Before I begin, I'd like to say this:  Kids piss me off.  It's not their youth or energy or crying.  It's the attitude that they somehow know everything, yet have seen little and understand even less.  So, to bring you to the situation: a guy makes a great thread about biased people and their refusal to embrace a console that is obviously good because of stupid reasons.  So a guy posts a reply like "well I'd be pissed to if I paid $60 and the games weren't perfect and..."

Well you konw *perfect* immedieatly caught my attention for a number of reasons.  This was part of my message to him:

________________________
"If it is your expectation that every game be "perfect" for just because you're paying $60, you're either too young or too ignorant to have any meaningful perspective.  Games don't magically get better just because you're paying a few more dollars for them. That few more dollars helps these devs cover the dozens of extra programmers and artists they have to hire so that kids like you can feel like your "next gen" experience is every closer to the impossible goal of something mistakable for real life.  The Law of Diminishing Returns suggests it so.  Games will generally be no better than they were in any other generation.  You'll have some AAA's.  You'll have some AA's.  You'll have mostly A's.  PERIOD.  If you think the fact that you're paying more will have any bearing on the number of AA and AAA games that will come out, you're sadly mistaken.

So yea...I get pissed when I read vain babble by kids like you who have no perspective and no base from which to speak...yet you type as if you have seen it all.  You probably weren't BORN when the NES came into the world and changed everything...your N64 was probably your first real system.  You're too young.  Listen to your elders.  You'll learn something. 
_____________________________

Too harsh?  On the spot?  Let me know!

Before all you guys and gals go off buying your 360s and PS3s, you need to add something new to your budget: an HDTV.  Many people might tell you that you don't really need an HDTV to experience these nextGen systems, but they're wrong.  Here's your example:

1.) Warm up your PC and cut on your favorite game.  Maybe UT2004.  Maybe Farcry. 

2.) Now, drop the resolution to 640x480.  Note the quality of the image displayed...the muddy textures, the blurryness, the lost detail.

3.) Now, increase the resolution to 1024x768 or better.  Note the quality of the image displayed relative to what you just saw at 640x480. 

This is an excellent example of the difference between SD and HD.  SD runs at 480...HD runs at 720 (minimum).  The quality in difference you saw is reflective of the kinds of details and sharpness you'll miss if you're trying to run your PS3/360 on an SDTV. 

What's it all mean?  I guarantee you that you'll be underwhelmed by most nextGen games if you don't put that sucker on a monitor...but most realistically, on an HDTV.

So I say to you now...while you make your budget for your nextGen video game console, add an HDTV to that budget.  Go to Best Buy.  Go to Circuit City.  Figure out what size is right for you.  Then shop around for the best compromise in quality and quantity.  You'll not look back.  And know that you're not just doing it for gaming, but for enhanced TV viewing and nextGen DVD viewing as well.

If you already own a 360 and don't have an HDTV, I challenge you to pack up your 360, roll over to the closest Circuit City, hook your stuff up to an HDTV there and watch a tear fall from your right eye.  The difference in clarity is like night and day. 

Get an HDTV.  You won't be disappointed!!!

Sincerely,

adrian1480...proud owner of a 37" Syntax Olevia LCD HDTV.  www.syntaxgroups.com.

ULTIMATELY THEY WILL BOTH FAIL.

<pontification>

You heard it here first.  The reality is that both of these formats will fail.  Neither will gain market traction, no matter how hard they try.  Why?  A multitude of reasons, really.

1.) The market isn't ready for a new format.  Some people are still getting their 1st DVD players and burners are still far from common.  Even VHS is still on the scene.  The proliferatrion of HDTV is far FAR from what it was envisioned to be back in '96 when Congress implemented the analog broadcast cut-off date.  And we ALL know that without an HDTV (720p MINIMUM, sorry EDTV and SDTV owners!) neither Blu-Ray or HD-DVD are worth a hill of beans.

2.) HDTV's rollout will not reach major numbers until AT LEAST 2010.  Why?  People are content with what they HAVE.  Probably 90% of Americans are working with SDTVs are are perfectly content with their signals and quality.  They have no desire to spend $1500+ on a TV of respectable size enough to go in the living room...and there are not a lot of signs that point to a major cost reduction in these TVs.  And until that day (and your average suzie and joe decide it's worth it), SDTV will represent the overwhelming majority.  And without masses of HDTVs in the field (even with the PS3's expected ubiquitousness)...well, see #1.

3.) The difference between VHS and DVD was INFINITELY more impressive than the differences between DVD and nextGen.  What do you mea, Visionary?  Well, let's look at the differences:

DVD's advantages over VHS (and LaserDisc, for that matter):
-Much better picture
-Much better audio
-Familiar form-factor
-Fast-skipping: VHS fast-forwarding on steroids.  2x...4x...20x...40x...
-Chapter selection...clearly superior to fast-forwarding on VHS
-Smaller form-factor...VHS tapes took up a lot of space, by comparison
-Competitive pricing.  They were approx. the same price as VHS tapes.
-On-screen NAVIGATION!  Now instead of seeing random trailers and then the movie, you have a navigation system that will allow you to do all kinds of things
-DVD extras!  Audio commentary, deleted scenes, and other additions that VHS never had.
-Most movies could fit on one disc.
-DVD players could play audio CDs, adding to their versatility
-PCs coming with DVD drives
-DVDs used as storage capacity
-Universal standard with ***NO*** competition (unless you consider VHS competition)

...and there were probably more advantages.

Now let's examine BluRay/HD-DVDs advantages over DVD:
-Better picture
-Better sound
-More storage capacity
-????

Yup, the buck stops there.  Only 3 meaningful advantages in place to try to sell an entirely new format to the masses, when it took DVD all of those 15 advantages and then some (including the ubiquitous PS2 and semi-ubiquitous Xbox, and cascading DVD player prices) to get its installed base...and even then, those 3 advantages are only worth something to a handful of tech-head consumers who have the equipment necessary to take advantage of it.

4.) Confusion.  When the market gets exposed to this mess we call a format war...when they have to deal with BluRay (I can hear mom's world-wide saying "WTF is BluRay?") vs. HD-DVD and salespeople have to start using technical jargon that most people neither understand nor care to understand (ask you average person on the street how big a Gigabyte is.  you'll get a blank stare)...coupled with the myriad of "HD" versions (people think EDTV is the same as HDTV, there are like 5 competing formats of HDTV including Plasma, DirectView, LCD, DLP, Rear Projection LCD, IDLA, etc.) AND the different resolutions 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p and get lost on what's important and what's not...and which TVs have what technologies, most people will go home to their stuff that WORKS and not even bother with HD for years.

Sooo...in my humble opinion, given these simple realities...neither format would see a descent market for the format for at least another 4 years or thereabouts...and by then, we'll be introduced to a superior format.  Maybe HVD...maybe hard drives in the multi-terabyte range and fiber optics or WiMax networks making physical media more and more irrelevant as downloading becomes more common.  For these formats I, in some ways, see the same fate in their future that LaserDisc experienced...

Soooo...I don't see why people care about these 2 formats so much.  All
nextGen systems could really get by without using either format.

</pontification>

 Am I crazy or what?  Let me know! 

So I've finally stopped babbling in forums long enough to start writing reviews and utilizing some other features!  Look for more interesting stuff to come, boyz and girlz!