There have been a number of games that are multi-platform like strangelhold, skate, dirt among others that keep coming out first on the 360 wether it is a few weeks or even months.  How big is this trend in terms of the console war?  Main reason I am bringing this up is for the now released Orange Box which early review indicate is going to be an AAA title meaning 90+ average which will get alot of buzz similar to Bioshock.  I mean it is a hell of a package for $60.  Now this is coming to the PS3 but a good month or so later and  according to most recent reports it is actually listed as TBA.  This to me is obviously a win for the 360 as the game gets alot of attention now and when gamers go out to buy it they will see is actually only available for the 360 though it is multiplatform.  Of course you can also buy it for the PC but we care about consoles on this site :).  I know people can wait but november is already loaded with other games like assasin creed,mass effect, uncharted drake among many more that will kill any buzz for the PS3 version of the orange box. 

Basically how important are these unintentional timed exclusives? I say they have helped the 360 quite a bit.

This is only important to 2 type of people.

1. the gamer with no next gen console and are gunna buy one within the time differance of each release.

2. the gamer with both consoles Like me. It will slow sales slightly but at most 10% due to there not being a huge number of PS3 and 360 owner at this point in the game. later down the road when prices are at wii levels it will make a bigger difference. but by then Im sure devs will be more familar with PS3 arch and it wont be a problem.


I planned on getting for PS3 due to my PSN games clan being better fit for Team fortress. but now thanks to the delay and the urge to play HL2 episode 2 and to actually play HL2 as I just jumped to Episode 1.

Its a shame that PS3 owners get the short end of the stick when it comes to multi-platform games.

Timed exclusives are important but it can hurt game sales for the company because by the time it comes out for that last console the hype of game has pretty much disappeared and better games for that console are already out.

The last I heard, the PS3 version is tentatively dated for December 11th. That's a considerable delay, and it's a very poor time for the game to get out. Most people (particularly parents) buy their Christmas presents before the 11th. They're missing an important window.

I do think timed exclusives (unintentional or otherwise) are helping the 360. Often, even with the extra development time, the game is handled better on 360 than the later PS3 version, as well (see GRAW2 and even The Orange Box, where the PS3 version is made by EA, not Valve). Now it's becoming a chicken or the egg scenario -- PS3 ports are not selling nearly as well as their 360 bretheren, so will more development houses farm out the PS3 versions of their games to save money, thereby continuing the cycle of poorer/later ports for the platform? Or are the PS3 ports not selling nearly as well because they are not handled as well, which might incite developers to put some more effort into them to jumpstart sales? Only time will tell, I guess.

No matter how you slice it, it's not good for PS3.

It gives the appearance that the PS3 is the black sheep system. To a casual observer, it might appear publishers just don't put as much empathize on it, when it fact it was given equal (or greater) development dollars but delayed by a longer development time.

Elnino you make an excellent point. All you have to do is look at the Gamecube to see this effect. Often times the Gamecube version of a game was released after the PS2 and X-box versions. Consequently the Gamecube version of those games usually sold the worst.

@elnino334

Your right and I agree. It seems that with every release for the 360 it has the hype, but when the PS3 version comes out its horrible due to the hype has been token by the 360.

And also 360 versions seem to get the most out of the developer than the PS3 versions.

The timed delay will sell more copies on the 360 vs. the PS3 to the crowd that owns both consoles. I suspect most will buy the 360 version rather than wait. That will reinforce to valve that they made the right decisions on this title and going forward will probably do the same. Assuming it does sell quite a bit better on the 360, other developers will take note and reconsider exclusive releases on the PS3.

There is one counter, however, and that is the new price tag. The new price tag means new buyers looking for new titles which may very well help sell a lot of orange box... We'll see when the dust settles...

All this proves is that Microsoft is paying these companies to release the game later on the PS3, which i'm pretty sure is against the law, due to fair trade and all that crap.

Overall, it's rather bad, but not the end of the world.

There are a few major advantages to the "1st strike" of a console (in this case, the Xbox 360).

#1. Owners of both systems will much more than likely pick up the first one out, if they are remotely interested in the game, killing a sell for the 2nd version (never underestimate those that have both systems).

#2. Shelf Space. The system with more games = sells more systems, and games. If Skate, Dirt, or Stranglehold are taking up more shelfspace for the Xbox 360 (or inversely, Virtua Fighter 5 on PS3), that system has an automatic precieved advantage in the consumer marketplace ("Mommy, but that other white X system has soooo many more games, buy it, now!")

#3. Age. If a game doesn't age well....And...Well.....Sucks, by the time the 2nd version is released, it can fail horribly. In the case of Tomb Raider - the Saturn version was delayed due to hardware issues (sound familiar?), and the Playstation version not only sold better, but by the time TR came out for Saturn, it was near DOA...As far as I can remember.

A bad game will get ruined if it sells later than the first once, since consumers are by then, privy to the suckage of a given game. A real good game won't have those effects, but it's still bad. And after all, we *are* talking middle-of-the-road games, and not top-tier games.

Of course, we can always do comparative stat analysis of X360 vs. PS3 multi-plats and delayed multi-plats and see if there's a difference if needed.