PS3 wins the Console War (PS3 vs. 360. vs. Wii)

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Back in '06 and '07 the 360 had the upper hand with it's cheaper price and better exclusives, because it was released earlier.

Now in '09, the PS3 has many quality exclusives. Heavenly Sword, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2, and Infamous. Tekken 6 and Final Fantasy XIII were supposed to be PS3 exclusive but became available to the 360 as well. Also games like God of War III, a new Metal Gear Solid game, and MAG, have been announced.

A PS3 price cut is also inevitable. If the PS3 was $299, price will no longer be a flaw of the PS3.

Regarding the Playstation Network, I have found the connection to be just as good as Xbox Live's connection, and the Playstation Network now has the same amount of users as Xbox Live's.

For big games like Final Fantasy XIII, blu-ray disc is a HUGE advantage:

The demo of long awaited RPG blockbuster Final Fantasy XIII has unveiled an unpleasant truth for Xbox 360 owners: the demo alone is 5GB, more than the capacity of a single layer DVD, and of course the full game will be many times larger.

The capacity of a Blu-ray disc is 25GB for a single layer, 50GB for two, whilst a single layer DVD is 4.7GB and a dual layer one 8.5GB. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 only has a DVD drive.

2ch provides its impression of the situation facing Xbox 360 owners when the game finally finds its way onto the platform next year:

This was what it was initially thought to be…


Expectations have however increased…


With the size of games ever increasing, suddenly the economy of including a standard DVD drive does not seem so wise. Much disc-swapping appears to be on the horizon…

Via Hachimaki.

So PS3 pros:
Better Exclusives
Inevitable $50-100 price cut
Less hardware problems than the 360
Playstation Network is just as good Xbox Live
Blu-Ray Drive

Cons:No more PS2 game compatibility

360 Pros:
Xbox Live
Gears of War, and Halo 3
Cheap

Cons:
No blu-ray. The next generation of Xbox consoles might not even have blu-ray installed.
Not many new quality exclusives... at least that I don't know about.
Red ring of death plus new "E76" bug

Microsoft has released a new bug for their successful Xbox 360 console, complementing the popular “Red Ring of Death”, which for years has been ensuring a steady stream of broken consoles are supplied to end users.

The new bug, known only as “E76”, adds an exciting new graphical element to the business of sending consoles to Microsoft’s support centers; Microsoft describe the problem:

“One part of the power LED lights up, but additionally the error message ‘E76’ will be displayed on screen. The cause is quite different to that of the ‘Red Ring of Death’.”

Microsoft asks that those afflicted send their consoles to a support centre in the usual fashion.

The hardware defect is already proving popular, with Google Trends data showing a sharp and sudden increase in incidences of the issue from a zero starting point, starting August of 2008.
Fans speculate that this could be due to a GPU malfunction, though Microsoft is not spoiling the excitement by revealing the cause.

Via Technobahn.

Sony is not content to let Microsoft lead in this way, and lately has been rolling out its own line of drive malfunction on the PS3… Only time will tell whether Microsoft’s lead is indeed too far advanced.

Your thoughts?

[Ramses II CP]

I don't own any of them, but my understanding is that worldwide the Wii has 30 million more units sold than the PS3 and that Nintendo either turned a profit or broke even on every one of them. If the 'console war' is about making money then it was over around Xmas 2k7 and it's all been beating a dead horse since.

The DS has reportedly sold over twice as many units as the PSP as well.

[Monk]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'll admit, that made me laugh. I remember when final fantasy games came on 4+ discs for the original PlayStation, but no one really thought so much of them then so I can't see how they would now. Yeah the storage would be nice but coming from a PC user who has games that take up 5+ discs (half-life 2 anyone?), the idea that because someone has to swap out discs is an overall mark against the system is not one I can agree with. I put up with it in the Ps1 days and never even thought twice about it.

Regarding the Playstation Network, I have found the connection to be just as good as Xbox Live's connection, and the Playstation Network now has the same amount of users as Xbox Live's.

