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Before you vote, read up on the latest news.  Then let us know what you think!

Latest News:  http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-12331_7-6513191-1.html?tag=lnav

Shoot, I haven't purchased a system since the PS2 came out and I've never played on an X-box, but even I know the answer to this one.

This is kind of a loaded question at this point.

No other company has released their next gen system besides MS, so it's all just speculation right now.

"Nobody" is my answer right now.

Sony has displayed some excellent looking games that seem to play well, and their decision not to futz with their controller and keep the old design is sheer genius, but that price is just... wow.

The Wii looks more and more like it is just a novelty at every turn.

And the 360 is still suffering from framerate problems due to (slightly) inferior hardware, a line-up of games that we can get on other systems and, yes, more Halo. The only really interesting thing M$ have announced is Grand Theft Auto 4 for the X-Box (but not an exclusive).

BYE

This is kind of a loaded question at this point.

It's a bit loaded. Perhaps the question should be...who has the best strategy in your opinion? MS's was clearly a first to market strategy, with a risk of being beaten surpassed by technology with later releases.

Sony's strategy appears to be "Maximum tech/bells & whistles" at the expense of price point. Clearly their risk is that the may price themselves out of the competition. They can't simply be better. They have to be $100-$200 better.

Nintendo has gone for an outside the box approach, with a wacky new controler and banking on retro-gaming as being a big draw. I would have thought they learned their lesson with the Game Cube, but I have little doubt that Nintendo has relegated themselves to the 3rd poistion in the console market. Do they really care? Probably not...they dominate the portable market with the Game Boy. They are now the "Apple" of the gaming industry: You boys play with your PC's, we'll just sell iPods.

I personally don't see this generations "war" being won on hardware or titles. This is the first time that all three will be working the 'connectivity' angle. MS has a huge lead with Live. Sony does have a lot of experience in online gaming, it will be intersting to see if they can provide a service as clean, reliable, and easy to use as X-box live. The fact that Live is currently holding up under the massive amount of E3 downloads that are currently going on is amazing.

Warmachine!

Sorry Russ, I'm actually gaming with the minis now so 600 tech money is money
I can spend on metal crack.

Nintendo isn't oin the war. They know their niche, even with the Wii. They are content with that. Of the three consoles, the Wii is the most innovative in terms of interactivity. It's also the weakest, specs-wise.

Hard to tell, because MS is tied into HD DVD, and Sony is tied into the Blu Ray optics, so a lot depends on which format wins the high definition home theater war. If HD wins it, Sony might not. If Blu Ray becomes the standard, MS takes it in the pooper.

Then there are the variables. Will PS3 be that much better for the money? Will they ship enough product before Christmas?

And as always, the games. The games, the games, the games. Just like real estate...location, location, location. MS has Halo and probably Ninja Gaiden II. Nintendo has Zelda, Mario, and Metroid. Sony has God of War III (please, of course it's coming) and Devil May Cry (which is a more of a niche since most gamers today are p****s), plus the largest base in the world.

I don't care. I buy games. I have the 360, I'll want some Sony exclusive games, and I'll want Metroid 3. So they all win from me.

I don't care. I buy games. I have the 360, I'll want some Sony exclusive games, and I'll want Metroid 3. So they all win from me.

You are truley a gamers gamer!

I agree 100% that Nintendo is on a whole different niche. There are a couple of covert op's tactics that MS is working on. The first is whole 'retro gamer' angle. While Nintendo probably has the biggest backward compatibility thing covered... MS has, already, a pretty nice selction of classic arcade games via live. Defender, Gauntlet, etc. And at E3 they've announced some old school genisis stuff will be there too like Sonic and Contra.

The other angle MS is playing is the whole "VISTA" OS tying into your X-box Live gamer tag and gamer score. It looks like Vista games may be able to have achievements and such. If this is the case, then playing on your PC or your 360 will net you cred against the same gaming 'account'. Interesting move to say the least...

And at E3 they've announced some old school genisis stuff will be there too like Sonic and Contra.

Oh Russ, why did you have to tell me that... I've been trying to resist the urge to go for a new console.... but classic sonic...that might be too much for me

*faints*

One interesting thing I've heard about from a few places, mind you it could just be made up, this is the internet after all. But a few people I've chatted with who work at video game stores says that they have already taken more pre-orders for the PS3 than they have sold 360s so far.

I cant say if this is exactly true, but I think its a good indication that want/desire/anticipation for the PS3 is high, very high, regardless of its price tag.

One interesting thing I've heard about from a few places, mind you it could just be made up, this is the internet after all. But a few people I've chatted with who work at video game stores says that they have already taken more pre-orders for the PS3 than they have sold 360s so far.

I cant say if this is exactly true, but I think its a good indication that want/desire/anticipation for the PS3 is high, very high, regardless of its price tag.

