepy. 

There is no hate , war etc etc between any of the companies , keep in mind the primary function of a business is to make money if Sony had to put Halo 3 pics on PS3's to make a profit they'd do it , there's no hate in it.

There isn't any hate between the companies, although Peter Dille is a douche and would make Sony's position seem that way.  It's just competition, which is good for us.  Microsoft entering the console scene changed the game a bit.  Microsoft is not going to push Sony out of the console business and vise versa.  Sony did make a mistake in that they thought they had a better hold on the market than they did.  Microsoft used their edge at being a software developer to make game systems that were easy to program for (much like the Sony PS1) and it allowed them to put their foot in the door with the Xbox and then claim a fairly large part of the market with the 360, even with the RRoD issue.  Sony was forced to make some changes they didn't want to, releasing the non-BC versions of the PS3 so early, reprogramming Home to try and make it more competitive with XBL, etc.  Now, what is good for us is that it is driving feature improvement in both consoles.  Not only for this generation though.  The next generation is really going to be interesting.  Sony will be taking Microsoft and most certainly Nintendo seriously and we will see things like well integrated online systems across the whole industry, motion controls in Microsoft consoles also, media handling will be much more improved (except for maybe Nintendo who I expect will stick with games only).

 I think it is silly when people hate one of the console manufacturers.  If someone is a Sony fan, they should love Microsoft.  Microsoft is pushing Sony to include features the PS3 never would have had if the 360 didn't exist.  The same goes the other way.  If Sony later comes in with a truly competitive service to XBL for free or a lower price, Microsoft might be forced to drop or lower their subscription rate to stay competitive.  Microsoft will probably include motion controls in the future because of Sony and Nintendo.  The next Microsoft console will probably include wireless.  The next Nintendo console will probably include a hard drive to take advantage of the lucrative DLC market (especially since they are missing the Rock Band /Guitar Hero DLC money train).  Because of the Wii's success at that lower price point, I don't think Sony or Microsoft will come out with another console over $400.

Competition is wonderful.  I'm thankful Microsoft entered the fray and thankful Nintendo came back with a vengeance.

I give this thread a 9.7. 

Microsoft came into the business to downplay Sony's power over several markets. They are winning software because of its year head-start and architecture similar to that of a PC, making it easier to make a game for.

competition, both want to win and destroy the opposition

I hate microsoft because they splash money about to make themselves fans.

$100 million to paramount to stop them releasing titles on blu-ray (denying blu-ray owners a title that would justify shelling out for new hardware)

god knows how much dollars to put the GTA4 dlc only on the 360 version

Microsoft are evil personified

doot doot doo ooh, doot doo ooh, aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaahhhhh

Can't we all just get along and combat politicians that wanna censor gaming and regulate it?

Thanks to finalsquall and Gamer4eva for raising very interesting points. Folks this can't just be explained away as just arising out of the natural capitalistic need to make profits. Even though profit is one of the biggest driving reasons, there is a lot more going on here. Central to this is the domination of the home PC environment by windows. Microsoft's monopoly over the Operating System which is used to run computers in almost every household in the world is what gives them such incredible strength. They are capable, at will, to make people buy any new version of Windows that they make every few years. If I go into a shop today and buy a new computer, it already comes preinstalled with Vista. I have no choice but to upgrade, even though I hate it. This is also what causes any Microsoft software product to beat all others (Microsoft office tools, Internet Explorer etc). Its simple, only MS products are given the secrets to using Windows in the most optimum way. For Windows code is not open to anyone but MS, so all other competing products find it very difficult to write code that works with similar efficieny and since 90%+ of the computers are running on Windows, you have the battle won. This is how Netscape Navigator was destroyed and competing office tools from Sun, Apple and Google are having such a hard time competing.
During the time of the PS1 Microsoft detected the emergence of a new market area in the home entertainment scope. Microsoft foresaw, correctly, that video games consoles would not remain solely about video games but would grow to encompass music, movies, online browsing, social networking etc.This emerging market will unseat the PC from the throne of the home media. In the process the monopoly established by Microsoft would also be rendered ineffective, unless they establish domination in the new market. What MS is doing is just that, to establish complete control over the video game industry by standardizing the hardware. This will in turn allow them to dictate the software to be used on top of that. Admittedly, by rushing in headlong into the video games arena, MS might be driving new features, price cuts so on and so forth. However I am wary of MS winning this war too soon, coz that wud start the monopoly yet again. I admire Microsoft a lot for their strengths and I like some of their games incredibly (Age of Empires, Freelancer, Gears, Mass Effect) but I have to say it like the way it is.

 arent there also rumors that sony did the same to warner bros (who whoever was the company that started the landslide to blu ray) so they would be blu ray exclusive? who cares, its the nature of capitalism. The reason a lot of people hate microsoft is cuz it has a history of throwing tons of money into trying to take out the competition.  Well, good for them for making all that friggin money they can throw away like that. 

 And so you know, both sony and microsoft are companies that make lousy friggin products. While Microsoft is known for their high failure rate in consoles, instable operating systems, and shoddy software, u should check out other sony products. They have a very short lifetime. I used to sell electronics for a living a couple of years back, you would think sony made some damn good quality tvs, but they had the highest return rate due to early defects of all the higher end names.  Not to mention, every single sony product ive had (DVD player, 2 tvs, Home Theater, HDTV) has taken a shit within a year of me buying it and required some service, while i still have a tv thats 18 fuckin years old, RCA and still works like a champ.  The PS3 might be a gem or endurance, but their other shit aint.