Nintendo, by far! They have the gaming industry in the bag, as it is their only bag. And they do it well!

I currently own a 360 elite and PS3. I do enjoy playing on the Xbox more than the PS3 for a few reasons:
1)Interface-Xbox has a much smoother menu and interface options than the PS3
2)Xbox Live-much easier and user friendly than the PS3 version, I happily pay 8$/mo for such convenience and additional options
3)Xbox’s controller is much more comfortable. I feel like i will break the ps3 controller, and it is so small my fingers fumble with the buttons. Any game that is cross-platform goes to the xbox for this main reason alone.
4)Removable HD-Hopefuly, when the next gen Xbox comes out, the Hard drives will be swappable so we can keep our personal touch to the new machine, as well as our movies and music.

PS3 does have good features, that I think will eventually beat out the xbox due to its more advanced hardware and blue-ray capabilities. But for now, Xbox has my vote. I don’t have a family, so the Wii is out of the question for me, its for kids, and so are most of the games made for it.

Having young adults in my life..they say the vote is for Wii….
in my day we were excited about PAC MAN…times change…
I think it’s good another company can made an adaptation to a unit not made by them…that’s free enterprise..and may the best win!

By far the big winner once again in MICROSOFT. Best features and games hands down. Still do not understand why all you so called experts think the WII is in direct competition with M$ and Sony. They have even admitted themselves that they are not. Their console is more of a novelty than competition for the next gen consoles. The Wii is based on GAMECUBE technology, which came out at the beginning of this decade. So that being said, it is M$ that is coming out with more games, and more features than Sony. They have a bigger share of todays real gaming consumer - the 18-40 year old range, who buys more games. Not the novelty of games for mostly kids who’s parents buy games for Holidays and birthdays.

This year’s E3 is, to me, probably the least exciting event in gaming history. I mean, what did we learn? That Nintendo is releasing a microphone to enable chat, a feature that’s been around for consoles for almost a decade?

You forgot to mention the biggest news of the conference, which was that Final Fantasy XIII was going to be released on the 360. Not sure how you missed that.

Winner has to be the PS3,not because of the gaming capabilities, but because of the home theater implications. The fact that its not only the cheapest, but also the best Blu Ray player on the market with DTS MA and Dolby True HD audio capabilities and with regular firmware upgrades to keep it ahead of the pack, I don’t know why you would have any other device in your living room.

Wii all the way! They are the ones doing things….. It appeals to the whole family with the variety and it also provides Nintendo the opportunity to be very creative with development. Looks like Wii has it hands down this year again and sales that eclisped the other two and almost combined as well.

As for Microsoft, they should have announced a blu-ray xbox as it might be worth getting and people would pay more for such a device for sure.

As for Sony, they two only added the down loading of some 300 movie titles, which is fine if they have many you want and it’s cool that you can switch them btwn playstation and the hand held.

Overall, E3 was somewhat of a disappointment this year. I watched all of the press conferences and there weren’t many surprises.

Nintendo continued to market simple games. Some games are a little too easy, such as Wii Music, where the player just randomly presses buttons and moves around to make music. The new Wii Sports looks impressive, especially the sword play using the new Wii Motion add-on. But overall, there were no substantive games added to the already weak line up that Nintendo offers.

Sony continues to lose ground. They offered no price decrease, only an increase in hard drive size. The only up-sides that were shown were a sequel to God of War and a game that offers 256 player multiplayer (I can’t imagine what lag will be like though). I’ll be interested to see how long Sony lasts while losing billions (yes, with a b) of dollars in the gaming market.

Microsoft was the easy winner at E3. They showed great games that will appeal to a wide audience of gamers (Gears of War 2 looks incredible). Microsoft’s big advantage, Xbox Live, continues to improve with new things like online game shows, avatars, and most importantly, the partnership with Netflix, where all Netflix subscribers will be able to watch over 10,000 movies with a subscription to Xbox Live Gold (which is going to cause me to get Netflix). And not to mention, Microsoft got a hold of the new Final Fantasy game, thus killing another one of Sony’s exclusive licenses. The only mistake Microsoft made was not officially announcing the new Halo game for time constraint reasons, though they did make room for Halo Wars.

Overall, though Nintendo is currently in the lead, Microsoft looks poised to win in the long run. The Wii needs to come out with big games if it doesn’t want to become a fad. Sony is going to have to make a gigantic 180 is it doesn’t want to crash and burn. Microsoft has some catching up to do, but looks to be making up some grounds with a wide variety of games and online features that will appeal to a large audience.

Gave up on consoles after the N64. I prefer PC gaming. With few upgrades since I built it in 01′ is far more powerful and flexible than the Current Consoles. Never liked replacing my gaming system just because the company wanted me to……399.00 for console, few hundred for games, few hundred for controllers and accessories…..and 2 years from now……Expensive junk to show ones friends…..

I’m looking forward to Gears of war 2, the first game was a classic and the new additions seem to be right in tune with what I want. This 360 exclusive GTA 4 is another title I gotta get. Another reason I’m glad I chose the 360. They really seem to be on the pulse of the kind of gamer I am.

I find it funny that everytime non-gamers talk about the big 3 they quote hardware sales. Hardware sales mean nothing if people are not buying software. Looks at who leads the pack with software sales and that will tell you who is a head. Halo 3 and GTA 4 are two of the most popular sold media formats in the history of the world and they are not on the Wii. Given the fact that Nintendo puts out garbage for games and at E3 Nintendo didn’t even have a game worth anything out, all they had was add-ons and accesories to make it “better”. Also look at their customer basis: children and old people. Children get older and want better games and the old… well they are not a long-term customer. The PS3 and 360 form a customer base of people that will play for 10, 20 , 30 or maybe longer years and that is a lot of playing. With that said I do own a PS3, 360 and Wii and I love all three. The Wii is good for goofing around with the wife and kids and the 360 and PS3 are for actual gaming. I love the competion and perhaps the three will realize that if they combined their efforts and made a single console to rule them all it would be a great day.

