The 360 itself is superb, ive had it over a year and on my third now... through no fault of my own, shoddy Microsoft build quality im afraid. Now I hear so many people banding the all the 99% of people who havent had a problem keep quiet crap so much its beyond a joke, whatever people say, this system is not as rock solid as it really quite should be.
The 360 has definitely had a questionable track record when it comes to reliability. Plus as mentioned its far from quiet!
To a certain degree I think most people have come to expect this from 1st revision consoles regardless of manufacturer. Sales generally tend to climb steadily once quieter more reliable components make it on to the production line. Were starting to see that now with the introduction of a quiet DVD drive and the move to small die size. I
I dont think theyll market the newer revision (smaller die etc) any differently, afterall its just a manufacturing revision for them.
Many argue that the in built blu-ray player eats up part of that expense, to some extent id agree that thats a valid argument.
Personally I dont care about HD-DVD or BluRay - at this point in time theres more than enough storage capacity on a DVD-DL to store everything need for highly detailed games.
As far as movies go, I gave up on disk based storage ages ago, so Ill never have the need to play either format, especially through a console. With Media Centre Extender the 360 really adds something useful that I can use (quite a bit) now. For example my HTPC stays in my lounge, but I can move the 360 around to any room to watch shared content.
Its for this reason I dont like being forced to shell out for one or the other when purchasing what is primarily a games console.
What you get for your money right now probably isnt worth it, but when the price drops, it will be. Ok so Microsoft have a great online service (or so I hear, ive only had the silver) for years now, but sorry Microsoft im not paying you on top of a game price just to play online. Sony may be one or two steps behind Microsoft even with this extra year they have had to develop, but the fact they have free online play may just steal those cross platform titles away from a few 360 owners.
Before I bought the 360 I was very wary of the so called "Live Gold" charge. I have to say my opinion on this has completely changed. MS has produced some fantastic online services, that very well laid out and easy to use.
On top of this theyre rolling out IPTV and a media marketplace. Also, I like the direction MS are going in to converge online arenas for Windows and 360 gamers.
I have been far from impressed with Sonys take on online gaming. I had high hopes for the PS3s implementation, but it isnt shapping up too well.
Heres where people might not like my views, I really think a huge selling point when the price goes down is the questionable security. Being positively encouraged to run a different OS by Sony in my books is suicide, if you can boot stuff from the HDD as certain videos show, certain people are going to have a party.
You can just see this potentially turning into a PSP hack chaos fiasco for Sony.... this will have major appeal.. but for a minority.
Extras - The PS3 is almost silent Oh and Casino Royale, dont expect to see that on HD-DVD anytime soon... oh and if you find yourself running short of space in a couple of years time, no doubt a 500GB 2.5" drive will be out for you to plonk in the back, all without voiding your warranty!
The PS3 wont leap straight to the number 1 spot, but I can see why it would in a couple of years time, despite stupid oversights like no rumble pads :?
Im just amazed how theyve managed to bungle it so badly from a business perspective. At the very least theyve given MS a major foot up, when previously most considered them not to stand a chance in hell against the titan of 200m + PS2 sales.
The lack of rumble is such a huge step backwards, especially seeing how much the tech has matured - when youre immersed in the chaos onscreen the vibrations add a subliminal layer that draws you in further.
End of the day, its late, very expensive, difficult to program for (which pretty much puts it on par with 360 graphically - by the time they get used to it, MS will be very close to Xbox v3) and has a questionable online setup.
Dont get me wrong I want them to do better, the more competition at the top the better, but I really dont see them storming to 250m+ sales like they did with the PS2.
