I'm officially putting my chips on the 360 winning this generation of the console race. Some may say it's too early to decide which console is going to win. I'd usually agree with them but there have been too many things that the past generations market leader did wrong and wasted opportunities by the other other competitor to gain significant ground on the 360. I believe the current positions of the three will remain until the end of this generation.

The 2006 holiday season is over. We had two console launches late 2006 and both were widely anticipated by their collective fanbase. The PS3 launched to huge media coverage and hype. Long lines and criminal activity to deprive some of those waiting in line of their console(s) or cash. It was everything we all thought it would be and it wasn't what we thought. The long lines were expected with the number of consoles Sony was initially selling. The anticipation was higher than the PS2 launch and deservedly so; this machine was going to be bigger, better and badder than it's predecessor.

Two things hurt Sony; it started production of the PS3 particularly late and had production problems with crucial components in the console. I agree with every Sony fan and official that says the PS3 would have sold out with any number of units they would have released. The demand was there. Unfortunately Sony screwed themselves and the faithful. Sony actually shipped less than half the consoles they had originally announced. They missed out on the tons of shoppers that would have been caught up in the hype and swirl surrounding a hot item during the shopping season. That opportunity is gone and can't be regained even with the product being available this upcoming shopping season. You're only new once and there is always another product around the corner to take the title of 'the must have' item. Couple this with what some people see as a too high price point for the console and the immediate future doesn't look rosy for Sony's console. The situation is even more bleak when you factor in the limitation the userbase size places on developer sales and profits and you see why some of them may decide to jump ship with their exclusives as a number of them already have. Things could change in Sony's favor, but right now I see that being more of a snowballs chance in the hot place than the definite first place finish line placement so many saw this time last year. Too many things have to happen right for Sony; their competitors also have to stumble, a lot, but no one has stumbled this past year no more than Sony.

Nintendo came from behind to surprise everyone, including myself, in their strong start with the Wii. The console has the buzz, the fanbase and appeal to those that aren't considered gamers. What I think Nintendo has going for them is the ease of use and pick up play for short periods ability. The price is also a consideration; they're fifty dollars cheaper than their closest competitors offering. I have to believe that a parent or someone 'not in the know' would see this as a huge factor; that is if they could actually find the console on store shelves. Nintendo also fell victim to the same under supplying of retail as Sony did. While it was more than the number of units Sony shipped, it still fell well short of demand. They failed to capture a larger lead over Sony than the one they've established, and considering the technological advantage the PS3 has on the Wii, I think this is something they may live to regret further down the road. They also have to watch the non-traditional interface/control scheme. I'm under the impression that the sales of Nintendo's console this past shopping season was the majority of the Nintendo faithful. How much of Nintendo's sales will come from the non-traditional gamer? That's the market they seem to be targeting, and it's a huge segment.

Nintendo has made huge strides to overcome their shortcomings of the pasts. I've think they've changed their image of being a platform uninviting to third party developers; but only slightly. I think it wouldn't take that much for the situation to devolve into the muddle we've had in the past on Nintendo consoles. I also think Nintendo should also utilize the Wii and it's non-standard scheme, interfacing to the best of their abilities. I was skeptical of the DS when it first launched, but look at how that platform has performed in the last two years. Shocking is an understatement in describing the DS's success. One thing I think Nintendo should utilize that they've implemented in a piss poor manner in the past is connectivity. Remember that Nintendo buzzword? I think implementing some form of connectivity between the DS and Wii would benefit both platforms; that's if Nintendo actually did something with it better than the failed attempt of years past. Nintendo's future seems a lot brighter than Sony's. It seems they control their destiny and the impact from anyone else for the immediate future would be minimal.

Of the three consoles on the market, the 360 seems to have the brightest future. Even with blockbuster titles like MGS4 for the PS3, the 360 has too many upcoming bright and anticipated titles to be ignored. Microsoft has made considerable strides in getting third party developers; especially Japanese developers, in bring exclusive and fresh titles to their console. The year head start that Microsoft was claiming during their initial year was disregarded as negligible. Few but the most ardent XBox fanboys believed this lead would do anything to change Microsoft's position in the industry. If anything, I think the years head start may prove to be the single factor that pushes the 360 to hold the first place position. The years head start has enabled the second generation titles on the 360 to outshine the majority of the titles on their competitors consoles.Combine this with the constant improvements and increasing membership on the consoles online network and I honestly believe that the console race is in Microsoft's hands to solidify their position or loose.

I'm going to have to bet on the 360.

