Ok I will post here, been watching this thread for a while and its about time for my 2p.
Price :
PS3 vs. 360 console price comparisons are BS, we can not give an accurate comparison because we do not know for definite what the price of these 2 consoles will be on the PS3 launch in the UK (whenever that will be). Further more, there has not been a like for like comparison yet the fact is Sony (and their fanboys) have been adding things on to the 360 to inflate its cost (or picking the core and comparing it to a 60gb ps3) or hiding additional costs on the PS3 like the HDMI cable (or saying "I have a Bluetooth headset so that saves me £25")
It is a simple fact that to play high definition games it is way cheaper to do so with a 360 than it is a PS3.
Graphics:
The regular, intelligent, reasonable posters in this forum are well aware that Graphics have hit a point of diminished returns. The hardware difference is not great enough between these consoles for there to be a huge difference in quality. As we have seen in the beginning of this thread the 360 and PS3 games look very alike, the only difference being the lighting and some background details in the 360 version (on the most part). This is probably estimate to the 360s better development environment and architecture. We will probably find that the 360 versions of games will always have the nicer touches in them.
Architecture:
the PS3 has 1 PPE and 7 SPEs one of the SPE is taken up by system requirements with an optional second also being taken up.
The 360 has 3 dual core processors. Which means effectively 6 processors, not that much difference. Oh and these 6 processors are better designed for game operations. Overall I think the best way to describe the 2 as this.
A Lorry has a higher number of horse-power than a f1 car. But which will win a race? The F1 obviously. The Lorry needs more power to pull its own weight. The PS3 is a lorry, the 360 is closer to the f1 car.
I'm not saying the 360 vastly out performs the PS3, that is not the case, the two consoles will always be very close in performance. Some things the PS3 will do better other things will be done better on the 360. But there will never be a case where one console is vastly superior in an area.
Also the "PS3 is a custom built machine, where as the 360 is an over glorified PC in a white box!" statement is utter BS and whoever said that clearly knows sweet FA about either consoles. What makes that statement worse is that Sony are constantly touting the PS3 as a computer and that all components are upgradeable, like a PC.
The 360 has very little to do with a PC, most of the main components are custom built tailored for the 360, unlike the PS3 which has an almost "off the shelf" graphics card.
Having an architecture that is too advanced and complicated is far worse than a simple to program for. Games publishers want to make maximum profit. If it takes 10000 hours to build a 360 game but 15000 hours to build a PS3 game, and you need "Smarter Programmers" then that will cost a considerable amount more. Chances are there will be much fewer PS3 only games than there will be 306 games. We have already seen a lot of publishers move away from the PS3 and many more have criticised it for various reasons.
The argument "People managed it on the PS1 and PS2" is not really valid anymore as there were no immediate competitors to the PS1 on 2. The N64 came out much later than the PS1 and SEGA were already in huge financial difficulty when the dreamcast came out, and were not able to compete with the PS2. Hence Publishers had no choice but to develop games for the PS3. The 360 has come out earlier, costs less, is equal in power, easier to develop for and has a large install base. These factors give the publishers a lot of choice, I hope Sony was nice to their partners in the past because if they treated them anywhere as badly as their customers we might see some fallout in that area.
Install Base:
As I have stated the PS3 is going to cost publishers a lot more to make games, this can not be argued (unless you are an idiot). This means that they need to sell either a lot more copies, or the same amount an a much higher mark-up. I read somewhere that a PS2 game requires 100k sales to break even, a PS3 will take approx 500k. Sony games go into the budget/platinum range after 400k sales. So that mean that games will become budget games before they even break even on the PS3.
The ratio of game purchases to console purchases is 5:1 per year at the moment for the 360. If the PS3 had a similar attachment rate, then only 5- 10 games in the next 12 months will break even. Can developers take that sort of financial risk? Will they ever risk releasing on the same week as another major release (regardless of platform)?
Sony will make up the Sales over time, once they sort out their manufacturing issues. However to get 500k sales per game they will need an absolutely massive install base to attract the Publishers. MS currently has about 16x the install base of the PS3.
IMO if the PS3 does not get within 25% of the MS install base by the end of 2007 then the publishers will begin to look at the 360 as the market to focus on, with the ports going to the PS3. Simply there are more people to sell the game to, and it is cheaper to make the game on this console.
Has Sony released a great console? No. IMO they have only managed to release a console that is equivalent to the console MS released last year, at a much higher price. They did release great consoles in the Previous 2 generations. But imo the innovation this round has been lead by Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony has only been keeping up with the current trends. Will the PS3 sell? Well I think the demand will be higher than the supply for the first year, but I honestly feel, having played on both, and by industry analysis, the PS3 sales may slow down by the middle of 2008 where as the 360s will remain constant.
Will the PS3 damage Sony's image? Yes, it has with a lot of people that were not tied to owning one console. I was planning on getting all 3. I'm sceptical I will even own a PS3. ( I certainly wont until the price is at least £150). I think this damage will extend to the general consumer public over course of the next 2-3 years and the PS4 will have a much tougher time getting acceptance into peoples living rooms. Than the PS3 has currently.
If you have managed to read this far... People will shoot down any unfounded, or incorrect statement on OcUK. It just so happens a lot of people posting "Pro PS3" statements, are making unfounded, inaccurate statements.
Oh and before anyone says it, I am not a 360 fanboy, I am a console fanboy, I just happen to own and really like the 360 ATM. Sony has simply done nothing to draw me away from that (the Wii has and I will get one in about 3 months time).
