There has been so much talk on in the gaming industry today about the console wars, and the Playstation 3, after the insurmountable success of the PS2, has been very lackluster. Yes, on paper, its been a great let down for Sony, a loss for every console sold, wiping out the PS2's profits, but at the end of the day, which is THE BEST console on the consumer's side of things, for us?
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...Here at Vantage, its the PS3 hands down! 
Sure sure, the Nintendo Wii has been the top grosser out of the 3, with Microsoft's Xbox 360 in a far 2nd and the PS3 in dead last. But as a consumer, as the gamer, who cares about those numbers?! As long as we're getting quality games and the bang for our buck in our systems, we're happy. I know I'm probably going to get a lotta ish for all this, but here we go...
So lets tackle some of the main arguements here, and lets start with one of the main purchasing points, PRICE. Taken from Toysrus.com, here's the break down...
Playstation 3 (80GB) - $399
Xbox 360 (Elite) - $399
Nintendo Wii - $249
The PS3 and the X360 both go for $399, while the Wii is considerably cheaper... but why? Lets face it, the Wii has nothing. Old tech, no Blu-Ray or HD, no hard disk, its basically a PS2 with funky controllers! Im sorry, buts its garbage for what it comes with, so Nintendo, your out, simple as that. With the format wars (Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD) long decided, and Blu-Ray coming on top, the 360 is now on old technology as well. For the same price, you already get a Blu-Ray player in the PS3. You can argue that you can always just buy a Blu-Ray player, yes, but that would be
at least another $150 bucks, so you're already losing with regards to price. Another agrument would be that the Elite has more hard disk space and indeed it does, but gamers today arent like those in yesteryear, changing a hard disk in a PS3 is easy peazy. For roughly the $150 a 360 player spends for a Blu-Ray player, they can already buy a 1TB hard disk for their PS3. 1TB vs 120GB? Not even a contest!
The PS3's demographics are the older gamers, (around 16+) but lets not underestimate the younger gamers of today. They are much more educated in these things now than we were at their age. Some argue that the young population is growing or is bigger than our generation, but I disagree. Let's not forget the baby boom and those born in the 80's where games never die. Yes we are going through an economic crisis and some may say the 360 or the Wii are much more friendly to the pocket, and theyre right... at first glance. But when you look deeper, Sony was so far ahead of our time that we didnt realize how much was packed in the PS3. We didnt need all those features before and thus, Sony did cut down on some optical slots, but now that we've caught up, we realize that they were all there for a reason. The 360 Elite does come with HDMI, backwards compatibility, a headset and an ethernet port, but the lower end ones don't come with jack! No HDMI, no WiFi, tiny hard disk space. I mean, cmon, how can you not have WiFi?! The PS3 has and had all of these from the get go. Though the PS3 took out its backwards capability, who really needs it? Half the world has a PS2 and the original Xbox was CRAP anyway! The PS3 an all in one entertainment device. All you need is a TV and your PS3 and your entertainment area is done! Oh, and did I mention the rumored PS3 price cut? Sony has denied these rumors, and we'll probably have confirmation in the next month, but if it were true, if the PS3 shoots down to $300, how can the others even compete with what it has as well as the lower price? MS, are you scared yet? And for those, like
THIS DOUCHE, saying the PS3's rumored price cut isnt going to make a difference, umm... are you stupid? $50 bucks more than a Wii, $50 cheaper than a 360, how can it not?! ... especially with the games coming out in '09.
So how bout games? For me, thats the greatest selling point a console has, its exclusives. The PS3 did start slow, promising this and that and not delivering. They definitely lost out and with MS buying out a lot of their exclusives, (Gran Theft, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil etc...) and adding their own such as Forza, Gears of War and Halo among others. MS started great, started on top. But Sony is slowly catching up only now in 2009. Will this year be Sony's year? Yes, I believe it will. Big name exclusives are finally hitting the PS3, starting out with Killzone 2 (which is out now), Gran Turismo 5, Uncharted 2, God of War 3, Heavy Rain, Tekken, Infamous and more! My theory on this is that it was rumored that the PS3 was incredibly hard to work with at first, (remember, Sony was ahead of our time!) but now they've gotten the hang of it and we are reaping the rewards!
Now, with games that are present on the same console such as newly released Street Figher IV and Resident Evil, Sony's versions are toppling over the 360's. But hey, like I said, lets keep this about the gamer. PS3 arguably has better graphics, if not, they have so much more potential. Game developers are looking to make games in the large scale, offering the gamer huge backdrops, arenas, cities, etc... and as consumers, we are demanding for such. The HD-DVD that the 360 uses will just not cut it anymore. To my knowledge, (please correct me if im wrong) HD-DVD's can hold 20gb of space, while Blu-Ray's can hold up t0 80gb of space! What about dual sided Blu-Rays?! You get the picture.
Today, with games comes the importance of multiplayer/online. Gamers arent content anymore with games from start to finish, they want replayability. Take Call of Duty 4 as an example, one of the best FPS games of all time, I didnt even play the single player campaign at all, but I played multiplayer for a good year! PS3's online modes are FREE. Yes, FREE! 360, you have to subscribe and pay a monthly/yearly fee. Umm... do I really have to explain this? You might be thinking, how bout the Wii? Well, that again is junk. Games are childish and yes, they have sold the most consoles, but you must admit, it was a phase. Everyone was taken aback by the controls and so was I (I have all 3 consoles). But in recent polls, it was shown that most people who have bought the Wii are now just using it for display purposes, collecting dust, which includes mine, just another piece of furniture. And have you tried playing a game online on the Wii? L-A-G! It's also rare to find a game to play online in the first place!
What else can we discuss? We've took on the price, what the consoles come with, games, online play, what more is there? How about things are shallow as looks? Sure this can be extremely relative, but personally, the PS3 outshines its competitors (and yes, it SHINES!). It is bigger, but not by much compared to the dated looking 360. Special edition version of the PS3 console have also been something to look at! From white to black, matte to shiny, some with graphics and designs etc... The Wii, yes its cute and small, but not when you attach all the wires behind it.
