At the beginning of this generation there were three major consoles that entered the market all vying for the industries top spot, the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3. The problem with this fact is that only two of the three are legitimate gaming consoles. While the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are machines whose internal specs are usually optimized for their systems’ games, the Wii is stuck in the mud with its major selling point being a gimmicky controller thats only utilized in game play half of the time while the only new titles that come around are Playstation 2 ports. In my opinion, when I think of “Next Gen”, the Wii does not enter the picture.
Since in my mind there are only two true “Next Gen” consoles I think to pick an early winner one would have to rule out the PS3 and go with the XBOX 360 entirely. The reasons for this are simple, the 360 has the library of games and the Live service. Sure the PS3 has games and you can play some of them online but neither compares when looking at the games and services that are found on the 360. It seems that almost every game that runs on both consoles runs better on the 360 and while your whoring out yourself for thay almighty Gamerscore you can actually communicate with people via an XBOX Live headset. It just does not get any better than that.
People say that this is Sony’s year though and that Microsoft has screwed up by throwing all it’s cards down in the 360’s first two years by releasing Halo 3 and Mass Effect already but I would beg to differ. What does the PS3 have to offer this year? Haze, Metal Gear 4, Little Big Planet, Motorstorm 2 and Resistance 2. Sure there are a few more First Party games coming to the PS3 but these are the heavy hitters and they all should be pretty damn good but the 360 has a few games coming also. Ninja Gaiden 2, Too Human, Fable 2, Halo Wars, and Gears of War 2 can definitely stand up to anything that Sony has to offer and all these games will utilize the 360’s Live service which allows for finding buddies at the click of a few buttons.
Will Sony’s Home have what it takes to dethrone XBOX Live? I highly doubt it. Sony could have just copied Live and one upped Microsoft by making it free but that would make too much sense. Instead they took the PC MMO Second Life and made it their PS3 Live. Hey Sony, when I hop online to play with my friends the last thing I want to do is walk around a virtual world to find them. What are they thinking? They want to be different, they want something new and fresh but this is not it. I think Home will fail miserably but Sony would never admit it even if it did.
As it turns out my vote is for the XBOX 360 for winning the console war. It is rather early for a clear cut winner but I am basing my decision on what I have seen from both consoles thus far. For now, I will keep playing on Live, keep playing my PS3’s First Party games, and keep letting my Wii collect dust as it sits there making sure my ten month old does not get at my HDTV manual.
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