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Reader Comments (133)

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:05PM Ethan said

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ps3 and xbox 360 have completely different core gamers. I think it basically boils down to those who prefer American/Canadian or Japanese games.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:18PM bigd7387 said

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Well since I've got a PS3 and a 360 I must say there really isn't a WAR. The PS3 has no ammo so it's not really a war. I've owned the PS3 for 4 months and only played it about 10 x's, and to be honest I don't like Japanese games, PS3 may outsell the 360 in Europe but what developers are doing PS3 only games for the PS3, while the 360 has almost exclusive support by every developer and Hell I live in America so I don't care about Japan or Europe.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:28PM (Unverified) said

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You got a point there sir.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:31PM arrrgh said

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I was wondering the same thing

Honesly I want to want a ps3. MGS4 looks badassed, drakes is insanity, GT5 will be awesome when it's not a prologue...but I can't justify the price of the machine for 3 games along with who knows what in the future. I got a 360 this past november and have amassed 12 games and a shit ton of xbla stuff, and i honestly don't even have time for much gaming

:o shit i have some work to do :( ...but I'm sure im not the only one in this same boat
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:30PM sand0789 said

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He should clarify what the hell he means by "core" gamers. I sort of agree that the 360 crowd will pound for pound purchase more games than the PS3 crowd. But I don't know how drastic it is or whether anyone will really care.

Console pissing matches are about systems sold, not games sold.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:38PM (Unverified) said

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Software is generally where the money is made though. Especially for the high-spec systems (360, PS3) that started out being sold at a loss, attach rates are important. A small userbase that buys a lot of games will generally be better than a large userbase that doesn't buy any.

The exception to this is obviously the Wii, but Nintendo have been making a profit on every console since day one so I don't think they care.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:35PM (Unverified) said

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Clearly the only loser in this war is common sense :(

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:46PM Jakey777 said

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PC's Won.PC's always Win.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 4:42PM Guspaz said

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Excluding Japan (which is something of a special case), they've sold almost three times more 360s than PS3s. That is to say, the PS3 has something like 25% marketshare outside of Japan. So yes, they've effectively won the battle for core users.

That doesn't mean that Sony isn't relevant in the marketspace, though. 25% share is still a lot of units sold, and they keep Microsoft on their toes if nothing else.

Remember, competition is never bad.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:21PM Larz said

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to Quote the referenced article:
"'Our current cumulative installed base is now higher than Xbox 360,' Reeves said, adding that the PS3 outsold the 360 in all PAL territories 3-to-1 last week."

Of course both consoles are being whomped by the Wii, but let's just pretend that's not important ;)
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:28PM Guspaz said

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That must be in a specific market, as the 360 has significantly outsold the PS3 in pure aggregate numbers shipped worldwide. Without Japan, the difference is even more stark. The PS3 is picking up steam, to be sure, but the 360 has far too much of a foothold for Sony to repeat the same sort of market dominance they enjoyed with the fifth and sixth console generations. If they do pass Microsoft in worldwide sales, it will be mostly on the back of Japan. Japan's market isn't really relevant to the outside world due to its insular nature.

I might dislike the PS3 (I'm not a fan of Sony as a company, and I think they made some false assumptions when designing the PS3), but I want very much for it to keep a relevant position in the market. OK, so I secretly wish that the PS3 fails spectacularly and drives Sony bankrupt, but that wouldn't be good for the industry, and that wouldn't be good for gamers.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:35PM Larz said

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Big businesses are never really likable. But even you've got to admit that Microsoft has done a lot more shit to be angry about than Sony.

In all honesty, I just ignore anything related to a company's PR division. They just spew hot air and double-talk constantly. It's all about the creators and engineers behind it for me. Maybe because I have a strong engineering background...
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:48PM Guspaz said

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Oh, Microsoft is no angel either. It's just that Sony takes arrogance to a new level. This goes largely beyond SCE, although they've certainly played their part.

Microsoft is evil, Sony is arrogant (Nintendo would probably be classified as unbelievably stubborn) Evil is, to be honest, less insulting ;)
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 6:34PM Larz said

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I'd agree with that, except I don't think Evil is the best choice when you put it that way.

