Posted by Kevan Lee :: November 4, 2008 @ 11:13 am
One of the most popular gifts this holiday season will be video game consoles, leading to one of the most popular reasons for missing Christmas dinner being "but I'm only 300 points away from the next level!"
The holidays bring out the purchasing in everyone, or so the major video game companies hope.
Traditionally, November and December have been good to Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, and the success of famous consoles like the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Playstation 2 can attest to the holiday hand-over-fist moneymaking. But this year might be different. There have been some fears that an economic depression and suddenly-frugal shoppers might put a damper on 2008's holiday numbers.
Surely, there will not be a shortage of options for video game connoisseurs. The three main competitors in the video game market each have their own console out for sale: Microsoft's XBox 360, Sony's Playstation 3, and Nintendo's Wii.
You already have a Wii, right?
The Wii has a distinct advantage over the other two systems, and no, I am not just talking about Mario Kart. But I will if you ask. The Wii's advantage is its family-friendly style and games. With a revolutionary motion-sensing controller, the Wii is completely unlike anything else on the market.
Throw in the accessibility and ease of games like Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and Super Mario Galaxy, as well as the word-of-mouth popularity of the system itself, and it's easy to see why the Wii stands apart from the rest of the video game competition.
The real battle: 360 vs. PS3
So where the real battle will be this holiday season is between the serious-gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony. The XBox 360 and Playstation 3 cater to more hardcore gamers who enjoy their graphics rich and their games intense. The processing power of the two machines dwarfs that of the Wii, so consumers who are looking for a powerful, beautiful video game experience most often come looking for an XBox or PS3.
Deciding between the two used to be as difficult as the final level of Final Fantasy XII (or so I've heard), but Microsoft made the decision at least a little easier with a recent change to its Xbox product. Can you find the difference by looking at the system specs?
The Specs
XBox 360
Memory: Lots
Graphics: Really good
Game library: Practically infinite
Price: $199
Playstation 3
Memory: Tons
Graphics: Pretty sweet
Game library: More than enough
Price: $399
If you said "price," you are correct. If you said anything else, you should probably just go buy yourself a Wii.
The price drop from Microsoft gave the XBox a significant advantage in the console war with Playstation. The base models of each system are now $200 apart, with the PS3 coming in at twice the price of the XBox. Those numbers are hard for a consumer to ignore, especially at times like these.
Of course, the price tag alone can be misleading. Sony sells its product as if you know what you're getting: 80GB hard drive, Blu-ray DVD player, name recognition. A Blu-ray player alone costs $300, so the final price on the PS3 could be seen as a relative steal.
But the problem for Sony is that consumers aren't seeing a steal when they look at the price. They're seeing a significantly cheaper alternative in the Xbox.
The 360 will be the winner this season
Microsoft's system is on par with the PS3 in virtually every other gaming category except price. And while it might cost more money for basic XBox users to match the feature list of the basic PS3, the initial payment to purchase the console is all that people are really noticing. As far as most video game purchasers are concerned, the Xbox and the PS3 are too much alike. They are essentially the same product made by different companies. Where previous iterations of video game consoles used to have exclusivity for game titles, pretty much every game worth having is now available on almost any console worth having. There simply is not enough difference between the two.
Sony would like to believe that its Blu-ray DVD player would provide enough incentive to make consumers pony up the extra $200. So far, it isn't happening. Most people in the market for a video game machine are looking for a machine that plays video games, not one that makes Hope Floats look absolutely stunning. Saving $200 on an XBox is simply a better alternative for those anxious to buy a next-generation gaming console. The cost-benefit analysis on that is basic Microeconomics 101.
The obvious solution would be to drop the price of the PS3. Obvious, however, does not appear to be on Sony's holiday to-do list.
Right now, price is King. Blu-ray isn't enough.
Sony executives have stood firm that the $399 price of the PS3 will remain through the holiday season, despite evidence that it is seriously hurting the bottom line for the company. Microsoft's XBox has widened its lead over the Playstation since Microsoft dropped its price, and if the trend continues during the busiest shopping time of year, Sony can say good-bye to the console battle.
The battle will be over, and if Sony isn't careful, it may lose the war, too.
6 Comments
[...] Holiday Console Wars: Microsoft's Xbox 360 vs. Sony's PS3 Tags: Blogging, Xbox « For the part the County was [...]
guess you where wrong eh? ps3 out sold the xbox 360
like you said hard core gamers go for the x360 and ps3
most hardcore gamers got the money for a ps3
Meh. there might be a $200 difference, but the Arcade is basically stripped down of well...everything. I'd go for the Pro, $300, but so much more than the arcade. But then you've got the Elite. Premium 360 price=entry level PS3.