Why do people say Nintendo is putting out bad games? Have you looked at the reviews?
(Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros) And has anyone seen a Wii Fit lasting on the shelf for more than 20 minutes?
I was one of those people who rolled my eyes when I first saw the Wii hit the market. Those wacky controllers.. no way that will catch on, but after owning one, I admit I was wrong.
The games may be childish when compared to the other consoles, but hey nothing beats a PC for adult gaming anyway.

Wow, I thought it was a vicious rumor that owners of the Xbox and/or Playstation consoles were ignorant, but here is the proof! While software sales do indeed indicate sales trends, one cannot shake a stick at the fact that the Wii is the top selling console! Especially when you stop and consider that for its first 10-14 months in the market, you could barely find one! I mean, if the 360 or PS3 were so awesome, would it not seem logical that even despite their incresed manufacturing volumes, that they too would be scarce? Think about that… and while we are at it, what about Mario Kart Wii? or Wii Fit? Those are harder to find that a Wii itself these days… We can argue that Halo 3 is a top selling game till we are blue in the face, but face it, most Halo 3 owners are Halo 2 owners too… at least Wii games are reacing new audiences with more disposable income. And while I am a Wii owner, I am a Nintendo fan from way back and I say if you want storylines, replay and rich characters, stick to Nintendo… if you want pretty games with nothing more than alot of flash, look elsewhere!

NPD sales show that most of the highest-selling month-to-month games are Nintendo Games. Having 1 highest selling game does not make a success (I’m looking at you Microsoft). The winner is the company that makes the most Money. Right now the only game company of the three that is actually in the black is Nintendo. Kudos to you big N!

I own all 3 consoles (Wii, PS3, and Xbox360) so I consider myself impartial.

Based solely on the E3 show, any impartial gamer would have to say that Xbox 360 came out on top. They showed games for core players, casual gamers, family gamers, and games to bring in new consumers as well. They also showed Netflix and multimedia integration for another level of entertainment on the console.

PS3 had an ok showing. Resistance 2 looks great and Little Big Planet does too. But it really stops there. Home is still AWOL and they’ve shown no urgency to compete against Xbox Live to on-line gaming. The strength of the Sony Pictures movie library will show when their movie service arrives in the Fall.

Wii missed the mark completely in my estimation. I really enjoy the Wii with my family but the games they chose to demo and the way they showed them was poor. It appears they’re ignoring the core gamer by design. Animal Crossing is not for the core gamers, even if “Reggie” says it is. Yes, they have potentially expanded the market, but with little more to show than a fix for the Wii remote, it was a disappointing E3 for them.

It’s pretty evident Microsoft came out the winner with the announcement of Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Halo Wars, and Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy was really the only good console seller Sony had and now it’s being released on the 360 as well. Can’t say the same about Gears of War 2 and Fable 2. The 360 has a ton of great other games coming out as well. Sony is getting killed while Microsoft is picking up all the great licenses or at least forcing game makers to release on both consoles.

To Josh Geurian:

While I agree with almost everything you said, what makes you think that the three consoles forming into one would be anything but catastrophic? Aside from PC gaming, that would create a monopoly which would allow them to charge whatever they wanted. If you love competition and want prices to stay decent (I say that loosely), you would not want this to happen.

PLAYSTATION 2

To Clement:

And that is precisely why the PS3 WON’T win this generation.

I want a video game machine which predominantly plays video games. Both the Wii and the X360 does this. The extra features of the Wii and X360 are exactly that: extra features.

Sony, on the other hand, released the PS3 banking on Blu-Ray. PSN is still playing catch-up with Xbox Live. Sony has had to scramble to release cheaper SKUs by gutting things Sony themselves had made standard on their earlier consoles (read: backwards compatibility). They’re losing AAA title 3rd Party exclusives like water in a sieve.

There were six major things which should have all PS3 owners worried from this E3:

a) The presentation started with Tretton continuing the Sony trend of beating their chest and providing statistics about the system which can’t be backed up at all. He then said 2008 was going to be “the year” of Playstation 3 software… and immediately launched into discussing multimedia capabilities of the PS3 and the new video service.

b) The two biggest games they showed this E3 (Resistance and Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty) are both made by Insomniac, a ’second party’ for Sony Computer Entertainment. I’m not including LittleBigPlanet because it really wasn’t “shown” per se, but the use of it as their financial presentation was a nice touch. Their arcade games left a lot to be desired beyond R&C, Kung Fu Ragdolls and Fat Princess. The rest looked like niche, boring crap (see: Flower & Pixel Junk) that very few people will buy, despite Tretton’s claim that they won’t have games no one buy.

c) They spent 10 minutes or more talking up the PS2 and the fact that supposedly over 150 games is coming out for it this year. Two years into the PS3’s lifecycle, there shouldn’t be such an emphasis on “last generation’s” console.

d) Square-Enix is clearly shifting to be a multiplatform developer.

e) Home is still missing in action. There’s absolutely no news on when it’s going to come out and in a later interview, Tretton said he’d rather keep delaying it TWO MORE YEARS than let it come out with ‘too little content’.

f) I can’t find the article at the moment, but I read a report roughly two weeks ago that stated only 28% of U.S. households have a high definition TV. If accurate, that means 62% of households still have a SDTV and have absolutely no use for Blu-Ray over DVD. Simply put, again if accurate, the market for Blu-Ray is still very small and by the time it expands to a formidable level, cheap standalone players will start hitting the market.

Sony has lost their way with the PS3. They’ve forgotten the critical “PLAY” part of the Playstation, instead wanting to make the end-all-be-all digital convergence system to win the format war. So Sony won the Blu-Ray format war, but at the cost of their gaming market.

