Wow, we really have a dry year so far in the world of gaming. With Wolfenstein in August and Section 8 in September, there really seems to be no major adult release until the official fall season. With some developers claiming to hold back and tune their product for the holiday release, the excuse the economy to blame is getting really old. I hope the word is kept and they are not shelving this content without the polish. All of the hype of a new release is not required if the title is good.

It has been a few years now since the initial introduction of the big two mega-giant consoles and how have they come along so far? Let's look at the system specs and consider the basics: the Xbox360 has a 3 core 3.2 GHz processor with a pre DX10 ATI GPU running at 500Mhz and the PS3 has 7 3.2Ghz cells with a Nvida (3DFX technology, remember them?) based GPU running at 550Mhz. Side by side these systems both have some benefits and flaws that users usually pick out within the first few weeks of ownership. Let us look at the issues...

Xbox360

1. RROD (red ring of death): a flaw in the manufacturing process that caused the solder joints to weaken and break due to the expansion and contraction of temperature in the device. Trying to cheaply and efficiently keep console factory and material prices down, this put a little egg on Microsoft's face. It ended up costing the company billions but overall, a company with absolutely zero debt quickly recovered and remedied the issues. The support is lacking and if you ever get a hold of the customer service agent that knows how to speak English, you have been blessed by VoIP gods.
2. Proprietary add-ons: You are stuck with a drive that is limited to only 20 GB (16 GB with cache) and have to manage your media wisely. If you want to rent a HD movie, you better make space or else it will not fit. If you want to upgrade, expect to pay big dollars for a hard drive that will cost you a quarter as much in the PC consumer market.
3. Xbox Live: Want to play online? How's the tune of $40 a year sound? Sometimes you can find deals online but is you let he service lack, the automatic renewal process makes you pay the full retail price of $60 (as of last time I renewed).
4. Noisy as heck: not only does it sound like a 747 jumbo jet is flying through my living room, sometimes when the disc is spinning I think that baby is coming in for a landing. If you want to play at night when people are sleeping, you have a choice of the air blaster or headphones.
5. Blue about Bluray: I mean come on guys, drives are dirt cheap now and you still think that it would really make a huge impact to add this technology to your system? It will affect zero players and will promote people to pick up a second console just to have that compatibility. They added the HDMI to the lucky few that bought it late so their standard movies will get the up scaling they need -thanks for the pressure MPAA and other paranoid people who made that happen.

PS3

1. Compatible HDTV resolutions: So, instead of system scaling, you leave it up to the developers to allow when default resolution is displayed? I mean come on!! I have a friend with a 1080i and 480p television and unless it says one of those on the box, you are in some sort of mega-giant land that renders the games unplayable. Fallout 3? Not happening here. Bioshock? Enjoy 1/4 of the title screen. You would think that a message would appear at least. If people do not know to look for this, better check the store return policy.
2. Ported games: wow, these guys really know how to make a game on the Xbox 360 look so much better. From frame rate issues to flat-out bad textures make a good experience bad. This can end up being a deal breaker for dual system owners and leave people who cannot afford the luxury crying. Whose fault is this? Unless Sony gets a blank check, developers are left to struggle and suffer to try to make it work.
3. Game installation: Bluray is an awesome technology, unless you need to read faster than 2x. It can take 10 minutes just to copy over 4 GB. So, can we allow developers to use DVD technology if it is not needed, no way! Don't like your 40, 60, or 80 GB drive? Go buy another one!!
4. Software: the software is getting better slowly and the issues are ironing out, years later. Every patch that comes out is like a Christmas present box filled with rocks. The company does not prioritize the correct fixes in the necessary order -well Tom, let's work on the hard stuff later.
5. Controller/Headset: Battery running low on your controller? Better get a USB hub or laptop because unless you want to sit 12 inches from the screen, you will have to wait. Want to talk to your friends? Imagine calling 30 people on three-way and listening to all of the cheap headset humming and static throughout the games. It was a good idea at the time but it ended being a 19th century phone room where they either work too well (hear the music in the background) or not good enough (noise).
6. Keep the hardware straight: How many revisions do they have out right now? If you didn't get in early, you are missing out the backwards compatibility and a couple other features. I just can't believe that you get less for the same price? The 60 GB was reduced to $499 and now you can get the console with less for the same price? Wow, what a bad company move guys.

Overall, the Xbox360 is currently the better product but is has less potential than the PS3. The PS3 has some awesome power behind it and you can see it when the Sony support base is there: MGS4, InFamous, and LBP. The problem lies with the support to developers to learn the new platform while they could write a Windows based application blindfolded. Looking at the company strategies, Microsoft has made a couple bad choices in the manufacturing process but they make sure the software works before they let it out of the box. Sony on the other hand appears to try this to see if it works, or maybe tweak that, or possibly try make that better later. Do you remember the PS2 when that came out? They had four or five titles that really were not all that great. Over time though, you could not believe the effects they could pull out of that simple processor. As of right now, the Xbox360 is the better product but over the next couple years, I could see this change since Sony has finally recognized that they need to support the developers more and reduce the price of the console. Am I trying to slam one or the other here? Absolutely not! I love both of them and just decided to point out some of the issues I encounter with them with some objection. You think life is good now with gaming, I can't wait to see what will be here in the next decade.

I decided to get a PC version of Prototype so I can play when my work sends me on the road. After experimenting with the classic keyboard and mouse controllers, I discovered that the consoles have spoiled me and I find it more and more difficult to use this classic type of control scheme. I had a couple old game Saitek and XFX game pads and no matter what I did, these just did not work right with Prototype and Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway. I discovered that the XBOX360 wired controller works pretty well and has a great compatibility with newer PC games and decided to fork out the $40 to see how it would work. So, I went to GameStop and asked to purchase one. The wonderful and helpful personnel at my local store indicated to me that they did not sell the wired XBOX360 controllers and Microsoft does not make them anymore due to the fact that they actually harm the XBOX360 console and is the source of the RROD problem that has plagued Microsoft over the years. I told the clerk that USB devices draw only 5VDC from the device and it is impossible if they support other USB devices because they would draw considerably the same amount power. Well, he told me to have good luck on finding one so I went to Wal-Mart and picked one up for $39.99 + tax. This ticked me off for a little bit but whenever I run into a situation like this I think of it like this, this guy makes $7 an hour and he probably believed what he told me to be true but I know it is not. Is it worth it to argue? Not really because that is business lost for GameStop.

In the end, the controller is great because it feels like you are playing the XBOX360 on your PC. The games automatically change the scheme to adapt to the console controller scheme and it just feels like it was made for use with the PC. Best PC purchase made in a long time and it was a great price.

It has been a long wait, and I emphasize the word long, since the E3 video. I remember when I purchased the first Killzone in a Walmart at 5:00 am in the morning. I had a gap in between jobs and decided to stop in to see what they had, since Walmart is the only store open that early. I picked it up tried it out after work and was not very pleased with the first level. I shelved the game for a good six months before I came back to it. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. I have been craving a good shooter lately so this will be a good treat.