In your article you mentioned Price and reflected on the fact that the PS3 is a BluRay player, which is part of why I sold my 360 and got a PS3, but what you didn't mention is from my personal argument library.
1. PS3 vs Xbox "arcade" isn't fair, because a hard drive on the Xbox will cost the extra $120 (unless the price has dropped).
so now we're already putting the Xbox 360 at $319 vs $399 for PS3.
2. Online game play and Patching requires a network connection. The PS3 includes wireless while the Xbox 360 requires you to spend another $99.00 on a proprietary Wireless stick that will use one of 3 or 4 USB ports, not good in my opinion.. Now we're at $418 for the Xbox360 vs $399 for the PS3.
3. The PS3 has better graphics capability (1080p vs 1080i) while that is not as important right now it might be one day in the future.
4. Speaking of future, the PS3 has a more robust CPU with 8 threads vs 6 on the Xbox 360, making it more of a long term gaming machine.
5. Falure rates. regardless of what MS has done to fix the failures on the Xboy 360 they still produced and released a system with a 32% failure rate. That's not what I call good marketing, but the way they hide those truths is...
6. The PS3 can replace your Primary DVD setup, as it did in my house, and while streaming video over the air (using wireless) isn't great, it still works and doesn't have the extra cost. The Xbox doesn't quite cut the mustard there, as you can't use it as your primary HD Video source unless you opted to pay another $100+ for the add on HD DVD player.
The point?
The PS3 was well thought out and all of the cost associated with owning one and getting the most out of it was presented up front, whereas the Xbox 360 will slowly bleed your wallet dry for what I see as a total of $518++ just to be on the same playing field as the PS3.. But wait.. there's more.
When I said same playing field I guess I failed to mention things that the Xbox wont have on the same playing field.
like the graphics engine. While developers haven't been very good at porting games to the PS3 the box has way more potential than the 360.
there's also the GyroMotion on the controllers that allow you to use the controller as an actual steering wheel (much in the fashion of the Wii). While not as "good" as the Wii yet I feel the PS3 has the potential to actually make use of the GyroMotion to allow the PS3 the perform Wii like functions as well as or better than the Wii itself. Consider the fact that it doesn't require an infrared bar to figure out what the controller is doing. It simply uses the gyro, the software, and the bluetooth as a fully integrated motion based controller. I find the lack of feedback on games like F1 Championship a little difficult to compensate for, but that's no different than how I feel about the Wii.. (not saying the PS3 is better than the Wii. The wii is great all on it's own and isn't in the same gaming realm as the PS3 and Xbox)..
So, while the PS3 is "more expensive" if consumers were educated on the systems a little better and biased employees didn't work at the stores trying to push and Xbox360 then perhaps the Xbox wouldn't sell as well as it does.
While both are good systems I kept my Wii, sold my Xbox and purchased a PS3 because it has all the bang for less of the buck. ..
In Conclusion...
The main advantage the Xbox 360 has over the PS3 isn't the price. It's the marketing department...
PS - if you go to the sony site and buy a PS3 while you apply for a sony card and get approved you get credited $150.00 which will bring the price of the PS3 down to $249.. Where's Xbox's price advantage now?
Ps3 is indeed made with higher quality materials, way higher graphics capability, and more power output than the xbox 360. But the thing is, no game on the market will be able to output max potential on the ps3 because of the SPU compared the the 360's 3 cpu's. In reality the ps3 is somewhat inferior because of utlizing the SPU.The Xbox's GPU is more powerful. It has more powerful fillrate, and far more pixel and vertex processing horsepower. The reason many porst on ps3 seems 'brighter'' than on the 360 version is because of their vertex shader is quite inferior to that of the 360's, so in order to make up for it, the brightness is toned up in order to hide that little fault. Failure rate and durability is probably enough of ar eason for one to p urchase a ps3 instead of a 360. Bottom line is, choose the console with the games you think you'll enjoy playing.
I own a xbox 360 and soon a ps3. Please any of you out there trying to make a decision on what to buy go with the ps3!!! I did the math out and I have spent MUCH more on my xbox in just under two years than I would have on a ps3.(not including games, mostly gadgets that COME WITH THE PS3) Around 850 us dollars on my xbox. You just have to play more up front for the ps3. Yet you pay less in the long run. Trust me if you buy an xbox you WILL be kicking your self in the long run... i surely did. Plz take this into consideration.PLZ
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