They need to all come together, and make one console with the software feel of the Xbox 360 and xbox live, the power of the PS3 with blue ray support, and the innovation and family appeal of the Wii. Oh, but thats not all, they should also give it removable (upgradable) parts, to make it more like PC. Therefor, game developers would not be held down by console constraints, and you could upgrade your system, making that one console last 10 times longer than current consoles do.

Now, why it will never happen:

-All three companies are way too greedy to ever let this happen, not just microsoft, all of them.
-If they did all come together, they would have to not only manufacture the game consoles, but also all of the hardware for them, or else they would make no money once everyone had bought the initial console. This would also be bad for consumers, as if they made all the hardware and the console, the price of the console initially would be outrageous, thus ending casual gaming, and blue collar gamers.
-It would completely end the competition amoung gaming companies, which is what this article is all about. In turn, we as gamers, would no longer have 3 companies battling it out, making amazing games with amazing features to compete with each other for our business, and the games and support would suffer.

So, lets be happy that things are the way that they are, and not speculate about who is or will be this generations console war winner. Because after all is said and done, all three companies have given us amazing games and features that will still be there when this generation’s console war is over, no matter who wins.

In paragraph (f), change 62% to 72%.

I fail at both math and proofreading.

ive been a gamer almost my entire life. my parents got me an atari the first christmas i can remember. you guys don’t know what you’re talking about. PS3 eats XBOX and Wii for breakfast and XBOX and Wii are happy for the attention they get while being devoured. PS3 is the system my friends and i have been talking about since playing nintendo at sleepovers when we were 8. The graphics are flawless. untouchable by the other systems. The games hold a depth unattainable by the other systems. The SIXAXIS beats out the XBOX controller by far and if i have to see one more Wii “remote” on the same shelf i’m sticking it in someones butt. You can’t play a real video game with that thing. Thats why old people and little kids can play it well. It’s not a real video game. The only thing either platform has on PS3 is price… and theres a reason

Gezz….Thanks alot guys!……now my kids are like….well…lets just put it this way……..now i have to spend more money for more things ’cause you didn’t give the Wii the vote…..talk about media manipulation!

This is an incomplete and inaccurate comparison, since you fail to mention the handheld consoles at all! The Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, in my estimation, have games that rival the traditional consoles. Not to mention that the DS has outsold the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined! Only the Wii currently sells more systems than the DS.

“Hardcore” gamers may hate to admit this, but the Wii is simply expanding upon what the PS2 began. That is, bringing non-traditional gamers into the gaming world, of which hardcore players are only a small part.

I think no matter what anyone says; the market that Nintendo has tapped into with this generation is INCREDIBLY viable and lucrative as a business model and as a overall healthy gaming industry model. All the message boards are filled with the “hardcore gamers” that whine and complain about how Nintendo is not really that innovative and how the graphics are not “cutting edge” but guess what, all the time the hardcore gamers are waging war online over which one of the latest of a sea of first person shooters has the neatest blood splatter or rag doll physics all of us “casual gamers” are having the most fun with a console since the early days of atari and logging more hours of game play than the so called hardcore gamers.

The Wii is not meant to compete with the Xbox 360 and PS3. Any attempt at comparing them simply shows the ignorance of those doing the comparison.
Casual gamers have their Wii, serious gamers have their Xbox, PS3, and my personal favorite, the Windows PC (no, not a Mac; those things are a joke all around). I recently bought a PS3 b/c I wanted a Blu-Ray player, and the release of GTA IV pushed me over the edge. The fact that it uses standard interfaces (USB and HDMI w/o the need of a lame proprietary cable, anyone?), and free access to un-crippled online experience were pluses as well. Oh, and if I ever had the need to upgrade the hard drive, it would be a breeze. Kinda like my PC.

Unfortunately (for me) MS has definitely plunked down the moola and placed itself in an advantageous position, continuing its dominance of the true-gamer console area. I’m definitely envious of the exclusive upcoming GTA IV episodes. Maybe they’ll come out for the PS3 later. Or perhaps they’ll be included in the PC version.

I have all three cosoles. I have the PS3 80gb and the Xbox 20gb. I bought the wii for my wife because they have gimicky games such as wii sports which at times can be fun to play when theres a lot of people around. I believe that Sony will eventually pull ahead of the xbox 360 because of the technology and the titles that it has and will have. I have been a loyal xbox live subscriber for 3 years and it is a good service the games that it is has for the most part have been really great games the best being bioshock (which is not beinig ported to the ps3) Althought I bought and played HALO3, the only thing for me was the story mode. People think that microsoft has beat sony because they of Final Fantasy 13. If you take a closer look at it FF13 will not be released on the 360 in Japan. When the game is released for the PS3 and Xbox360 the 360 will need SIX DVD for this I mean what are you buying a game or a season of your favorite TV show? I have no hate for any of my toys I think people that stick with one product are ignorant because you can have awesome experiences on all three consoles.

As others have mentioned, the Wii is not necessarily in direct competition with the 360 or the PS3. They definitely cater to a different audience. Looking at the latter two, the 360 has done well. It was helped by getting out the door a year earlier which made it the lead platform for most developers. They were able to build a solid fan base for the year without the PS3. I know many people who have bought one because that’s what their friends had. Even if you wanted a PS3, why would you buy one if all of your friends had a 360. Personally, I think the PS3 will ultimately outsell the 360. Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Gran Turismo 5, SOCOM Confrontation, SOCOM 5, Little Big Planet, the Agency, and MAG are just some of the big first party titles that will sell a lot of PS3’s over the next couple of years. If you look at the sales charts, the PS3 has sold substantially more than the 360 did at the same point in their life cycles. The PS3 is not far off of the PS2’s sales pattern and that went on to sell 150 million units which dwarfs the Wii’s 29 million. Another key is as more households venture into high definition TV’s, the PS3 has the blu-ray player built in.