Actually, I think SOE was the worst division of Sony. I hate what they did to Everquest. They took out all the soul and made it an efficient cash cow (though in terms of cleaning up Verant's bugs they did a bang up job). And SOE's pricing structure is just plain greedy. Which is completely opposite of the hardware division.

I like SCE, I can't really think of anything they've done wrong. The only arrogance I can think of is from PR crap... which, again, I pay no attention to ANY company's PR.
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Posted: Apr 19th 2008 4:48PM Guspaz said

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Most of SCE's arrogance comes from PR, yes. But boy, is it a doozy. Getting rid of Kutaragi helped there.

But I mean more as a company as a whole. The rootkit fiasco is the prime example, their behaviour during the HD format war, their pricing choices on their products (not so much these days, Samsung has been kicking their asses which forced them to not overprice their stuff), even their desire to ignore their customers on stuff like MP3 support in their music players (nobody cared about ATRAC).
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 3:48PM (Unverified) said

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There has to be a joystiq TOP 10 of best picture to caption... this would be top 3.. Great.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 4:04PM (Unverified) said

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Yah, dey shud leaf it in da street foh da peeples to wee wee on.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 4:56PM (Unverified) said

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Ahahahaha, the picture in association with Mr. Greenberg's comment is priceless.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:00PM (Unverified) said

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Its pretty easy to out sell the other consoles when you have to buy about three 360's to keep playing. I dont think anyone ever thinks of that. I went through three of those damn systems, till I finally said forget it.. and bought a PS3. With all these new features being added its an amazing machine and I am 100% content with my purchase. You will get someone telling you "no.. they send them back in to get fixed"... and if the warranty runs out? Face it.. the 360 is started to lack in features and the PS3 is picking up where it left off, and doing it for free. I have never been a sony fan, this go around... its the only console worth owning.
Be still my heart oh sony.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:11PM Larz said

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Spoken like a true fanboy... but I agree. Sony's system makes you feel all warm n fuzzy inside. Such a great system. The quantity of games isn't overwhelming, but the exclusives are generally more enjoyable. Plus there's a ton of cross-plat's anyways.

I wish they would have waited like a year to release it so there wasn't all this console war crap. But it seems like more and more people who have a 360 are going out and getting PS3's now. Sony has been pretty slow with firmware updates and software releases, but steady. There's a constant trickle of upgrades. Sound options and audio/video support has gotten even better, the store got revamped, in-game xmb+Home is coming sometime "soon". I'll give em one thing for sure... there's always something to look forward to.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:03PM CJ9X said

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PS2 is the Windows XP of the console world.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:12PM Larz said

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Yeah, everyone still loves PS2. Fortunately PS3 is definitely NOT the Vista of the console world.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:15PM (Unverified) said

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I have Vista =(

*cries*
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 5:24PM Larz said

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You poor soul.

Not to worry, Longhorn 2 should be coming soon. "Send cash now. Muahhahaha!" -Bill Gates
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Posted: Apr 19th 2008 6:48PM Mr Khan said

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In some ways its Vista

Everyone can't stop criticizing its every flaw, for one, and it doesn't live up to its predecessor in the eyes of many.

Its just that, unlike Vista, nobody's being forced to buy a PS3 with every single PC sold out there... sigh...
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 6:12PM (Unverified) said

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What happens when the built in self destruct happens out of warranty? Do those same people go out and buy another 360, or do they buy one of the other options available?

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 6:35PM Larz said

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Another 360. I know I wouldn't just give up on my library of new games.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 7:09PM (Unverified) said

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They lost this "core user" last month. After having three systems go bad on me, and my fourth one a piece of garbage 2006 refurb with issues out of the box, I FINALLY had enough punishment. No more 360 for me.

My launch PS3 60GB unit still runs without a hitch after hundreds of hours of Warhawk, Resistance, Uncharted, CoD4 and Folding@Home. It amazes me really, after dealing with launch PS2 issues.

I wonder how many "core users" Microsoft will lose from shoddy hardware. I know people that have systems crap out on them, yet they continue sending them in and buying new games. How many times is too many? 2? 3?