There's an article on Teamxbox about the Halo 3 commercial airing on Monday Night Football December 4. That same night the beta signups will begin.

I know I'll try and signup. I'll probably get my rear end handed to me but I'll be victim to help tweak the game.

The PS3 launch is upon us. In a little under 24 hours, the console will be available here in the States. People have already started camping out for the console and I feel sorry for those that are in cold weather climates like mine. I had my crazy behind out there last year for the 360 and I refuse to do that for another console. NEVER!

I know the PS3 numbers were lower than what was expected and promised. That leads me to wonder why.We know that there have been issues with Sony producing the blue diodes for the Blu-ray player. But Sony had already appended the number of consoles to 400k because of that. I didn't think of this earlier but a conversation tonight made me think of it. Asustek started production on the console a few months ago. Now what I'm trying to figure out is what kind of problems are they running into if they started production three to four months ago and they could muster less than 400k worldwide. Not only that, here's another article that claims that the manufacturer was shipped 200k of parts/components and in subsequent months the numbers would be increased with 1 million being delivered in September and October. Is the manufacturing process so poorly implemented that so few of the components are netting viable consoles? At this rate, it's highly unlikely you'll see 1.2 million PS3s by the end of the year. You're more likely to find Carmen SanDiego or Waldo at this rate.

...I don't know what the world would do. Check out this page on BestBuy.com. I guess they are really playing it safe and are accounting for a ton of delays or two.

Yes, yes, yes! Settlers of Catan is headed to XBLA. I can't wait to download this game. Anyone that has played the board game knows how fun and addictive it can be.

It had been a long time since I had sat down and played DOA4. I had really lost interest in the game. So I fire it up over the weekend and started playing a few games. That's when I noticed my achievement total/score for the game and decided to work on it. I looked at what I had accomplished, what I needed to accomplish and what would be the easiest to pull off. I set my eyes on unlocking all the costumes. What a mistake!

I like Mr. Itagaki. I do. I really enjoyed DOA3, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black on my XB. Having played through those games and viewing some of the pics from DOAXBV, I should have known how twisted Mr Itagaki's mind was. His fascination with the female form it's proportions and clothing them should have been a window on how laborious this task would be.

Most of the people in the game had two to three costumes available to them. I unlocked a couple of more costumes but knew I was going to need help when I played through the game again with Ryu and didn't get a new uniform. I didn't want to blindly play through the game again without knowing how many costumes I had to unlock. I checked GS's page on the game and it wasn't as helpful as I would have liked, so I checked Gamefaqs. That's the first indicator I had that this was going to be more involved than I originally planned on.

I had three costumes for Kasumi. Her total is seven. I had three for Hitomi and Kokoro. They have eight and seven respectively. On average, I had at least ten more fighters with at least two costumes to unlock. You take an average of two costumes per fighter times the number of rounds it takes to unlock the uniform and you're talking about a minimum of one hundred sixty rounds of fighting madness! Let me repeat that; ONE HUNDRED SIXTY ROUNDS! Did this number stop me? No. Should it have? Maybe. I may like the game but I wouldn't consider myself a true fighting guru or aficionado like my buddy Pat. I'm one of those people that when they get something stuck in their head, it's hard to let it go.

I'm steadily chipping away at this task. Notice my gamercard and the percentage of DOA I've completed so far. I plan on getting through this by next weekend. Keep your fingers crossed and keep a look out for that percentage going up.

I was looking for a used copy of Killer 7 for the GC on Gamestop.com. I started looking for other used games and guides and stumbled upon a back-ordered page for Lost Odyssey. How is that possible when the game isn't even out yet? Why is a used copy listed this early?

I was one of those people that took advantage of the forty-eight hour time period to download a free copy of Texas Hold-em. Why wait an pay ten dollars for the game? Well I've only played the game a few times online, but I have to say that the people I've run into seem to fall right in line with the typical jerks you'd run into in the dregs of cyberspace.

I'm a novice when it comes to poker. I learned from my closest friend this pays April when I went out to Vegas for an extended weekend. I played in a few poker tournaments and really enjoyed myself. I can see why the game is so popular and why it gets all the attention it does on television. It's very addictive.

In my first game game online I noticed one particular person would always raise $3000. Always! Anyone that has played Hold-em knows that it's impossible to have that many good hands but most people are going to fold without challenging a raise like that. Everyone once in a while the guy would get caught and beat by someone holding something better, but every once in a while he would get lucky and come out the winner. This did nothing but encourage him to continue doing this.

