since the launch of the PS3 the constant rumble from the faithful has been "next year"

ok the 360 has a better software line up .. but next year... ok the 360 is selling more units ... but next year

We've all heard them say it .. and it's almost a tiring as any rant about how one system suxks and another is a gift from god.

yawn !!

However, it is a simple fact that the PS3 is a good machine and sony spent last year putting their house in order and have, in my mind at least, finally come up trumps.

Firstly Little big planet ... easily the best game realeased on the PS3 last year, is leading the way in bonding PS3 owners in the same way the 360 has been doing since launch. Dipping into user created content , getting e-mail messages about a cool level people have found. All this is the sort of buzz, a level of cool that the PS3 was missing. With sony announcing over 650,000 user levels being created with amazingly 35,000 new levels going up each week the people that have bought into the little sackboy world are really doing their part

Secondly the new and quite frankly vastly improved exclusive content coming to PSN... Flower , noby noby boy present something different and wonderful that again adds a much needed wow factor that XBLA has had at points .. and with more to come with games like fat princess games that hark back to the golden days of gaming or present content that's not marketable for full releases.

Finally Home... yes home .. it's rubbish , absolutely terrible ! but i'm thinking this will be a slow burn , if sony get it working properly it's a great idea and will evolve over the next few years from mildly entertaining distraction to fully fledged User interface

So this "could" be the year .... But with one big factor standing in their way ... PRICE

In the UK the PS3 is still almost double the price of a 360 pro and 1/3 more expensive than an elite !

Quite simple Sony are still hanging onto the idea that people will pay the premium for the Ps3 .. and to some degree it is true, people have bought a respectable number of units. But respectable isn't what Sony expected and it's not what they were after. Unfortunately it's their legacy that Sony should be worried about now. People are now looking at MS and Sony as equals when it comes to console brands. In a way Sony have already lost the console war this generation simply because they have given up so much ground to Microsoft.

It might seem like a hollow victory to the fans who in 2005 thought the PS3 would crush it's competitors ... but here and now a marginal lead over the 360 come the end of this generation will be something sony will need to work for.

And to do that they need to hurt themselves with a substantial price cut and they need to do that sooner rather than later.