Looking at sales statistics is worthless, and those who argue with them only do so because they’re biased to one system. Why not compare the effort of the company to do right by their fans? If you look at it that way, you’ll see Nintendo is lazy and greedy. They showed no new software worth buying, just more peripherals and crappy games that nintendo fanboys will buy because they can’t stand up and admit that they deserve better. I’m not biased against Nintendo, i own a wii myself, I just want them to stop being lazy and actually produce more than 4 titles that are actually good games.

Sony is at least trying to put out decent software, but by creating a more powerful consol they spent too much money to keep exclusive titles, and now i still have no reason to buy one (and i would love to buy one). But at least they’re trying, unlike Nintendo.

The only consol i can give a passing grade to is the xbox, if for no other reason than they show the effort to keep their fans happy. They’re the only ones to announce any titles coming out this year that i’m excited for.

So before you quote me statistics, or start arguing for one consol just because you’re a fanboy, stop, try to be impartial, imagine you had all three consols, and ask yourself: which company actually tried to make me happy/excited this year?

ok guys i will tell you the way it is i have played games for 25 years and have owned most systems. first nentendo is on top as far as money because they appel to kids and thats what its all about its fun and cute and everyone gets involved……

as far as the big boys i think the ps3 is the best hardware out maybe the online is still behind but remember they had a head start but graphics are the bset on ps3 period blue ray and hdmi and wi fi

come on until the elite this was a crapy system and still no wi fi

and dont start about speed play on wi fi all the time and no flaws ~~perfect !!! not g !! n longer range and faster speeds

ps3 wins in the long run ………….

best hardware out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now we need the games to use it

and blu ray the best player because has hard drive and network hook up !!!!!!

i like th 360 the best though i do also have the wii our family uses the wii because it is more like a family system personally i like the 360 the best because of live and durability.

Jason…
How can you say the PS3 controller is frustrating? It is the most ergonimically built controller of the three systems. Any button is easily within reach of your fingers on the PS3 control, but not for the Xbox. In my experience the Xbox controller is notorious for having buttons in odd places, not ergonomically built at all.

The war has yet to begin. The Wii will become obsolete, Xbox will take up the middle of the pack and the superior PS3 will continue to evolve and eventually win the battle.

As an owner of a PS3 and Wii and from a core gamer view, I would say that Nintendo definatly lost this year’s E3. They talked about how the core gamer is important to them, yet they never showed us anything besides Animal Crossing. They also premiered Wii speak and, like everything else internet-related, Nintendo has to do it in a different and not necessarly better way. If they really wanted to show something for the core gamer, they could have at least talked about The Conduit or MadWorld. But the worst part had to be that we still have no way to increase the Wii’s usable storage space.

Sony on the other hand showed off many games and services for the Playstation 3 that have never been attemted on any other platform, such as LittleBigPlanet and Home.

So while I may not have many core games on the Wii to play, I’m sure I will have plenty of games to play on my PS3.

The Wii Will become Obsolete….lol. Yea ok umm..have you looked at the sales numbers or tryed to walk in a store and buy one? I also own all 3, and dont think any of the three “won”… They all have great things going on! But i dont ever think the ps3 is going to out sell either one of they others! 360 may make a jump at some point, but the wii is in too much of high demand…it on track to out sell the ps2!

Sony continues the practice of empty promise after empty promise wonder how much longer the fan boys will continue to drink the Kool-aid.

I’ve got a Wii and, for anything the Wii can’t do, a custom built gaming PC. The 360 has a 60GB hard drive? That’s nice, my gaming “console” has a 500GB SATA hard drive. And dual GeForce 8800 video cards. And a whole lot of porn.

Meanwhile the wife gets Cooking Mama on the Wii and I get Mario Kart and we both get Guitar Hero. The Wii is a gaming console that tries to be a gaming console, instead of being a gaming console that tries to be a computer.

you know, It’s funny that all these people are raving about the wii…….look at the software sales………the games are fun……… it applies to the whole family …….. yada yada. But anyone fails to mention that we (the hard core gamers) started with nintendo and sega. Sega definitly flopped and nintendo almost did too. Yea they made a comeback but it will be short lived just like their previous platforms. It is only a temporary fix for what has been an ongoing problem for nintendo.Playstation has been out longer than anything (except for nintendo) and still going strong. Nintendo is just a fad. It kills me that these wii gamers talk like they have been gaming for years. I myself have been a hardcore gamer for 14 years and I have a PS3 and xbox. Most die hard gamers own these systems because they have and will last along with a great return of investment in the services and products they provide.

What are you looking forward to playing the most? Well, Socom Confrontation for the PS3 of course. It’s a third-person tactical shooter that has been around for years now and will finally be on the PS3 in November. If you join a clan (or group) it’s more fun because you battle other clans online.

Regarding the hardware wars.. PS3 will be on top in a few years with the XBOX lagging behind. Nintendo will fade away because the hardware is weak and the software is mostly for young kids.

Jeff…

I agree with the other Jason. The PS3 control is bloody awful. It is the main reason why I will never buy a PS system. I MUCH perfer the 360 control is it flawless in everyway.

That and I perfer the games on the 360 a whole lot more! And the LIVE service is just the icing on the cake!

Here is what people aren’t pointing out. Some say Microsoft will win in the long run, but the market that has determined a game consoles faith is still the Japanese where the xbox is a dismal failure to this point.
The Wii is still a system for little kids and having parties.
The PS3 offers the best of blu-ray players, while constantly improving its gaming line up. And someone who has worked at a big electronics retail store the xbox is constantly brought in for breaking. Its the Wii’s game now but the PS3 in the long run.

With Xbox and PS3 offering an online service they are not taking into account that ISPs are starting to move towards a usage based pricing system. With that said I am not sure how successful these 2 services would be once caps and usage costs are implemented by ISPs. Not to mention that you are paying for these services and than possibly having to pay for usage costs from your ISP.

