Sony has been king of the video-game hill for the past decade, but its position is beginning to look precarious.
Rivals Microsoft and Nintendo are on the attack, and they seem to have a better footing than in the past to truly challenge Sony's dominance.
By the time Sony's PlayStation 3 console shows up on store shelves this November, Microsoft's own next-generation console, the Xbox 360, could have a lead of more than a year and 10 million units in the marketplace.
i would be suprised if xbox 1.5 could sell 7 million by the time ps3 comes out.ms is competing againsed the ps2 not ps3. i see pyramids of them in every store cause no one wants an xflop 1.5.Everyone is waiting for ps3 and wii
ps3 is way behind, the blue ray is delayed again. sony is in deep water, i want that console to come out so the 360 can crush it, that is the only reason.
One things for sure, they (Sony) are gonna have to step it up a bit, and maybe surprise us with new things, maybe like a price drop at launch, ora free Blu-Ray movie, or anything that they have to do to get people to start respecting them again. I know, they can tell the truth about something for once. Im buying one regardless of what ppl say or hear, Im just all in it for the games, and Xbox 360 and PS3 both have some exclusive games that rock and are only on one console. (ie. Resistance only PS3, Gears of War - only Xbox 360, etc.)
The transition to HD-DVD requires minimal infrastructure investment, whereas the transition to Blu-ray requires massive infrastructure investment. As it stands now, you can practically buy a stand-alone HD-DVD player and upwards of 10 to 20 HD-DVD’s for the price of a stand-alone Blu-ray player. Thus, even though Sony is including a Blu-ray drive in the PS3, the format war is far from won. This is especially true when you consider that HD-DVD is the only format that can contain both a DVD-9 movie and a high definition HD-DVD movie on one disk. So to the extent that DVD-9’s still hold ground, HD-DVD will be the sole beneficiary and then when these people go to upgrade their players, they will already have a large library of HD-DVD movies. Furthermore, with up-conversion becoming more and more popular and the differences between DVD-9 and HD-DVD / Blu-ray becoming less obvious, the higher price of Blu-ray over HD-DVD will be even more pronounced.
I personally believe that the winner of the next-gen format war will therefore be DVD-9’s and players that read both HD-DVD and Blu-ray disks. Obviously, Microsoft is in a far better position than Sony is to adapt an external HD-Drive for the 360, based on the realities of the changing marketplace. However, the biggest advantage that the 360 will have over the PS3 is that it doesn’t have any HD-Drive as standard. You see contrary to what Sony wants you to believe; a Blu-ray drive will offer very minimal benefits for games and their decision to include it in the PS3 amounts to really nothing more than a cross-subsidization / format war leveraging stance. Please refer to the following link to understand why DVD-9’s are still an appropriate storage medium for high definition games (as though Oblivion wasn’t proof enough):
http://www.gamesfirst.com/?...
Meanwhile, Sony has given the most prolific software company in the world a one year head start with a system that for all intensive purposes is just as (if not more powerful) than the PS3. Including Blu-ray has also handed Microsoft (which is in far better financial shape than Sony) the price mechanism to adjust the price of the 360 – so as to essentially assure Microsoft victory in the next-generation. This is of course very serious for PS3 owners because the games tend to gravitate where the install base is and the 360’s superior development environment will further exasperate the PS3’s shortcomings.
Still if you are a Sony fan then you are happy because regardless of how poorly the PS3 does against the 360, Sony stands to establish a foothold for Blu-ray in the upcoming format war and in the bigger picture that is good because Sony stands on making large amounts of profits from the resulting Blu-ray royalties. However, if you are a Playstation fan then you are probably not happy because it should be obvious that Sony’s priority was not about making the best GAMES machine at the most affordable price possible. As for me, well as a techie and an economist I will love to see Sony be dethroned this generation because it will mean they didn’t get away with abusing their consumer loyalty base and it will mean that Microsoft will be rewarded for better internalizing consumer's interests in the gaming market.
Peace, sincerely an ex-Sony fan, and newly created Microsoft fan.
I know you cant handle the fact that your xflop is not selling and the ps3 will come out and no one will even care about it.your xflpo 1.5 cant even outsell ps2 so shut the hell up and go collect some more faceplates for your xbox 1.5.And burly you have been created in a lab by bill gates you are now an xbot