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 9:50PM (Unverified) said

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I declare myself victories over robot monkeys.

Posted: Apr 18th 2008 9:50PM (Unverified) said

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Shit, I meant victorious
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Posted: Apr 18th 2008 11:42PM twister said

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This is a typical comment coming from the mouth of a corporate man. Of course he is going to say that, this is no surprise whatsoever. The truth is that Microsoft has sold their share of Xbox's and it is close to the point where those that wanted them probably have them. Now they will discover a new machine, one that will not only play a larger number (as the months go by) of exclusives, but also the upcoming hi-def movie format, all in one machine with no add-ons.

I have always said and still say, by this time next year, the PS3 is going to be huge!

Posted: Apr 19th 2008 12:59AM ghaupt1 said

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Perfect image choice.

Posted: Apr 21st 2008 2:39AM EngadgetSoFunny said

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I use Vista everyday and honestly love it. It does everything Windows XP does it just does it a bit more friendly I find. I love the start search feature. I also tend to leave my computer on for give or take 8 weeks at a time without a reboot and get no flaws, errors or other mistakes.

If anything its the hardware manufacturers who helped make Vista a fail. The difference between my pc and one of the store-bought Vista PCs is I sent enough money on my computer to get 2GB of ram back when I bought it a year ago.

Basically, Windows Vista Ultimate uses about 768mb of ram. If you buy a computer with 1GB of ram built into it with Vista ultimate, you'd have 256MB free to run programs without using a pagefile(virtual ram on your hard drive). To give you an idea of how much ram 256MB is, MSN Messenger which is not the most complex or large program takes 64MB of ram.

However, if you buy a computer with 2GB of ram, you get 1256MB left over for applications versus 1GB of ram's 256MB when using Vista Ultimate. Now, if you take that into consideration why the heck did companies like eMachines sell computers with Vista Ultimate running 512mb of ram such that even your operating system needed to be loaded into a page file and every application thereafter.

Of course, some people could blame Microsoft, but, Microsoft pretty well explained to OEMs* what the computer hardware would need to be to support Vista. OEMs just choose to ignore those straight-out such as eMachines.

Now though that computers in stores are getting 2-4GB of ram(except if you buy a $300.00 peice of junk), Vista is running much better on those machines, smoother and with features like the start search is more user friendly.

Yes, it sucks a bit that Windows Vista takes up more system resources but remember Dos 6.0 that was an entire 512Kb of memory when loaded into memory. An entire!!! People must have thought that Windows 95 that was a 20MB install was 'rediculous'. The nerve of Windows 98 to required 200mb installation size. That's like... 1/1000th of my mp3 player.

The same situation happened with Windows 98 to Windows XP. Computers that ran Windows 98 alright would run Windows XP slowly because windows xp's operaitng system took up more processing power, more ram and left less available hard drive space. Its not brain-science, its software using the advancements in hardware to try to add a few new features or a more friendly user interface.

Even in CES2008's keynote speech Microsoft talked about wanting to make 'Natural Interfaces'. Interfaces were people just 'speak' what they want to do or even point. They used the example of a cellphone from their R&D labs where you can point your cellphone at a movie theatre and take a picture. Your cellphone goes 'Ohh that's a theatre', compares it automatically to a database filled with pictures of features and goes Ohh thats the Cineplex 7 on East Broadway, brings up the website and shows you what's playing on your cellphone. Then allows you to buy tickets and send an invite to your friends on msn messenger or facebook to buy a ticket for the same movie.

A simple, easy-as-it-gets, natural interface. The neat part was that during the demo, she didn't need to press a single button. She just talked-into-her-cellphone. What a novel idea? Talking...into...your cellphone :P

Ideally, Microsoft wants to make 'Natural Interfaces' and make things less complicated but real-time voice analysis and then grammar-interpretation to understand your meaning takes a decent amount of processing power. That amount of processing power + running applications + running your operating system is becoming both a peasible and likelihood in the near future.

However, it probably wont run on old systems or on emaches that don't meet the minimum requirements for the operating system. Don't blame Microsoft as Vista is a fine product that works pretty well. Please blame who deserve your blame, OEMs.

*OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer

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