I for one will not be using the PS3 online service if my ISP decides to go to usage based pricing and I am sure I can’t be the only 1 thinking this way.

The folks who keep discounting the wii are hard core gamers. For every one of you there are 10 people like me. I stopped gaming when the games became so complex that I could not just sit down and play. I had to learn all the button combinations etc. It took the fun out of it.

The Wii is made for all the folks like me who used to love to game. The games are simple and (yes) cute. I do not like the games available on the other systems being played by or around my children. They are way too violent.

The Wii also gets my kids moving not just sitting on their butts.

If Nintendo can continue with this trend, I see no reason why they would not be in it for the long haul. There are a lot of us families out there who prefer a system we can all play ttogether.

Worthy,
How can Nintendo be a fad if they’ve been in the industry longer than anyone else (yes even your beloved Sony)? If 20+years of gaming is considered a fad, then I guess Sony and Microsoft are just fads as well.

Lazy,
There is a direct correlation between the hardware wars and software. In order to succeed in the hardware war, you need some great software. Nintendo and Microsoft are well on track for that, and if you consider Nintendo games “mostly” for kids, don’t forget that people who first started gaming grew up with “kiddy” characters such as Mario, Zelda, etc. So they’ve got a pretty solid base there with some of the most recognizable characters in entertainment history. And these “kiddy” games and “weak hardware” are reaching new gamers that Microsoft and Sony can only DREAM about right now. Heck, did you not notice how Microsoft pretty much just copied Nintendo’s “mii” idea? You can’t remain profitable/succeed for the long run if you don’t continue to grasp new customers, and Nintendo has realized that, and found a way to do it (making a pretty solid impact as well on the gaming industry). So I don’t really think a lot of people are worrying about Nintendo failing, or “becoming a fad” right now.

Oh and as for Sony. It’s usually not a good thing/positive sign when one of your biggest exclusive titles decides to jump in bed with your competitor as well. So that pretty much leaves you with MGS4 as an exclusive, and for how long?

If you’re a “hardcore” gamer as you say, you can’t deny the fact that the PS3 has no real solid game choices that you can’t also get on the 360 now, giving you no real reason to get one besides wanting a Blu-Ray or being an avid Sony fanboy.

(Moderator: Please remove my other blog and replace with this one. The other was sent before completion and editing)

What happened to Sony???
They were the leader in the video game market hands down. Several delays and a botched launch of the PS3 hurt them but recovery should have been right around the corner. However, at every turn they seem to drop the ball and their marketing is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
Titles remained limited and go to any Best Buy and gone are the days where PS games were proudly displayed. Today you find them crammed on to shelves in a forgotten mess without signs or promotions indicating new releases.
As for E3, Sony is releasing the next version of Resistance, another NBA game series, and yet another shooter game - whoopee I guess. The focus seems to have shifted into making the PS3 a movie console but the US market is not ready for this and the HDD is woefully inadequate to handle a TiVo type environment. I have a 60 GB drive and have already had to delete games, music, and videos to make space for new stuff. How sad that some of my favorite games have to be removed because Gran Turismo needs 5 GB of space (9 percent of total space) or the next version of Harry Potter HD which will consume half my disc space.
Cell technology is great but if there are no fun games to play and the supporting hardware doesn’t meet consumer needs, perhaps it is time to say good-bye to the head of the gaming division and think about rebranding your games through a new marketing company.

The PS3 is an excellent system and offers far more than Sony will let it do. With limited game titles, forced downloads of games and movies as opposed to CD options, and the worst marketing of the three, Sony has an uphill battle to keep its PS3s moving. Sony’s current course will leave us all scratching our heads by the time PS4 comes out wondering why they even try.

The wii cant be compared to the xbox and ps3

The Wii isnt a next gen console…it is just a different approach.

Nearly everyone I know owns a wii and one of the other two consoles.

Wii–fun to play with multiple people at like a small party or something for fun

Xbox 360–High Def graphics and online playing make it very competitive and challenging.

Wii and Xbox 360 for me

for one the ms 360, if isp’s move to usage base pricing there goes ms 50 dollars a year add it up if you have time plus isp cost. the service is first rate ,but I don’t have that type of cash lying around 2. to have game soft ware grow in size mean a larger delivery media I.e blue ray or hd -dvd which the latter is now defuct it just going to be harder for game developers to make great and bigger games if the media has a size limit , like msg4 or socom ,mag, will take up large amounts of space on the hard drive unless ms adopts a large format media it’s signing in on death note. the ps3 while have a well designed system has fell off with software maker as in letting 1 too many first rate exclusive titles, ace combat series get away from them there’s still a good amount for them to have killzone2,re2, and socom but we gamers need more game that was exclusive ps 2 titles move to ps3 the Wii has done what the set out to do create a gaming system that was fun for young and old and gets the family ,and friends around the tv again for congrats

WHO WON E3???
Despite how brilliant Nintedo is, I wouldn’t choose them. Not only did I not really hear anything major from them but in my opinion they’re not really competing with Sony or Microsoft, which is the exact reason they are doing so well. They were smart enough to realize that fighting a giant like Sony and an up-and-coming giant like Microsoft wasn’t the best choice. The Wii is the type of system you might still buy even is you own a PS3 or 360, so their sales in my opinion don’t really hurt either company as much as you would think.

Who won E3, and who is winning the gaming war between 360 and PS3 are 2 different things. As a PS3 owner I can admit MS is winning the war (for now). E3 to me was a tie. I think Sony would have won had they not let 360 take final fantasy.

As far as the overall war goes, Sony is still in the battle. And can still win if the play their cards right. The biggest reason they are losing is because of their slow start, many due to the blue ray gamble and the price of the system. Weather you want to admit it or not the only reason MS sold more than Sony is because of price. Think about it, which systems is selling the most? Nintedo. Why? They have the cheapest system.

