rog27

"I wont be surprised if they announce next week that Devil May Cry 4 which is a PS3 exclusive will be released simultaneously for the 360 as well."

I would't get your hopes up. DMC4 is a PlayStation Exclusive franchise, and it has been announced as so when it was unvieled at last years TGS as being "Only for the PS3"...quite like Lost Planet is "Only for the Xbox 360". Ubisoft, on the other hand, has never, ever done exlusives. They are a multiplatform developer like EA. The PS3 doom and gloom comments are pretty pathetic, as it will be a great platform just like it always has been. It shows who the real fanboys are who post here.

Let's get reality straight:

both consoles have a couple of advantages and disadvantages....

PS3:
-better hardware (will be more apparent in exclusives down the road; the difference will be like the one evident currently between Xbox 1/GC and PS2...slightly better, nothing drastic...although PS3 will definitely have the leg up in the physics and simultion department, not to mention more game content on disc)
-more features (Linux pc, standard hdd, next-gen optical disc player)

X360:
-cheaper and easier to develop for (devs have an easier time making games for the platform; so, there will likely be a wider breadth of games for the console this time around...not to mention they all look very pretty, as well)
-incredible online platform (Live is tested and true...and more features are added periodically...very robust)

This generation is looking to mirror the 16-bit gen with all the fanboys. It's almost like Genesis (X360) vs. SNES (PS3) all over again.

Yes, it is worth it. It definitely adds to the game's sensory experience.

They will most definitely have it back in the controller by launch I presume.

Sony is really doing a terrible job of clarifying things for people...especially the joe-shmo consumer that hasn't a clue what any of these things mean.

No, you don't need HDMI to game or watch movies in 1080p (highest current resolution of HD). You can use a component input for the next 4-6 years and be fine. ICT (Image Constraint Token) is a software-implemented layer on a Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD that can downscale the resolution if a secure digital connection is not present. All of the movie studios that produce content for Blu-ray disc have included a clause that says they have agreed to not implement ICT before 2010 and no later than 2012. So for 4 to 6 years, your PS3 will function as a 1080p outputting bluray movie player. It will always function as a 1080p outputting game player, regardles of what the movie studios do. By the time movie studios implement ICT, you will be able to pick up a dedicated Bluray player for about 50 bucks.

This whole deal with regards to lack of HDMI in the 500 dollar unit is unfounded nonsense.

Sony hasn't really marketed it yet because it will have some implications for them in the b2b world, especially with Microsoft. PS3 actually has 2 bootable operating systems, XMB and PS3 Linux--a functioning Linux/Lindows environment that is akin to any other personal computer running Linux. This of course means anyone can dabble with homebrew apps and games, but more interestingly...the PS3 can be used as a cheap PC replacement for many people--not something Microsoft is going to be happy about. It can install any application you could on any other Linux box--including opensource application suites, sdks, web browsers, messengers, etc. etc. You can use any peripheral you can in a normal Linux environment through the installation of drivers--this includes keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, fax, digital cameras, etc. This is all possible out of the box--not just for licensed developers. Some of us ;) have already even had a sneak peak at what's coming.

There is another bootable operating system they didn't show...and that is a PS3 version of Linux/Lindows. It boots separately but it is a full-blown operating system. You can develop homebrew on it or install open source applications on it and use it like a PC. It has a window and file structure similar to Windows, and it should be able to use peripherals when the proper drivers are installed.

Alot of you here are missing the point or really are not very good at judging value (either that or are just very poorly informed). Remember, these price points are aimed at early adopters and will come down in a year (or less) from launch.

A PS3 is $500 or $600, depending on configuration.

A Xbox360 is $400 for premium & $600 for premium+HDDVD

Compared to XBOX360 (which is a fine machine in its own right), this is what you get:

$400 XBox360 features vs. $500 PS3 features
-2nd best hardware -best hardware on market
-1080i thru component -1080p thru component
-20 GB HDD (proprietary) -20 GB HDD (ATA standard)
-3 usb ports -4 usb ports
-4 Prop. wireless devices -7 Bluetooth wireless devices
-Rumble Controller -Motion Sense Controller
-2 Prop. Memory Card Slots-usb thumb drive as M.C.
-Media Extender -Media Hub
-Built in Ethernet -Built in Ethernet
-Xbox Live -PlayStation Network
-DVD Player -Bluray Player (movies/games)
-Location Free Server
-Linux PC
-Mouse/Keyboard/PC peripherals
-optical out surround sound

$600 XBox360 features vs. $600 PS3 features
-2nd best hardware -best hardware on market
-1080i thru component -1080p thru component/HDMI
-20 GB HDD (proprietary) -60 GB HDD (ATA standard)
-3 usb ports -4 usb ports
-4 Prop. wireless devices -7 Bluetooth wireless devices
-Rumble Controller -Motion Sense Controller
-2 Prop. Memory Card Slots-usb/magicgate/SDflash/etc.
-Media Extender -Media Hub
-Built in Ethernet -Built in Ethernet
-Xbox Live -PlayStation Network
-HDDVD Player(leaked $200)-Bluray Player (movies/games)
*only for movies -Location Free Server
-Linux PC
-Mouse/Keyboard/PC peripherals
-optical out surround sound
-Wi-Fi built in