I think the truth in this is very questionable. Up until E3, which was this past week, Sony had not announced a release date, or a price. Where retailers taking pre-orders with neither a date nor a price?

I supose they could have been, but it sounds a bit fishy.

Ohhhh do I detect some fanboyism on these forums . Seems like a lot of votes for 360, or maybe thats my fanboyism kicking in . But from my point of view, PS3 is ahead in the next gen console arena. Seeing as 360 currently has no competition theres not a lot to go by, but after seeing the power of the PS3 this past week from E3, I can tell it's probably rising back to the top ASAP . 360 is very damn nice though, I think it will be close in the end. And of course the Wii, my favorite of the consoles but it's hard to tell how well it will do, either it will be #1 seller and insanely popular or it will go the way of the gamecube (although probably a bit more third party support).

In the end I want to buy all 3 though, so I don't really care which one comes out ahead

I have to agree with HBMC: "Nobody"

I feel after seeing what I have from E3, it's anybody's game!  And this is coming from a PS2 Fanboy.

Wii could take it on inovation alone, but I think that they have hinted that it WILL be the cheapest system and that is a selling point right there.

XBox360 has alot to offer for gamers.  Dead Rising has got me wanting to play it and after seeing the live demo of Gears of War....  *faint*

PS3 looks amazing and I was sold when I found out that they did away with the bat-arang controlers.    After seeing the demo of Warhawk and how it uses the controller was really sweet.  But I thought I saw that some where else.  Where was that....  cough *Wii* cough

Anywho....

When looking at what we are going to see in the next year for PC and Console games: 

I'm excited to see what happens.

P.S.  Oh and I want to plug DoW: Dark Crusade and Warhammer: Mark of Chaos.  Goody, goody.

at the moment its a one horse race, of course the 360's winning, the other horses are still in the stables fattening up.


of course thew 360's going to have a major advantage with xbox live, i mean theres old school streetighter, mortal combat, frogger, contra. all comingout for the price of a few cans of coke (or oblivion expansions)

An interesting link about the console wars:

Console prices graphs

Again, I skipped on the xbox 360 mostly because I can't afford one. And if
I can't afford that, I can't afford the PS3.

So it looks like in a year or two I'll be upgrading the old computer instead...

That's a pretty interesting graph, Malfred.  I didn't realize that the the NeoGeo and 3DO were that expensive...man, that was back in the day.

It definately adds an interesting perspective to the large pricetag of the PS3.


As for who's winning, it's really hard for me to tell because on the 360 is out, and there's a lot of speculation regarding the other two systems.  I think games will be a large factor, although they won't be the only one.

The one thing I'll say for the Wii is that the vintage gaming has got me at least mildly interested.

I prefer PC gaming over consoles anyway, so there you go.  The only consoles I play right now is PS2 (very limited) and Super Nintendo.  Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III - Yes please!

The interesting thing about that graph, is look who actually WON the war in each generation. It looks like later systems only did well if they were CHEAPER than previous systems.

Late 80's:
NES released first at $364 Did very well
Genesis released after @ 306, als did well (note it was cheaper)
Turbo Graphix and NeoGeo did not do well, both were priced higher than predecesors.

Early 90's:
CD-I first, priced very high $586, didn't do well.
SNES came out second, priced well $293, did very well
3DO out later, priced very very high $967, did crapy
Jaguar priced slightly higher than SNES $345, but out much later. SNES way too strong by then.

Mid/Late 90's:
PS1 first to market at $393 did well. (1995)
Saturn, 2nd to market priced high $524, did crappy, despite awesome technology. (1995)
N64 3rd to market but priced cheapest $254 and also did well. (1996)
Dreamcast, Very late to market (1999) although priced well ($239) did poorly. Released too late.  Plus PS2 release date was looming close.  Dreamcast did so bad that Sega dropped out of console business.

Last Gen (2000):
PS2 first to market @ $348.08. Did awesome. (Clear winner last gen war)
GCube 2nd to market, and priced cheapter $225 but did crappy. Probably because of non-standard disk.
X-xbox 3rd to market @338. Roughly same price, better tech, did OK, blowing out Game Cube.  Never matched PS2 overall sales, but did have highest grossing vid game of all time. (Halo2)

Next Gen (Now):
360 first to market best system priced at $400
PS3 2nd to market, best system priced at $600
Wii, no release date or price info.

Judging from past...what will happen? I'd say Microsoft is in the right poisition based on history.  Sony may be in for a bumpy ride based on the fact that they are 2nd to market AND more expensive.  Not a good recepie according to the past.  Look for some bloody price wars in the near future.  Which is all good for us gaming fanatics.

Nintendo console development looks to be in a similar death spiral that Sega experienced.  Last system sales were poor, and Wii may be so late to  market whatever it can do will be too little too late.   Russ's prediction: Wii may be last Nintendo console.  Look for them to focus on thier core abilities: Portable game devices (GameBoy, etc) and vid-game franchises (Zelda & Mario).