However Sony still has chance to become top dog again. For one they do better in the Japanese market than MS (final fantasy will not be available there on 360). Another thing that people forget is that the PS2 is still selling; I bet none of the people buying PS2’s own a 360, meaning that when the time is right they are likely to buy PS3’s. The Blue Ray player will eventually help the PS3 the way PS3 helped Blue Ray beat HD-DVD.

Sony was losing $200 on each PS3 when it first came out at $600. Now they are breaking even with the $400 system. What they should do is take another loss of $150-$200 and cut the price to $200 or $250. If they did that PS3’s would fly off the shelf, and certainly out sell Xbox and most likely the Wii too.

I think that arguments that there are no good games for the Wii or that is it is purely for casual gamers are a bit silly, unless we’ve decided that anything that is not a first-person shooter is “casual”. It is the exclusive home of what is considered by many to be 2007’s Game of the Year, Super Mario Galaxy. Aside from SMG, since buying the system in 2006, I’ve bought Zelda, Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime 3, Super Paper Mario, Fire Emblem, Zack & Wiki, Smash, Okami, and Mario Kart for the system (and I’m probably forgetting a couple), and enjoyed all of them a great deal. A couple of those are ports from the previous generation and a number have Mario in them, but they are all excellent titles, many of which could only be made for (or only control as well on) the Wii. And that list doesn’t include games that I’m interested in but haven’t had time for (eg. No More Heroes), upcoming games that I’m excited for (eg. Tales of Symphonia sequel and The Conduit), or the Virtual Console / WiiWare. There are a LOT of bad games out there, but that is because it is the leading system. Calling it a “fad” is a joke.

I’m not saying that the Wii is the “hardcore” gamer’s dream or anything - especially, I thought that Nintendo’s E3 press conference was abysmal, easily the worst of the three, and didn’t offer anything at all for me. But there are enough crossover titles between the PS3 and 360 that I would think that if a true “hardcore” gamer, who wanted variety in their library, had to settle for just two systems, one of them would be a Wii, and if they had all three, a significant portion of their library would be Wii titles. And anyone who completely shuns the Wii because the graphics aren’t pretty enough or because every other title isn’t a first-person shooter isn’t hardcore into games anyway, they’re hardcore into first-person shooters with pretty graphics.

The best answer would be, WII and PS3 or WII and Microsoft. That’s because WII is unquestionably fun to play but does lack atrue gammers environment. The other two provide almost the same experience with slight differences (as they always have). They both have unique and common games available. The problem with choosing one over the other is the inability to play the unique games to a console.

I am an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3 owner. I can honesltly tell you sony is loosing buckets of cash right now on the Playstation 3.

For those sony fanboys that brag about their free online, dont worry you’ll be paying for playing faster than you think.

Sony wont accept this type of money loss.

To AJC:

What are you smoking? SMG was not game of the year, bud. Sorry to burst your bubble. The list went Halo 3, The Orange Box, Rock Band, then SMG. Three games the Wii doesn’t have (unless it was a crappy port like Rock Band).

The Wii is great piece of hardware. That is it. Final. The software is horrible. All the Wii is a GameCube with a new controller. And what is all this talk about the Wii moving into a new direction? All they did was repackage the same tired GameCube, put a new controller on it and all of a sudden it is the best thing ever? And to answer the question of what a hardcore game is: One that does not use the same characters for the last 20+ years. Come Nintendo, there has to be something better than Mario or Princess? This is just another ploy by Nintendo to repackage the same tired story over and over again for years and call it something new.

Hopefully, the Big 3 will kill each other off
A new day. Spawn innovative PC game controllers .

I own all 3…..sadly

Wii = Novelty.
Xbox = Library rocks, Controller is pretty good, Online is solid. But the “Special packed in bonus game of shipping back broken hardware” is really starting to wear on me.
PS3 = God I really want to like this machine. But when it comes down to it. Can you really call a Blue ray player that every once in a while delivers a good game a game machine?

I miss Sega…..

Josh, while you’re wondering what I’m smoking, you might also want to wonder what IGN, GameSpot, Nintendo Power, GameTrailers, Edge, and Yahoo! Games are on, too (list from wiki) - they all awarded Super Mario Galaxy GOY. The best game in any given year is obviously completely subjective anyway, but it doesn’t really matter if Galaxy was truly the best game of 2007 - all I was saying is that it doesn’t make sense to me that people deride the Wii as a system with no software when it has its fair share of killer apps, most of which are exclusives.

You trash Galaxy for being just another Mario, but most of the games you listed as possible games of the year are themselves sequels or extensions of existing ideas. And as long as they’re bringing something new to the table, that’s fine. If there’s a Halo 4, will the Halo series suddenly stop being hardcore? Is Resident Evil 5 a casual game because Chris Redfield has been around for over a decade? The new Final Fantasy must be the ultimate casual experience - they only sort-of reuse characters, but there have been 13 WITHOUT counting spin-offs or direct sequels! “Hardcore” vs. “casual” is another gamer argument that I find pretty silly, but if I was forced to define “hardcore”, I’d define it by the depth of the experience, not how long the character has been around.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Wii is the best “hardcore” system out there or “the best thing ever” or anything - it has way more than its fair share of problems, and again, Nintendo showed NOTHING that impressed me at E3 this year. But dismissing it outright as a puffball system just because it is outselling your favorite (whether that be PS3 or 360) and is appealing to gamers and - gasp! -non-gamers alike would be a mistake.

