Console Wars VI

[DrSpike]

Well, if you start from the incredibly high base of PS3 sales this month, yeah, it's likely that the 360 and the Wii will increase by more in the next set of figures.

The more interesting question is how long the PS3 sales will outstrip the 360 sales. It's a really big gap this month, though likely to be a spike. The extreme cases are that sales drop back below the 360 in a month or two, or that the PS3 remains on top forever.

Personally I think it'll be a little while before the 360 reasserts itself, with the slim and the PS3 gaming line-up getting much better. But the 360 should still reassert itself in the end.

[Asher]

I think it'll pull close really quickly. The figures not in that previous post was the 360 accounted for 33% of all gaming revenue (across all platforms, including DS + PSP + PS2; and hardware + software) in the time period. Only 2 PS3 titles cracked the top 10.

While the PS3 relaunch and $299 "magic price point" certainly caused a spike, it's not something I'd describe as considerable momentum. The momentum is more properly displayed by the very solid hardware, software, and peripheral sales on the 360.

[DrSpike]

Indeed. How much the gap closes (presuming it doesn't grow further, which isn't impossible I guess) next month will say a lot more about momentum.

[Nikolai]

Now that PS3 is getting a bigger HDD (250 gig IIRC), perhaps the sales will rise a little because of that. But as long as 360 has all the good games, it can't last forever.

[Asher]

There's a 250GB 360 coming out very shortly also, bundled with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

[DrSpike]

I don't think it's that much of a factor either way - the 360 hard drives are more than sufficient, particularly with the Elite becoming the standard.

[Asher]

Apparently the upcoming Facebook/Twitter/Last.fm and 360 integration is pretty good: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2...ng-impress.ars

But they are most impressed with the 1080p streaming technology.

[DrSpike]

A random 360 whinge: I really wish MS would provide some notice before they do updates. I had to wait 30 mins tonight to log into live because of an update, and if I had known I would have turned the machine on and downloaded whilst eating etc.

Previous updates have been even worse.

[Asher]

What are you talking about?

360 updates take me maybe 1 minute max...every time.

What the **** is wrong with the UK if it takes you guys 30 minutes?

[DrSpike]

Lies.

Most updates are very fast, but 3 times in the last year or so I've had 30 min+ updates.

[Asher]

That's all your problem, DrSpike.

Today's was under 10 seconds for me. I'm not even joking.

It was a small patch to add WPA2 support for wireless adapters.

If it took 30 minutes, you're doing something seriously wrong.

[DrSpike]

Yeah, maybe I turned on the 360 in the wrong way. Or perhaps logged in incorrectly, despite all the other times it being fine.

[Asher]

I don't know what I can tell you. User error.

[DrSpike]

Yeah, them buttons sure is tricky.

[Asher]

Apparently...