Spartacus

@DaAlyMan

Not really sure what the relevance of that is. This post is about year-over-year growth, not total units sold. Whether or not the 360 has been on the market for a year longer or not has no effect on PS3 sales growth for this quarter.

@Vidikron

I did a bit of research, apparently the issue is with a faulty fan. Sony launched the PS3 with a Japan-made 19 bladed fan which was sufficient. Later, models were equipped with a 15 bladed fan made in China of a different design. Sony realized these fans were flawed and switched back to the original 19 blade design. Some PS3 owners on AVS forum have claimed Sony will replace your fan upon request. Mine is of course out of warranty, but there seems to be websites that help you find the parts and instructions on how to install it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=923103

http://boardsus.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-General/CECHE01-15-blade-fan-vs-19-blade-fan-Does-the-15-blade/td-p/45741473

I'm not sure how wide-spread this faulty fan problem is, but I imagine they were produced in pretty large batches.

@Vidikron

Actually some of the older PS3's are ridiculously loud. I've got a 60GB model and it sounds like a jet turbine even when watching blu-rays. It's at least 2-3x as loud as my launch 360 ever was. I mean, when you have to turn up a 7.1 surround sound system due to your blu-ray player's fans drowning out dialog, you know something is wrong.

I'm gonna take a can of compressed air to it and see if that helps as when it was brand new it wasn't that obnoxious, but either way, it's ridiculous.

@sonicspike41

I picked up the 4GB slim (sold my old 20GB Xbox to a friend) and slapped a used 60GB HDD in it off ebay. You can pick up 20GB ones for $15, or you can stick a USB drive in it (up to 16GB)- so I think the $200 slim is still a great deal as long as you're willing to spend a couple bucks extra for more storage.

@ctg867

And your gross oversimplification only addresses perceived value rather than actual manufacturing costs. The truth is, the Wii is much cheaper to produce than a HDD-less 360. I'd venture to say the Wii costs 1/2 as much to manufacture as the 360.

If you want cheap pack in games, the 360 offers them every holiday season and 9/10 games play without a HDD just fine. If you want cheaper storage, pop in an old thumbdrive you have laying around.

Your argument about motion controls is a wild card. Some people like it, some don't. Since your arguments above concerned "core gamers", traditional control input is usually preferred.

Yes, the 360 costs $60 a year for online play... But at least it's an OPTION. The Wii's online system is virtually non-existant, so this is hardly an argument. You can get a 360 and pay $40-60 a year for LIVE or you can get a Wii and never have a chance to experience true online gaming.

@ctg867

Seriously? You think the 360 needs a price drop more than the Wii? I can see the PS3 argument to some degree, but when I see:

Wii with 480p output and 512MB storage = $199
360 with 1080p output and 4GB storage = $199

Something is terribly wrong.

Civ Rev really turned (no pun intended) me on to turn based strategy games. I played the crap out of that game. So much more fun and relaxing than RTS games where victory is determined by who can click faster.

Since I don't see a Civ Rev 2 on the horizon, this will have to do to tide me over until then.

Limbo bored me in the few short minutes of the demo, but I've never been a huge fan of puzzle games. Where's all the DeathSpank love?! Not only was it fantastic, but a heck of a lot more bang for your buck than the oh-so-short Limbo.

I want to get Monday Night Combat, but sadly it'll have to wait. By the time I pick it up, there probably won't be much of a community left...

A purple thong and some bacon.

Ugly. I really looked forward to "NXE", but the "N-NXE" looks like a step backwards in just about every sense other than apparent speed/lag.

So bland, so soul-less, so monochrome, so... Ugh.