@Tom: I wasn’t bashing Nintendo. I love and respect Nintendo but lets be realistic the hardware can not compare to XBOX or PS3 from a technical and performance standpoint - Fact !
***Nintendo is kicking butt right now but by the end of console cycle they will not be in first place. Have fun waving a majic wand in the air pretending to be a pixie fairy. go zelda

I’ve always been a Sony fan, because i usually dont play video games in a group, otherwise Nintendo Wii would have my vote.
Sony may cost more, but you get alot more with it, free online play, a blu-ray player for all your movies, and the graphics are crazy.
Microsoft will always be the kings of the computer world, but it will always be Nintendo and Sony’s gaming world.

SEGA Genesis all the way. Games are cheap, and plenty on eBay.

I have all three systems, fortunately I got my Xbox 360 Elite for free. I am mostly play my PS3. I am not a huge gamer, so the overall functionality of the PS3 is perfect for me. The hardware is very important to me. I have spent a lot of money on my entertainment system, and having a blu-ray player and an awesome video game system in one is great. Everyone says that Xbox is outselling the PS3, but not factoring in two things. The 360 was released about a year before the PS3, and two how many of those units are people having to purchase multiple system. Finding 10 people that are on their first 360 is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I got my Elite from a friend, it broke and he just bought another because the warranty was up. I fixed it and he let me keep it. I have two more on my work bench now, one with RROD, and the other with a bad disc drive both from the same person who just bought another. Spending $1000 on systems, and a few hundred dollars on accessories just to play HALO is not worth it to me. The countless malfunctions and errors the Xbox 360 has is not acceptable for a system at that price.

The other reason I thought the PS3 would outlast the 360 is because of the capacity of the disks. I think choosing duel layer was a mistake by Microsoft. Capacity is king, and duel layer is on its way out before it every got in. If you follow the trends of computers, programmers do not like to be limited by their media. If you give them 6 gigs to work with they will use 6 gigs, as the programs used to write the games get bigger and more complex, so will the games and what they require.

This is as bad as politics =P LOL … I want a Wii, I have a PS3, and sadly I must admit I want a 360 only for the games I have seen for it that are not on the PS3, BUT I still love my PS3… it just needs more games, BIG games… and they’re not making them fast enough. The Blu-Ray tech will help with its success however. I don’t say who wins, they all do, they all get all our money one way or another. Anyhoo, this conference was nothing new except for Square-Enix announcement of FFXIII… that surprised me… I wouldn’t be shocked now if they put the Verses version on 360 also… they must be under some serious pressure to make the exclusives not exclusive. This business is crazy =P just like politics.. lol it IS politics ~

Uh, Matthew…

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but gaming is going the social route.

What was the one thing Sony showed at E3 that is still getting a lot of buzz? M.A.G, the massively multiplayer action game. SOE is bringing a new MMO to the PS3 in DC Universe Online. Then theres Home: The Second Life/Sims style, MMO launching pad service that will (eventually) come out.

Games on all of the consoles have become a very “social” environment.

Other than your initial line labeling yourself as a Sony fan, I fail to see how you can discount Microsoft in the gaming world. They’ve established several exclusive IPs that have drawn in millions of players, they’ve wrangled away exclusives (whether it be by money or by Sony’s missteps along the way), and they’ve greatly diversified their library. They’re not just the console for the “FPS’er” anymore. They have JRPGs from the likes of Mistwalker and Square Enix, they have western RPGs from Bioware, they have family games (SceneIT!), casual games, and a diverse and robust arcade system. And yes, FPS games.

Microsoft is here to stay in the gaming world and the X360 has finally become profitable, even with the hardware issues. To discount them as a competitor is just silly.

I personally think you people are way too involved in the which is the better console thing. I am the owner of all 3 and honestly they’re all good systems. The PS3 is a blu ray player with some decent games, the XBOX 360 has decent games as well, and the Wii is fun when you have a party or friends over.

THE REASONS WHY THE Wii IS THE BIGGEST SELLER is basically two things, it is cheap and simple. The vast majority of people with families want that. It was very smart for Nintendo to go after that market. I bought a Wii for my kids, I use it a little bit, but I easily get bored with it. I quickly ditch the Wii remote for my PS3.
THE FACT IS, if you were to take apart a PS3 and an XBOX360, you would find that the PS3 is lightyears ahead in the technology. The XBOX360 is at the height of its design and can not go much furthur without a major overhaul. The PS3 on the other hand is so advanced that it is sitting there waiting for the gaming technology to catch up to it. The capability of the PS3 is revolutionary and will be able to handle the new stuff that comes out in the next several years. You will also see TVs and computers adapt the technology that the PS3 uses. Oh of course Microsoft will adapt too, by STEALING AND COPYING the technology like they do for everything else they make! The one thing that the PS3 won’t do that the XBOX will do is COOK YOUR POPCORN while you watch your worhtless HDDVDs on your worthless HDDVD ADDON! It’s time to quit feeding the beast, let Microsoft go out of business along with their WORTHLESS POS VISTA!

Umm, PS3 without a doubt.

Did anyone see M.A.G.? 25o player online game?

Killzone 2 and Resistance 2?

And by far the biggest thing, Playstation Home?

The PS3 is going to dominate this holiday season.

The 360’s technology is that “revolutionary” anyways.

It was built from parts you can get right now for your computer. The PS3 processor and graphics engine was built from the ground up by 3 of the leading corporations in the computer industry.

They haven’t even come close to unleashing the full power of the Nvidia RSX or the Cell Processor yet.

Playstation three is the future of gaming.

@Lamright

You make me laugh. You must be a MAC user right? Get real, MS is here to stay and it wouldn’t matter if the 360 is a loser. When 96% of the computers in the world run your software that is pretty good. Heck the other 4% is shared with MAC and Linux. And you know what is funny: I rip my blu-rays to my pc, convert them to AVI and I can watch them on my PS3 or Xbox or PC. How about that!