Cross-platform games will look nearly identical on both platforms (PS3 might look slightly better or run at a higher, more consistant framerate). Exclusives will definitely look better on PS3 a year or two down the line (remember, 2nd gen Xbox360 games vs. pre-launch PS3 games at this year's E3). Both are comparatively good machines for the money. Standardised HDD in the PS3 will allow for games to make better use of it, as will the built in Bluray Player. PS3 HDD is a standard 2.5" SATA HDD and is swappable with any laptop hdd (it's not proprietary - yay!). Plus, PS3 has two bootable Operating systems...standard PlayStation XMB and PlayStation Linux/Lindows (a fully functioning open-source Windows like environment where you can get tons of computer applications for little money and do homebrew development...pc peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, printers, scanners, etc. work in this environment...keyboard/mouse also functions in XMB).

PS3 is an exceptional value. It is a esentially 3 things:
1.game console
2.Media Hub
3.Linux PC

Man, there are alot of nervous MS fanboys responding to this blog. Try the developer is cross-platform and he's going to give a political answer. A multi-platform game will never really exploit a particular console's features to the full extent...so don't go expecting the game to look any different on either platform. But performance-wise, expect the PS3 version to be the definitive version (higher, more consistent framerate). This console war is exactly like last time's console war....except this time the big player has the better tech and is coming out a little later. I expect the difference to be PS2/Gamecube (XBOX 360) vs. XBOX (PS3). What I don't get is why anyone would want MS's console....their exclusives and first party titles suck, their tech on the overall isn't as good as the competitions, they have old tech for removable media (have fun watching your SD movies suckas!), and XBOX Live is their only selling point...which the competition will deliver for FREE by next November...and who the hell wants MS encroaching on every aspect of their life, anyway?

Face it, MS will never overtake Sony in this area. Bad brand image for megacorporations = slow adoption rate with a ceiling...unless they practically force you to buy their product a la Windows OS ;)

So far, all I've seen is the vocal minority on the internet make fools of themselves taking jabs at Sony (and even Nintendo...how could you hate Nintendo?), when they should realize it is inevitable that MS will never be the Marketshare leader. NEVER EVER EVER.

Stop shamefully trying to promote them. God...it's like all bitter SEGA fanboys of dreamcast past have attached themselves to the XBOX brand because they have nowhere else to go...and I want to throw up when I read their comments, acting like they are the source of what is right and what is wrong. Following Peter Moore to an inevitable failure is likely to be where you wind up.

For the sake of the free world, I hope MS fails in the videogame industry. I don't need a 100% monopolized distribution channel for digital content in my future. I also don't need a company like MS permeating every facet of my life. I like diversity.

MS, you will never be number one because your brand image is horrible. Instead of being so bloodhungry to own and control everything, you should bring a quality experience for the consumer...you should also think about sticking to your original virtual monopoly...the OS realm.

People around the world will actively choose to adopt your console at a lower rate than if you were another company altogether. This is the truth because of your questionable business ethics as a brand/company on the whole.

I will never buy any of your console products ever again. It's a Nintendo and Sony future for me and hopefully for everyone in the future, as well. Maybe Sega will rejoin the race in 2010. The most fun I remember gaming being was when Sega, Sony, and Nintendo coexisted. Now MS has Americanized gaming to the point where story and content is so low quality it feels like a low budget hollywood movie and work to play. Everything is either a fps, a racing game, or a sports game...god, why?!

#46 everything is relative...Almost half of one core's resources are used on the OS in the Xbox 360...that's 1/6 of the cpu's resourses. Plus another half of one core's resourses are used just in decompression schemes for streaming compressed data off of those small capacity dvds the Xbox360 has. In reality, only 2 cores of the Xbox360 are used for gamecode, ai, physics, sound processing, etc. Only 2/3 of the cpu's resources are available for the game in the end.

In comparison less than 1/7 of the Cell's resources are allocated for the OS. The Bluray discs high-capacity and data redundancy lowers the need for compressed data to reside on the disc to be later decompressed by the cpu, keeping data decompression very low and system resources allocated to that task extremely miniscule as well. At this time, the OS for PS3 is a work-in-progress and it's memory footprint is unoptomized. As the OS nears completion, it may very well be much more streamlined. Future iterations of the OS may even have a smaller memory footprint than the OS PS3 initially ships with.

Everyone must remember that OS data many times in transient, meaning that it is only partly active most of the time and may reside as a background process using considerably less resources than when fully active and simultaneously sharing those said resources with the game.

Directed at Ross Miller:

Please note that these rumors you are hearing are partially correct. The numbers are for the "work-in-progress" OS and do not represent the final product that will ship in the console. These very vague guidelines are given to developers to work with initially, and then are ammended as the OS is streamlined and optomized. Because the OS will either be stored in firmware or on the HDD (uknown at this time), it can be updated in subsequent iterations and will be streamlined further (or made larger to add even more functionality) even if this memory footprint is brought to fruition in the launch of the intial batch of PS3s.