The fight for Christmas begins: Xbox 360 Vs PS3

The biggest rivalry in gaming hardware is between Microsoft and Sony, with the Xbox 30 up against the PlayStation 3. Now, the Xbox 360 was in the market a whole year earlier than the PlayStation 3 and they were incredibly astute at marketing the console. They learned a lot of lessons from the original Xbox, but one thing they didn’t forget was how to scrap when it mattered the most. According to news recently release by the guys and gals at Xbox, the Xbox 360 experienced what it called “record-breaking consoles sales” during the Thanksgiving weekend I the US with an estimated 25 per cent increase in sales from the previous year.

This is significant, because the guys at PlayStation have been chasing Xbox for a while now and for all intense and purposes, it seems that the Xbox team is beating them at their own game. The PlayStation 2 was still in the market when the Xbox 360 was released and was hands-down the most popular console in the market, shifting some serious numbers and well and truly beating Xbox 360. Now, admiittadly, the PlayStation2 was significantly cheaper, had a larger install base and a greater number of titles, but isn’t that what’s happened here? The Xbox 360 is now in line with the Wii over here in Australia and has a great install base and a raft of titles, people know and understand the Xbox 360, therefore will they be more comfortable buying in to it as the prices get lower and the number of titles increase?

The other great thing that Microsoft did with the 360 is that they built it with add-ons in mind and to some extent, followed the iPod model with new models like the Elite. Therefore, they have a “fresh” console on the market on an almost regular basis. But what about the PS3? They have blu-ray, the legacy of the PS1 and the PS2. All of this is true, but the old exclusive franchises that they used to have are no more and although they’re a lot of hope and hype surrounding Sackboy, will he deliver? The could-be-killer-blow for PlayStation was that the Xbox 360 was released first and has had acres of ground to get to a pretty commanding lead. But, you can never underestimate the guys at PlayStation, they have been redefining the gaming genre for decades and will surely be taking the fight back at Xbox 360. The DVD market is likely to move on next year and with an in-built blu-ray player, will the PS3 steal some ground?

MyTake – So many questions. It’s a tough one to call this, you have to wonder how far off the next generations of consoles is and just who will get the first the get one in to market. One thing’s for sure, if it’s Microsoft, you have to think that it won’t look good for PlayStation. On the flip side, all you need is one killer franchise for PlayStation and the whole thing could get flipped on it head. It’s a cliché, but the ultimate winner is the consumer. Get out there and get gaming.

Rockin' in the real world

I’m a gamer and as such, I’m pro-gaming across the board. So, I was thrilled to see some new research out of the UK that shows that playing games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero has encouraged up to 2.5 million kids to learn to play real musical instruments. You constantly hear the doom and gloom merchants bashing gaming on the head for distracting kids from other activities, but here we have a story about gaming encouraging kids to take up music for real. The research, conducted by UK charity Youth Music, shows that this relatively new genre of game is the inspiration behind this revived interest in musical instruments.

In addition, guitar stores around the country have reported increased sales of instruments featured in the game and music teachers have reported an increased number of requests for lessons. In an interesting twist, many of the kids are asking to learn what we would now deem rock-classics such as numbers by Alice Copper and Birmingham’s finest, Black Sabbath, because they are featured in the games. With Wii now in on the act, the number of kids looking to take-up musical instruments for real will surely increase, especially on the back of the success already had by the guys and gals at Xbox 360.

MyTake – Yet another reason why gaming is good and actually enhances and enriches lives. We constantly hear about the shrinking number of kids taking up the more traditional pastimes and hobbies, yet despite all efforts by society to reverse this, it’s gaming that actually gets the job done in the end. Look at the impact of other games such as the Brain Training products from Nintendo, the Viva Piñata from Xbox 360, yet more examples of the positive impact gaming can have on our kids. I guess for some people, the world is still flat and that’ll never change….shame, they’ll never get to enjoy the delights of Pro Evolution Soccer!

Obama's got game revisited

Who’s going to win the US election? We’ll, there appears to only be one team actually treating it like a race for the most important political position in the world, and that’s the Obama campaign. At work, I sit very near a good mannered US citizen by the name of Ed (read his blog here) who I always talk to when I want update on the US election…mainly because he explains everything in simple terms that I can understand, but also because I get to learn American phrases such as “that dog don’t hunt”. 

The latest bit of news that Ed shared with me was that the Obama campaign has started advertising in online video games, namely Burnout Paradise on the Xbox 360 using Microsoft’s Live network. The adverts are actually on billboards along side the road in the game and advertise the campaign’s website VoteForChange.com. A quote from an EA rep (who makes the game) reads: "Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.” 

