On my last blog, I mentioned that the PS3 is overrated. I have not done any research on it, so my assertion is really based out of intuition, and online articles and forums on PS3 vs. Xbox 360. As a disclaimer, I own neither a PS3 nor Xbox 360 at the present - but I might reward myself with an Xbox 360 after I am done with school in a month. 
In terms of sheer power, the PS3 beats Xbox 360 hands down (according to official technical specs). However, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) on the Xbox 360 is quite powerful, which is further complemented by a shared memory architecture that boasts higher system bandwidth. This architecture should put the performance of the 360 on par with PS3. According to one report, the 360 is considerably more user-friendly and less buggy, while the PS3 is still marred by bugs. From a marketing perspective, the PS3 is released a year late and considerably more expensive than the 360. Usually, I am not a firm believer that first-in-market players will always emerge as winners (think of Google and Microsoft). But in this case, I think that a year is an eternity in a gaming world especially given that the Xbox 360 is a well-designed game console (rather unusual for Microsoft). Then there is the availability of software titles. What good is great hardware if there is a lack of good software? With a year head start, there are already considerable titles released for the 360 with many newer titles taking advantage of the Xbox 360 architecture although I suspect PS3 will eventually catch up. Also according to this article on Gamespot, for every PS3 sold Sony is losing from $240 to $300 depending on configuration. In contrast, Microsoft is losing $75 per Xbox 360 console now, down from $124 when the console was first released. The economist in me is now yelling that I should go buy a Sony PS3 since I will be getting more than what I pay for. Of course, finding a PS3 in the market is quite impossible at the moment unless I am will to shed a few thousand dollars for one on eBay. Unfortunately, Sony is still having problems on the manufacturing of PS3 and the console will likely remain sold out till the next quarter.
Enough said about game consoles.
| 11/21/2006 11:48:07 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00) |
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