Scoob101

The new Sony-branded living room box would, in Ken's (translated) words, "be a standard AV component sized box with a more powerful, power supply unit, anti-shake insulator, twice the main memory, and 2x HDMI to split sound and video output."

Lots of useful new features. Not.

Is there anyone left that beleives a word these jokers say?

WRONG! The "P" in 1080p stands for "Progressive Scan" NOT "Parity". Doens`t instill much faith that Mr Grant knows that he`s talking about.

I also doubt that the Xbox 360`s dvd playback will be upgraded to upscale video. Today, it will only output in 480p (that 480 pixels progessive scan, Chris).

This article is total nonsense. Don`t believe a word.

To 50.

I keep hearing that the PS3 offers "So much more" than the 360, but I`ve not heard anyone actually define what that is, over and above the betamax dvd drive?

The golden age of exclusivity for the console titles has gone - that was the last generation.

Sure, there will always be some exclusive titles, but there will be many, many less compared to the last console generation, and most important of all, significantly less of the (3rd party) big blockbuster titles will be exclusives.

Why? Simple. Money. As games get bigger and better, development costs soar. Third pary development companies require a return on their huge investment, so they develop for multiple platforms.

So please, fanboys, don`t get upset when your favourite franchise or next gen title goes cross platform, this is just the way things are going in the big, bad, gaming world.

to 26...

Given the differences in arcitecture, i`m sure the reports of porting PS3 code to xbox 360 being a difficult task are true, but that certainly doesn`t mean that the same is true the other way round. Quite the opposite, infact.
If the Xbox 360 proves itself to be the easiest (read for that - cheapest) console platform to code for (remember that its the worlds biggest software company that makes it), then it logically stands that multi platform publishers will conclude that it makes fiancial sense to use the 360/PC as the primary development platform and port code to the PS3 from there.
Microsoft have invested a massive amount of resouce in giving developers the best environment possible, and this strategy should pay big dividends.

to 26...

Given the differences in arcitecture, i`m sure the reports of porting PS3 code to xbox 360 being a difficult task are true, but that certainly doesn`t mean that the same is true the other way round. Quite the opposite, infact.
If the Xbox 360 proves itself to be the easiest (read for that - cheapest) console platform to code for (remember that its the worlds biggest software company that makes it), then it logically stands that multi platform publishers will conclude that it makes fiancial sense to use the 360/PC as the primary development platform and port code to the PS3 from there.
Microsoft have invested a massive amount of resouce in giving developers the best environment possible, and this strategy should pay big dividends.

Historically, games consoles make poor video players.
The Xbox 360 (whilst being a great games console) is a terrible dvd player. I can see Sony`s offering being similarly poor in this regard. Consoles, being multi purpose in nature just don`t lend themselves well to this task compared to stand-alone players/recorders.

The vast majority of consumers, when they want a video player, go out and buy a standalone machine. I don`t see sony changing that with the PS3.

Whilst the short term sales of either consoles isn`t going to define who wins the next round of the console war, I have to say that microsoft must be reasonably satisfied with their head start. If the rumours currently circulating about an xbox price cut coinciding with the PS3 launch come true, then Sony should be worried.
I seriously doubt that manufacturing costs have come down enough to warrant such a price drop on their own, but we all know microsoft can afford it regardless.
I forsee Xbox making siginificant gains over PS3 in US and Europe, with PS3 winning hands down in Japan and Asia.