The Playstation 3 was one of the most hyped (if not THE most hyped) game system to date. Everyone thought they wanted it, and the demand was much higher than the supply, resulting the eBay price of a PS3 to start around $1,000 and peak at nearly $3,000 (I'm sure there were some lower and higher, but that's about what I saw). There was a problem, though: it wasn't worth the hype. At least not yet, it wasn't. With a killer launch, the PS3 started full speed ahead (save the extreme lack of inventory) and then died instantly. Weak launch titles that were next gen installments of PSP games and weak multi-platform releases (while cool, I'm sure no one will consider Madden '07 to be the killer app of the PS3). The only savior was a little Sony FPSer by the name of "Resistence:Fall of Man", but sadly this, too, was just a little too similar to the thriving WWII shooters that Epic's "Gears of War" drove it into the ground.

After this, there was plenty of speculation as to what the future of the PS3 held. Many Sony faithfuls had moved from the days of PS2 all-day shooters like "Socom" to be loyal 360 fans for the many intense 1st and 3rd person shooters that flooded the system, who's only true superiority was its online community. As with all competitions, the problems of the PS3 were clear: it offered no true distinction from the 360. Through most of 2007 the PS3 was basically the alternative to the 360, very much like Linux is to Windows (I'm keeping Mac out of this). Blu-Ray was not the dominant format, most games were coming out on both systems and true hardcore gamers that would drop the cash for a PS3 already had a 360 (no need to buy a PS3), and most exclusive titles that made the PS3 tempting became multi-platform (however on the flip side, "Halo 3" and "Gears of War", huge exclusives on the 360, remained exclusive). The PS3 was dying, and with no help from delays on MGS4 and Home (the online second life clone that promised to compete with Xbox Live), 2007 was a bad year for the PS3. Most people, including myself (even though I owned one), didn't find much use out of the system. Even games we wanted to get on PS3 instead of 360 (in my case, it was "Stranglehold") were plagued with delays of (on the better side) 2 weeks and (on the worse side) 1-2 months! So, now that a year has gone by (or at least 2 financial quarters), does the PS3 fair better? Here's how I see it.

Many things have changed for the better for both Sony and the PS3 that are helping its chances. We haven't seen many true 1080p titles coming out, but more than we used to (it seemed like EVERYTHING Sony released except for the horrid "Lair" was in 720p). Additionally Blu-Ray has become the universal HD format, making the now cheaper $400 PS3 the cheapest (and best) Blu-Ray player on the market. Home seems to finally be on its way and the online community is much larger and effective now than it was a mere six months ago. Additionally we're seeing a seemless transaction between PS3 and 360 release dates, assuring that titles on multiple platforms release at the same time. We've also seen some solid exclusives in "Heavenly Sword" and "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune". I've even played some games ("Uncharted" was the most obvious) that had their own form of Achievement points, so as to remove that from the 360 advantage AND Sony is going to introduce a trophy system with home that is very much like the Achievement system. Sony also learned it's lesson with the sixaxis controller and released the dual shock 3, removing motion controls and returning to the traditional rumble controls everyone missed. Couple that with the integration of more and more PSP -> PS3, and they've got a uniform home/portable system mover. They even took the risk of removing backwards compatability and still haven't seemed to hurt their sales.

In the end, though, it's really all about the games, right? With the huge storage space of Blu-Ray and an early prescidence of installing games on the system, Sony has some hardcore exclusives that prove that it may be the last system standing out of the current generation of systems. "Metal Gear Solid 4" is going to be a huge release, if only because of the hype. "Little Big Planet" is going to be a fun game for everyone from hardcore to casual. "Haze", now looking more an more like an exclusive, if only from technical limitations, and it, to me, looks like a killer FPSer. Other shooters like "Resistence 2" with many more additions that make it stand out and "Killzone 2" are well on their way. PS3 will also stand strong in the multiplatform realm with "GTA IV" and (hopefully) "Resident Evil 5". There are also rumors that the only system with the technical capabilities for "Crysis" is the PS3. Don't get me wrong, I love my 360 and it is currently the favorite on my LCD, but I do show some love to my PS3 and given what I've seen coming, it looks like by this holiday season, the PS3 will be the no-brainer purchase. My only fear, and what will really piss me off, is if developers push the 360 into another system too early. I think the 360 also has plenty of life in it as well, but very much like the PS2/Xbox wars, maybe it's time to give each their own exclusive worlds.