Many people are starting to side with their favourites to win the console war. If we take the Wii out of the picture (I still say it’s not a games console by definition of the typical audience), it leaves us with Microsoft vs Sony; the Xbox 360 vs the PS3, Jasper vs Cel, RRoD vs 80010514. Still not having sampled the ‘delights’ of a PS3 yet, I really can’t make an objective decision. But company wise, Microsoft, in my opinion, is the lesser of two evils.

But we still have people that declare ‘MICROSOFT WILL WIN!’ or ‘THE PS3 WILL RULE!’. And these people aren’t even fanboys. They are members of the industry, highly charicatured in order to fit the overactive needs of his article. But I’ll let you in on a little secret.

There is a 50/50 chance that they will be right. But their thinking is dead wrong.

We define a games console by it’s games, yes? The 360 has Halo3, Gears of War, Mass Effect, and more. The PS3 has what out at the moment? Nothing of obvious merit. There is Lost Planet, but that’s a late port of a timed exclusive, and CoD4 was something of an out of the blue, in terms of popularity with the general gaming audience. I for one didn’t see that coming.

Anyway, back on topic, the Playstation3 doesn’t have any of it’s really big games out yet. No killer app, as a geek would say. The exclusivity is no longer there. And none of the multi-platform games have had the pull to be a system seller. This is all about to change, come April 29th, June 12th and September of this year.

April 29th: The date that many people are just waiting for; the release of Grand Theft Auto IV worldwide. Retailers have bundled it with consoles, and this data will add to the decision of who will win the console war, because the playing field will be equal. You either buy the PS3 with GTA IV, or you buy the 360 with GTA IV.

June 12th: The date that even more people will empty their wallets. June 12th is when Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Sony’s card up their sleeve, and the final instalment to one of the greatest game series of all time, will be released. This series has spanned 20 years, and it will all be over on June 12th. Will Liquid finally get killed off? Will Solid Snake finally submit to FOXDIE? Even Hideo Kojima himself has stated that all questions, mysteries and happenings will be answered, uncovered and explained. Can you tell I’m juiced about this game?

September: The month that Little Big Planet comes out. LBP is something of an oddity, and will complete the crowd of niche gamers, hardcore gamers, and cred gamers. It’s hard to define this game, but when a self-confessed 360 podcaster starts talking about it in such a pure light, something is up.

Only after these three occurrences will the Console War have any chance of being won or lost, and only then will predictions be valid. Jasper-Chipset 360s will be out, all but eliminating the RRoD and the one gaping wound in the 360’s skin will close, making things all about chinks in armour. Blu-Ray will be in full swing, now that the HD-DVD format is gone. In November, both Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 will be out.

At the end of this year, the playing field will be level.

I daresay, that at the end of this year, the Christmas haul will in fact be the teetering of the balance, and the butterfly that starts the tornado.

Be ready, my friends. Because this year is going to be good for gaming.

Tags: sony, microsoft, ps3, 360, jasper, falcon, zephyr, cel, hd-dvd, blu-ray, gears of war, resistance, metal gear solid, little big planet, gta iv, mgs4,

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 10:32 pm and is filed under Articles on Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.