MyTake – The Obama campaign is busy nailing the few last nails in the coffin of the McCain campaign. Not only is Obama himself cleaning up in the debates, his team are kicking every goal possible in the online space. Trust me, they are going to write a text book on this election and generation of Communications students will learn about it. 

Gadgets make you stupid.... apparently

First off - sorry it's been a week since I last posted, I'm afraid it's been one of those weeks.  But, on my way home today I happened to read an article claiming that gadgets such as Blackberrys, Xboxes and iPhones threaten to "unravel decades of innovation that helped build the Internet."

According to Oxford professor Jonathan Zittrain, the afore mentioned devices stifle creativity and don't allow the kind of collaboration offered by your home PC, which he (old Johnny) reckons leads towards technological advances. 

MyTake - It's OK to be alone every now and then and I don't think for a second that we are going to forget about the wonders of the web.  Also, if we look back at the development of the PC I don't think that was what I would call a "collaborative" device in its early days, but it is now thanks to human endeavour.  It's not the device that dictates the use, it's the person behind in....SMS...I rest my case

Wii wanna play too

I 've been a bit slow on the uptake on this on - but better late than never. Apparently, Microsoft is developing its own version of the Wiimote controller for the Xbox 360. It's just rumour and speculation at the moment - but it's exciting to think that the console that was supposed to be lagging miles behind in this generation race is now influencing the likes of Microsoft. But - should we really been surprised? Out of all the consoles, they have the most experience and despite the technical leaps made by Xbox and Playstation, Wii is the console of choice.

Back to the Xbox 360 Wiimote, the aim to go bigger and better with reports that features could include an analog stick, a microphone, four face buttons and there is even talk of some kind of inclusion of the Xbox Live Vision Cam.

MyTake - Every now and then, something truly awesome happens in the gaming industry - the Dance Mat, the EyeToy - that changes he way we game. The Wiimote did just hat and more. Admittedly, Microsoft have very rarely been the innovative first to market type, but when they do get on board, take-up is pretty certain to be phenomenal

Xbox to trim the waistline and go Blu?

The Blu-ray train rumbles on with rumours that Xbox 360 is about to get its very own Blu-Ray drive. Even though Microsoft has constantly denied such claims, the rumour mill is once again running hot. One such claim is from a manufacturer called Lite-On, who is supposedly developing built-in Blu-ray disk drives for the “next generation” of the Xbox 360 console. Personally, I don’t know which bit is more exciting – the fact that Blu-Ray is coming to Xbox or the fact that we could be getting a slimmed down 360 sometime soon.

MyTake – Never forget that success in the games console industry comes through mass-market saturation – obvious right? But, you only get that when you get the console to a price that is right for the average Joe/Josephine and that’s just what Microsoft could be doing here. As the PS2 and the PS1 before it underwent a face lift and price drop, so too could the Xbox 360. The genius part will be if they can get Blu-Ray drives in a slimmed down machine and still come in at a lower price point than the PlayStation 3 – then we’ll have a fight on our hands!

HD DVD feeling blu

Having been around the first time Sony fought a format war, I kind of thought that they deserved better luck this time around. After losing out with the BetaMax format over 20 years ago, it’s looking increasing likely that the company’s high definition DVD format (Blu Ray) is about to be crowned winner as the biff-up that is HD DVD Vs Blu-Ray draws to a close.

The HD DVD corner has become an increasingly lonely place as more and more of its supporters defected to Blu-Ray, the most notable being Warner Bros and most recently, Wall Mart. The only one still in the HD DVD corner is Toshiba, and it looks like they are about to call it quits with News agency Reuters quoting an unnamed Toshiba source as saying: "We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next-generation DVD business."

Blu-ray, developed by a Sony-led consortium, looks to be the future of disc-based movies, but is the future in discs? With broadband speeds increasing, movie downloads on the increase, hardware like Apple TV and software like Xbox 360’s Video Marketplace already out there, you have to wonder why we’re still talking discs.

MyTake - When I asked a good mate of mine his opinion, he’s response was: “So that makes 99 per cent of the market standard DVD and 1 per sent Blu-Ray”, he’s got a good point there. Market saturation is a long way off and the hardware is still expensive – and I don’t just mean the Blu-Ray players, you’ll need a HD LCD/Plasma to go with it. There’s still competition in the market for Blu-Ray, they need to pay attention to the life cycle of the DVD and look at the development of downloadable movies – I think it’ll be a photo finish.