NERD RAGGGGEEEEEE!

Sony sent this Image to Joystiq this morning. I’m going to mostly ignore the Wii here in this write up comparing the current “next gen consoles”. Wow current next gen, does that make the next ones next next gen? The Wii is just not a high def gaming console and appeals to a different market than the PS3 and Xbox 360 do. While its certainly a game changing console and flying off the shelves (too soon be neglected and dust covered, SORRY HAD TO) I don’t feel like comparing it.

I mean lets take a step back for a minute and ignore the fact that Xbox 360 Pro bundles with hard drive and game bundles can be had for $250 at plenty of places including Dell.com. Lets Ignore the fact that Blu-Ray players are now cheap and that one of the major selling points of the PS3 is much weaker than it was on release. Lets even ignore the fact that Sony does not list the most important part of my Xbox 360’s day to day use: Video entertainment.

See you can stream HD Movies to your Xbox 360 either through

• a) Netflix the most popular pay instant movie watching service in NA
• b) Xvid rips which are easily obtained through any bittorrent tracker
• c) Xbox Media Extender bundled with many version of the most common operating system in the world.
• d) Purchasing Movie rentals through the Xbox Live Marketplace

We do not need to bring physical removable media into the movie watching experience anymore, get with the times. Oh and streaming custom music, not only from my Ipod but right from my media library. Wheres that on the list? We can “ignore” that too.

Lets fucking IGNORE all that. Moving onto Wifi. Hardcore gamers care about latency and bandwidth when it comes to Ethernet which are hindered by WiFi. Hardcore gamers run cat5. 100Mbit/s or 54Mbit/s, is it really a decision? A true 100$ price difference for the hardcore gamer? No. For your average frugal consumer? I – Think – Not.

Lets continue to ignore that Sony has listed its Online gaming Service as “Free” rather than limited. Which it easily is limited when compared to the tons of shit available through Xbox Live and its MarketPlace. I ask all Xbox 360 owners, when you first show the MarketPlace to anyone who has never seen a 360 before, are they not usually awestruck?

I mean cmon’ Sony if you are going to try to bash the 360 you have to go after the Red Ring Syndrome plain and simple. Because that is all the PS3 has going for it over the 360 to the average consumer until you slash prices. I personally avoid HDMI because I want my Audio split from Video. Sending audio through my TV or sending video through my receiver? No fucking thank you. Okay Sony, you can count SixAxis as something in your corner. Which has not been useful in any game I’ve played except for one where shaking the controller reloaded for you. I will admit, that was cool, and useful. I think that was Mercs 2. However in that same game attempting to fly a hanglider made me want to throw the controller. I’ll also point out I’ve had my Xbox console since early release and my Red Ring count is still zero. Even with its horrible failure rate odds are, like it or not, most early adopters are actually in my boat and RROD count is 0.

Now let us take a gander at the latest game attach rates. Xbox 360 console owners own more games than the other consoles. Those graphs are adjusted for the consoles first 23 months on the market for a comparable period of time post release. Well the Xbox has outsold the PS3 easily this holiday season and and its RUMORED that its attach rate has grown over 65%. These figures are not including games purchased on Xbox Live which would surely push the Xbox 360 into game attach record books and leave all others boasting useless records.

I think it is pretty clear after the holiday season that despite the Xbox 360’s horrible launch regarding the Red Ring syndrome it is the victor in this round of console wars. Yes, the Wii has sold more than the 360 and PS3 but really when was the last time you heard someone talking about that really competitive game session of Wii they had over the weekend? Its not the same type of gaming platform that the hardcores swarm to. Its Nintendo for fucks sake.

I think a major key to this victory is because the Xbox is made by Microsoft, who’s Operating System is already in almost every household in NA and that’s just going to lead to more integration for home entertainment than Sony will ever be able to rival. Another key could be the fact that it is rumored Microsoft used Sony’s own R+D money against them for some of the internal architecture by leveraging a partnership with IBM. Sony delayed its launch even further with reported problems producing Blu-Ray drives but I’ve yet to see an in depth opinion on if that may have helped or hurt their overall sales. Who can honestly predict what would have happened had the PS3 shipped early without a Blu-Ray drive?

I think something may also need to be said about Achievements/Gamerscore as well for its impact on the next round of consoles. Its a great addition to any game to unlock achievements and it will carry over to the next gen of Microsoft console. I know plenty of Gamers who are proud of their Gamerscore and may now be loyal Microsoft console fanboys for life by reluctance to part with it!

Microsoft has made me a fucking fanboy, but they earned it. Thats not to say I won’t be swayed to the other side next console war.