okay, so it was about 8 months ago that I gave my views on the state of gaming, so heres my updated look for how things have changed over that period.
The Xbox 360 is still the Xbox 360
90% or more of the games that do well on that system are still shooters, racing, and sports titles. Things are becoming a little more interesting, but it still seems as though its the console of choice for those who don't like thinking very hard. One could say Bioshock and Mass Effect were story driven at least, although you could run through Bioshock ignoring the story and just shooting things if you wanted, and with Mass Effect the story came at the cost of good gameplay. Blue Dragon was a disappointment, and though Eternal Sonata was not, it did lose its exclusivity.
For online shooting games or a sweet game of Uno, the Xbox 360 is practically a must. The included microphone and easy networking features make it stand out above the competition in terms of ease and fun. I appreciate these things, but if I could only own one of the consoles, would I go for the one with the best multiplayer experience or the best single player experience? Goldeneye is surely one of my favorite games of all time, but it's surrounded by single player games that either had lengthy narration or dialogue and characters that I cared about. For as much as I love Gears of War, I don't remember the storyline beyond "aliens, run shoot them!"
When I say that video games are art, a lot of people scoff. I understand their thinking though, I understand why they might not see it that way, and that is because of games like Madden and Call of Duty that offer fun and visceral experiences, but aren't about story telling or character development or plot so much. The truth is, the Xbox 360 provides a terrible argument for games as art because of its heavy concentration on mindless multiplayer fun instead.
The PS3: Now with games I want to play!
Sony has been improving since my state of gaming, which isn't a surprise since they couldn't have really gotten any worse, but with games like Uncharted and Ratchet & Clank Future out for it, there is a real, compelling argument to own the system beyond just future potential. The Playstation Network as well as been much more interesting, and in a way satisfying, than Xbox Live Arcade. Without a size cap on the games stuff like Warhawk and Tekken Dark Resurrection can get released on it and the original stuff seems to be a bit better too, such as Super Stardust HD and Everyday Shooter. clearly Playstation Network is not going for the arcade feel like Xbox Live Arcade, it is just a way to release smaller and less expensive games without the hassle of publishing an actual disc.
The price point as well has improved, though at what cost is debateable. For me, backwards compatibility is necessary so I can upscale the PS2 games I'm still playing for my HDTV, and the ease of having an all-in-one Playstation system seems extremely appealing and convenient. This is not important to everybody, but the fact that they removed it needlessly should be a strike against them all by itself. It doesn't save them money to remove it, they just did it so people would have no choice but to buy PS3 games to play on it. To me, removing any useful feature from a console after it's been released is a step in the wrong direction and a mistake. Had their $400 model simply been the 20GB system with a 40GB hard drive swapped in, that would have been a much better choice, even sans the built in wifi; it's simply less confusing. regardless, being within $50 of the primary Xbox 360 model is a definite improvement, although I would sooner buy a 20GB system for around $300 from ebay myself.
Once again, the future of the PS3 seems incredibly solid, but unless they can make their online even a shadow of the experience of the Xbox 360, they'll likely lose out on a lot of sales of multi-platform online games, meaning their strength has to lie with their exclusives. If Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII/Versus XIII, Gran Turismo 5, Tekken 6, Killzone 2, Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, Disgaea 3, White Knight Chronicles and the other exclusives that may came out on PS3 this year can't shore up sales of the system, then it has no hope.
Would Wii like to play?
Sales say the Wii is most awesome thing since pop tarts and tang, but even if it is selling 40 million units a month (my estimate) it is a completely different market still. Mario, Metroid, Zelda, and No More Heroes proves that there will be real games on the system that are actually good, but the frequency of their release seems even slower than the PS3's lineup. The question on a lot of peoples minds is "is the Wii a system for real gamers?" and the answer is a rather indefinitive maybe. If you're still into Mario and pals and their exploits, then you'll have a good time for sure. If you want good third party games, well, odds are they're also on PS2. Quite simply, if the Wii is your only console for gaming, you're going to be missing a lot. With the other systems price drops, $250 seems a little steep as well for a second console that you'll only be playing a game on every 3 months.
The Wii seems to have found its market, but it still completely baffles me, and I cant imagine that changing any time soon.