Sorry but "just as good" isn't going to cut it for games like MAG, PSN is going to need to beat the pants off of Live in order to really support the numbers they are talking about with minimum lag. Gears of war 2 only supports 5v5 and I routinely get lag (mainly because there is no such thing as dedicated servers). If Mag is supported by ded servers then maybe.. but still.. we're talking about 256 people. I'll have to believe it when I see it, sadly. It sounds amazing, but if a man tells me he's jesus you can bet i'll check the wrists.*

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Microsoft has released a new bug for their successful Xbox 360 console, complementing the popular “Red Ring of Death”, which for years has been ensuring a steady stream of broken consoles are supplied to end users.

The new bug, known only as “E76”, adds an exciting new graphical element to the business of sending consoles to Microsoft’s support centers; Microsoft describe the problem:

“One part of the power LED lights up, but additionally the error message ‘E76’ will be displayed on screen. The cause is quite different to that of the ‘Red Ring of Death’.”

Microsoft asks that those afflicted send their consoles to a support centre in the usual fashion.

The hardware defect is already proving popular, with Google Trends data showing a sharp and sudden increase in incidences of the issue from a zero starting point, starting August of 2008.
Fans speculate that this could be due to a GPU malfunction, though Microsoft is not spoiling the excitement by revealing the cause.

Sony is not content to let Microsoft lead in this way, and lately has been rolling out its own line of drive malfunction on the PS3… Only time will tell whether Microsoft’s lead is indeed too far advanced.

Via Technobahn.

I take care of my 360 and i've not had a single problem in the year and a half of its use (knock on wood). It's still going strong with little signs of wear, despite its heavy use. The only problems I have had with it are the occasional freeze that seems to only happen if I have it sitting horizontal. From what I understand the console in that position has no way to vent the air that gets trapped under the disc drive and therefore ends up freezing... Its my one complain about the 360.

Though to be fair i remember when Sony released a firmware update early on after the Ps3 launch that, if downloaded, effectively bricked your console. Yeah, both of the "next gen" systems have had rocky roads of imperfection and neither really reached "the city on a hill" outlook that they tried to be.

If we want to be perfectly honest Nintendo is the most likely candidate for winner of the "console war" as the Wii has outsold both Ps3 and 360 combined, though the poor thing seems to be losing steam after all this time and might be sputtering out. I actually hope the ps3 gets another price-cut, that way i can justify buying one.



*Shamelessly stolen from penny arcade

[Meneldil]

Nintendo won the console war a while ago.

The 360 is terrible and the PS3 is a joke.

A quick summary :

Wii - 48 millions
360 - 25 millions
PS3 - 20 millions
Nintendo DS - 86 millions
PSP - 43 millions
GBA - 86 millions

As of march 2009, Nintendo sold more than Microsoft and Sony combined.

[Xiahou]

Nintendo won the console war a while ago.

That's what the data would seem to indicate.

I own a Wii and a PS3, but I can't think of any metric under which you could say the PS3 is winning out. I like the PS3, but I'd put it in last place in the "Console Warz".

Also, on a personal note, a BIG con of the PS3 was their decision to drop PS2 compatibility. Man, what a bad idea that was....

[The Spartan (Returns)]

I'll admit, that made me laugh. I remember when final fantasy games came on 4+ discs for the original PlayStation, but no one really thought so much of them then so I can't see how they would now. Yeah the storage would be nice but coming from a PC user who has games that take up 5+ discs (half-life 2 anyone?), the idea that because someone has to swap out discs is an overall mark against the system is not one I can agree with. I put up with it in the Ps1 days and never even thought twice about it.


Sorry but "just as good" isn't going to cut it for games like MAG, PSN is going to need to beat the pants off of Live in order to really support the numbers they are talking about with minimum lag. Gears of war 2 only supports 5v5 and I routinely get lag (mainly because there is no such thing as dedicated servers). If Mag is supported by ded servers then maybe.. but still.. we're talking about 256 people. I'll have to believe it when I see it, sadly. It sounds amazing, but if a man tells me he's jesus you can bet i'll check the wrists.*

If we want to be perfectly honest Nintendo is the most likely candidate for winner of the "console war" as the Wii has outsold both Ps3 and 360 combined, though the poor thing seems to be losing steam after all this time and might be sputtering out. I actually hope the ps3 gets another price-cut, that way i can justify buying one.