I left that game and didn't play for a few days. I booted up the game tonight and played a few hands online and had the same thing happen again. Guys going all in with 50k with a pair of fours or other lightweight hands. What's going on here? I called my friend from Vegas and talked with him about it. He told me it has to do with people gambling with imaginary money. There's really no consequence for them to bet like this. I could see his point. Hand after hand I saw people go all end losing 50-100k and doing a rebuy like it was nothing. That's not the kind of games I would like to participate in. I think I'll stick with the single player portion and the tournaments once I've built up a bankroll. I think it would be a lot more fun than playing with the Texas Hold-em Captain Asinine.

I just read this thread in GGD. I haven't played Madden 07 yet so I can't speak on how well it stands up to the presentation of a two year old game. I will says that I was one of those individuals that was disappointed when EA got the exclusive rights to the NFL license; however, that being said, don't think that this blog entry is just another 'Death to EA' rant and that they have nothing worthwhile that comes out of their company. That's simply not true. This blog entry is about the lack of quality in the first and current iterations of the Madden franchise on the 360 and how it gives credence to most of the 2K fans out there that like to pine for the death of everything EA.

Maybe someone should have warned Sega and Visual Concepts that this game not only heralded the death of their videogame football franchise but the guy on the cover also helped the breakdown of the Philadelphia Eagles.

This years Madden is the second offering on the XBox 360. With a new console being released after the official release of Madden 06, I don't think anyone was surprised by EA rushing out a game to capitalize on the new console launch. I think a few people were surprised by the lack of certain features on the game however. One of those being the ability to challenge plays. To a non-sports fan the features that were removed may seem trivial but it's akin to the RE series going back to the tank like controls of earlier games after the change made in the control scheme in RE4. I like Alex's quote from his review, "Yes, Madden NFL 06 has made its debut on the Xbox 360--but not in a form that could really be called next gen." There weren't many expectations for that game, not compared to this years version. Complaints about the lack of features and care EA took with Madden 06 were chalked up to Sega and VC fanboys ranting again. Who can blame those kinds of threads being downplayed? I don't want to hear "Death to EA and they're lazy" every time a game is released. It gets tiring; but doesn't the release of this year's game give a little validity to those that complain about EA?

The simple fact of the matter is, if you want to get an NFL licensed football simulation style game on console, you're going to have to get it from EA. This is year two of five! Madden 07 has improved from Madden 06 on the 360, but still has significant issues that affect enjoyment of the game. What's really telling is reading the reviews on the other platforms and seeing comments normally heard in EA rant threads. One comment that I found shocking in the XB review concerned the graphics and animations, "...since the focus seems to have been on developing for the 360 version of the game this year." How is that possible when there are animation concerns in the 360 version? I'm not going to call EA lazy because I don't know what the hell was going on. What I really want to see though is when the PS3 is released and the version of the game on that system. Have resources from the last gen and 360 games been taken away to concentrate on the PS3 version? I honestly doubt it and figure the PS3 version will more likely be a port of the PS2 or 360 version.

I don't feel there is anyway to justify this type of behaviour on EA's part. It has nothing to do with VC and their work on another sports game. I don't think VC is perfect by any means, but does VC being imperfect mean EA shouldn't strive for perfection? I was resigned to purchasing Madden 07 this year because it's the only football sim out there. I have to say I've honestly been rethinking that over the last twenty-four hours. I don't want to spend sixty dollars and regret it a month down the road.

I aiiin't no joke; I used to let the mike smoke,
now I slam'it when I'm done and make sure it's broke...

Wow, just wow! Imagine my surprise when I hear that song on the Saints Row demo. Eric B. and Rakhim on the soundtrack; that's awesome. I was moderately enjoying the music and game before that, but that song literally 'got' me more involved in the game because it seem so appropriate. It also got me thinking about what other rap songs from the '80's they might have on the soundtrack: EPMD, MC Lyte - I used to think I was going to marry that lady, KRS-1 and Big Daddy Kane. The last game soundtrack that I enjoyed that much was from College Hoops 2K6.

Did any of the GTA games have a soundtrack as cool as this? I've read about the period music in the games before. Hell, I own GTA III for XB and have only played it once. Saints Row may make me go back and play that game through. I read the multiplayer impressions and there seem to be a few concerns. I'm hoping they are ironed out, but how much can they do with the game a mere month away? I thought the control scheme in the single player demo was not confusing at all, especially if the control customization option is there. Saints Row has moved up to a game of interest. I'm going to keep my eye on it.