• 28Mar 07

  Xbox 360 Elite?... A threat to the PS3?

  There are thousands upon thousands of forums which discusses the issue of this generation's console war... and of course, who will win it? My opinion has never changed since the Xbox 360 was released back in 2005, and who else but Sony PS3 will be victorious. "Why is that?", u may ask. I always believed Sony to think through things and come up with a solution that will last for years and years to come. The original Playstation and Playstation 2 sold more units and lasted longer in their generations than any other of its competitors. Unfortunately the PSP was heavily shoved aside by a touch of genious from Nintendo. What else than the DS lite? A strategy that will 'temporarily' knock the PSP unconscious. The same principle is implemented with Nintendo's Wii. Again, sales have been extraordinary for it. However, it is quite simple and clear that Nintendo is holding back their systems in order to increase the demand. How? Through the media of course. I agree that this motion sensitivity is very clever which is fresh idea implemented in gaming. People around the world, gamers or non-gamers, will be tempted to try the console out due to this and its tasty price compared with their competitors. However I believe, no matter what Nintendo does, whether its increasing demand and holding back supply to lure customers or how 'intuative' the system will be, the idea WILL eventually fall short compared to other systems. In this time and age 'sensitivity' should not be heavily used, as on the Wii. The resposiveness is no way near to a level of suitable accuracy or responsiveness that a gamer would like. Nintendo themselves knows that this is the case and so only makes partial use of the control system. Apart from the motion sensor, Nintendo will really fall on its knees when it comes to graphics, as I am sure many would know ~ its still last gen. Therefore, I predict that this system will only do well in the short tem as gamers would want more immersive gaming. By the way, this trend has stuck with Nintendo since the 64 and the Gamecube. As I said before, I wouldnt be surprised or should I say, I am sure, it WONT win this generation's console war.

  So 1 down, 2 to go. This was a very bad year for Sony, especially within the PAL regions. Backwards compatibility was a major issue involving the removal of a chip and using emulation software to play Playstation 1 and 2 games due to production costs. And yet, we had to pay more than other countries? Then there were issues with developers who have always worked with Sony going to release games on multiplatforms. I wont mention all of them but Capcom (Devil May Cry 4) and Square Enix (FFXIII) moving to other platforms as well? This is one hell of a blow to Sony, and another reason for gamers not to buy this generation's most expensive console. As I said before, one thing that I most love about Sony, is that they think about the future more than anybody else. Why is that important you may think. Well, firstly Sony does not need to upgrade their consoles to rip off us gamers with new 'edtions'. As they say it, everything comes out of the box, with HDMI 1080p output as well for the future even though not many people have HD tvs right now. They even though about using Linux as an OS for the PS3 for gamers to do wacky things with it. But have they thought TOO far into the future when they havent even established themselves upright yet? I think so, and this is critical decision. Many gamers want to play games, and in this generation, online gaming is almost certain. One thing has dissapointed me though, and probably the most important point in deciding who will win the war is the online gaming community. I'm not sure how the online system works with Sony, but its definetely not very good compared to Microsoft. Even in the lastest release of Virtua Tennis 3, Sega couldnt be bothered to work with Sony online, but the system worked nicely with microsoft. Virtual fighter 5 and Tekken 5: DR both didnt have online play, compared to Xbox's DoA 4 nicely integrated online system. This is exactly what I mean about Sony trying to run beforen they can walk. They only thing that that separates the Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3 is the all important HDMI output along with the bigger hard drive. Without it, it would be difficult for Microsoft to win it clearly.

  And today, Microsoft announces their 'cheap' but killer blow upgraded console, the Xbox 360 Elite. What else?.. Other than the HDMI output and 120GB hard drive. I knew from the beginning Sony will win this war if the consoles stayed the same but the this day would be inevitable for them (and for me). In doing this, I think Microsoft has totally turned the balance from Sony to theirs in favour. Microsoft has also worked closely with Japanese developers trying to explode the Xbox 360 into their market. It seems that they will now succeed in doing so. If this continue to stay the same, it is inevitable that Microsoft's Xbox 360 will win this generation's Console War. I doubt that Nintendo's Wii can stop them. It's possible for Sony's PS3 but the people there will have think... VERY, VERY hard!!!  

  (PS. I have all 3 consoles and the content above was written purely out of my opinion. I am Not a fanboy of any company nor am I that sad to be one. Thank you for reading.. if any)

  • Posted Mar 28, 2007 8:44 am GMT
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