As a PC Gamer, I don't necessarily find swapping discs a great flaw, but if Final Fantasy XIII was really like that on the 360, (I know it's really exaggerated) then it definitely is a flaw.

Well you're right there as well. I've played Madden one on one on both consoles online, and Tekken 5: Online one on one online, and it can lag sometimes to where it's troublesome. I find it astonishing as a PC gamer, because I may be playing 60 players on Red Orchestra one day with no lag at all.

Well in my opinion what "wins" a "console war" is the console that performs better and has better games (exclusives). I'm sure if the PS3 was the same price as the 360, it would sell better.

Also, on a personal note, a BIG con of the PS3 was their decision to drop PS2 compatibility. Man, what a bad idea that was....

Forgot about that one...

Also IIRC, you can play any game internationally with any PS3 right? So, I could buy a Japanese exclusive game, and it work on an American PS3 correct?

[Tratorix]

This just in- Ps3 gains ground on second place competitor, somehow wins console war.

[frogbeastegg]

My PS2 was my favourite console of the previous generation. Quite probably my favourite console ever. I own more games that it than for anything else. Out of 14 years of gaming and countless platforms, it houses the greatest percentage of my favourite games. I expected the PS3 to carry this on.

There can be no disputing the fact that it's a wonderful bit of hardware. Well made, well designed, pleasant to use, quiet, and just shiny for lack of a better catch all happy word. It's a wonderful movie player and it's hands down the best version of the PS2 in existence. Upscaling, wireless controller, faster memory card access, quieter console - there's everything to love about a backwards compatible PS3. As a PS3 it gets little use from me - there's so little on it I want to play. The exclusives have been very disappointing so far; if you don't play shooters then there isn't much left over. The majority of the appealing ideas spoken of early in the PS3's life have not materialised or have failed to reach Europe - where is my huge selection of downloadable PS1 classics? Where's the rest of my software driven backwards compatibility? Where's the amazing wow-ness that the xbox couldn't handle without melting?

The 360 is the last console I brought out of this gen's trio, and it's the one I didn't expect to bother with. 18 months on and it's the one I own most games for this gen, the one I play the most, and the one which has the largest proportion of games I enjoyed on. The snag? As hardware it’s not very nice. It feels a bit cheap and flimsy; I particularly dislike the eject button for the disc tray. The disc drive is very noisy, the cooling fans are loud; installing games to the hard drive helps a lot but the problem is never entirely cured. I do prefer the controller to the PS3’s; the analogue stick has more resistance to it and is better located.

I brought my 360 because of a turn of events I never expected: it got the JRPGS. That's a niche that the Playstation family has dominated for 2 generations and is famous for. That kind of sums up the whole situation for me. The PS3 lost many of the things which the earlier machines had won, and in doing so it lost the appeal they had.

As for FFXIII, I shall do as I always do when it comes to multiplatform releases and get it for whichever console looks set to give the best experience. It would be nice if for once that were the PS3.

I remember when games routinely came on 4 or more discs. I think 6 was the largest number for a single game I owned. Often the data was divided up so you had to swap discs like a crazed DJ just to walk across a small town

IMO the DS is the winner. It has sold the most units, has the largest library of games, has the widest variety of game types, has loads of outstanding titles, makes its unique selling point work, and is good hardware. The only thing disqualifying it from the standard race is the fact it doesn’t connect to a TV. I love mine.

[Tratorix]

IMO the DS is the winner. It has sold the most units, has the largest library of games, has the widest variety of game types, has loads of outstanding titles, makes its unique selling point work, and is good hardware. The only thing disqualifying it from the standard race is the fact it doesn’t connect to a TV. I love mine.

If there's one thing Nintendo knows, its handheld games. They've pretty much dominated that market since they got into it.