@ AMJ

Those come from Xplay and TIME. And since when is Rock Back a sequel? But you do make some vaild points. Except the fact that you list Nintedo Power as a source that rated SMG as #1 Game of the Year. Maybe I should have said that OXM said that Gears of War was the 2007 Game of the Year? (That makes me laugh). I do not want to dismiss the Wii as a crappy system; because it does several things very well. But a polished turd is a still a turd. I mean come on are you going to sit there and tell me that the Wii is the huge gaming revolution?! It is a controller and nothing else. It is a GameCube with a cool controller and a nice looking dashboard. That is it plain and simple. And yes it does bring non-gamers into the gaming, but that is just it. It is a non-gamer console for non-gamers. And while I do concede that the Wii is out selling hardware than the other, I would want to know the number of hours played. Perhaps these families and non-gamers buy the Wii and play for an hour or two a week. I wonder how many hours a 360 or PS3 user plays? The Wii is like a DVD player. Good for a Friday or Saturday night, but not really used a whole lot. Which is why every game that the Wii has is so far behind in sofware sales it is not even funny. People lived the notion of buying a Wii, I guess they really didn’t care to play it.

@Kyle: Yes, I did see MAG! MAG is really going to be the true next generation tactical shooter. All the others are one dimensional and are small clan based games. MAG will start to bring clans together to form a large army based battle with 256 total people in one map. If they can pull this off without any lag issues this will be huge. The only other concern I have is the confusion factor of having 128 people on your team. With the current modern shooters a clan battle usually consist of teams of 8 or 16. Many times it is difficult to organize that so as of right now I’m skeptical how this going to work. How can you control 128 people on one team and be tactical about it?

I personally don’t like games where I have to study an encyclopedia to be able to play the game, I have a life…. really. I mean I rather just pick up the controller and get busy. Thats it, just have fun with the damn thing. Thats why I bought it. I mean seriously, I could care less how much better blood stains look on a game in comparison to another game, to me thats as interesting as watching paint dry. Just my 2 cents.

im not trying to hate on any system, but ive heard a lot of arguing about PS3 being “light years ahead” of 360 as far as technology goes. While I dont disagree that PS3 is ahead, how do you explain the fact that several games that are crossplatform on the 360 and PS3 run so much smoother on the 360? And dont blame the game developers, because if the PS3 technology was so great, that wouldnt matter.

Being a retailer I have to consider Microsoft’s Xbox 360 for one simple reason. It’s the only console I’ve ever seen sell only because of a software release. Go to any retailer and stand at the counter when the next version of Halo comes out. People ask if you have Halo and when you say “yes” they will say ” I’ll take a copy…. and oh yeah I need a Xbox too.”

@ Josh G.: That is funny, you downgrade your blu-rays so that you can watch them on your XBOX, what a waste! MS is here to stay, yeah so were the pirates back in the 1700’s, but they were eventually brought down, so will these MS pirates in this century. Yeah, MS is the main operating system, but that does in no way mean that it is the best. Just like all those idiots that picked VHS over betamax, beta was far better picture quality and more compact, but because VHS could record 2 more hours(with poor quality), everyone went to VHS. Yeah, I had a ‘92Mac and I downgraded to a ‘01XP-Sony Viao. This is when MS finally almost caught up. Although the hardware was better and faster, the OS was not. Windows anything will never be virus free because Windows anything IS A VIRUS!
The vast majority of computer users are locked into what they feel comfortable with and are too scared to try anything else. A lot of them consider themselves experts because they can point and click fast, but when I yank the mouse off of the computer, these mouse warriors are totally lost with only the keyboard. Anytime that I am able to get some of these people to the Mac store and try a Mac, they are hooked. Once WinXP is totally gone, I will go back to Mac simply because Vista sucks. All of you Bill Gates worshippers can defend Vista all you want, but you can’t change that fact. When I do my programming, I definitely use Linux. I will keep my ‘01 Viao and use Linux for the OS. With Linux I can put on it what ever I want, unlike MS who loads you down with 80% of crap that you don’t need. Yes, MS does have a few tools that are actually useful, but those were accidents. They finally did good with IE7, only because the copied Firefox!
As for crossplatform games, I never had any problem with them running smoothly on my PS3, but if they don’t, I will blame the developers because they have to downgrade the software to run on the 360. All of that worthless anti-piracy software does not work well with the better systems.

@Lamright

Funny that you talk about something which , by your comments, do not know anything about. A .M2TS is just a container file for a MPEG-2/MPEG-4 and Dolby 5.1 audio which is handled by AVI or even MKV just fine, so I fail to see your point.

I do agree with your DRM comments and about how it does suck, but DRM has nothing to do with video quality unless you are talking about blu-ray which has HDCP which, lets come full circle, is on the PS3 and not on the 360!!! Let me guess you read a couple of forums, but since of your choice of software/hardware you do not have the ability to actual have any experience. And I think you might want to read your own comments on “people consider themselves experts because they can point and click” because bud, you are one of them.

Besides Gear of war 2 they all seem to suck this year.
Like a few already said, long term -Mocrosoft. I have a friend with a Wii and after 2 months he started coming over by me to play on the 360 rather than the Wii, I admit the Wii is a great concept, but the games suck. and for the Wii Fanboys, yep i owned a Wii but sold it, even my wife didnt play it.

[...] SciTechBlog: Blog Archive - Sony vs. Microsoft vs. Nintendo « - Blogs from… They have JRPGs from the likes of Mistwalker and Square Enix, they have western RPGs from Bioware, they have family games (Scene IT!), casual games, and a diverse and robust arcade system. d) Square-Enix is clearly shifting to be a multiplatform developer. Anyhoo, this conference was nothing new except for Square-Enix announcement of FFXIII that surprised me I wouldn t be shocked now if they put the… [...]

[...] THE WII Can’t find what you’re looking for. Related Products: We Ski Official…SciTechBlog: Blog Archive - Sony vs. Microsoft vs. Nintendo « - Blogs from… Think about that and while we are at it, what about Mario Kart Wii. Aside from SMG, since buying [...]