Will Microsoft Win 2011?

As I’m sure some of you are aware Sony have recently reduced the prices of their Playstation 3 by £50.00 over the last few weeks. This is to directly compete with the Xbox 360 more in the lead up to Christmas and finds the prices down to £179.99 for the 160GB slim version. This means the console is £15.00 cheaper then the 250 GB Xbox 360 S.

Microsoft have been expected to win the console war this year buy almost everyone and I can’t see the price drop affecting the outcome by much. The Xbox 360 has only just released the Kinect hardware which has been hugely successful and also has a great line up of games hitting the stores before Christmas.

Obviously the Xbox 360 comes packed with a larger hard-drive and a headset which makes the discount non-existent. Others may bring up the point that the PS3 comes fitted with a Blu-ray drive. However the only real benefit of this hardware is the ability to play Blu-ray movies. Even with this content the digital age is upon us and this type of player is fading fast. I suppose you could also mention that being able to fit more onto a single disc is another advantage but swapping disks isn’t really that difficult.

Another major factor will be Sony’s ability to follow the Microsoft lineup through the rest of the year. Yes, they have Uncharted 3 and Resistance 2 but even so these both lack the popularity of the Xbox exclusives coming our way. Uncharted has been a brilliant franchise but it just doesn’t compete with the likes of Halo in the popularity stakes. Apart from these two big games Sony do not really have a lot hitting the stores to pull people their way in the run up to Christmas. In fact the whole brand recognition for Sony has declined over the last few years and this is one of the clear areas that drives sales.

On top of the console exclusives we have a lot of other games hitting both platforms. The big two, Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 will be coming to both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 in November. If you haven’t already heard the Modern Warfare (that is bound to outsell Battlefield 3) the soon to be best selling game of the year will have timed exclusives to the Xbox 360 too. This will mean that it is inevitably better on the 360 and can be another small reason why people might head to Microsoft first. While Activision have moved more towards the 360, EA have definitely looked towards the PC and PS3 with their footage so far. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Battlefield will do better on the PS3 though as the best way to enjoy the EA series tends to be with it’s multiplayer portion and without any timed exclusives there really isn’t any difference. Of course Xbox Live is the superior online location compared to the Playstation Network and this may also affect the sales.

In addition to the timed exclusives Microsoft have with Activision are a number of other timed exclusive content not multiplayer based. The most notable of which is the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLC that will be launching on the Xbox first. Microsoft are making a very good case for gamers to play multiplatform games on their ever popular 360 console.

You can also look towards Xbox Live Arcade when thinking about which console to use/buy. With the Summer of Arcade collection recently being released there are number numerous reasons to buy from the arcade collection on the Xbox. Sony recently announce their ‘PLAY’ program that follows the same system but this only reinforces the fact they are now playing catch up and as Microsoft innovates for the future, their console seems to make the gap between the two larger and larger. Sony do not seem to innovate anymore as they are just hoping to replicate Microsoft’s services on their own console. Boy -  haven’t times changed?

In conclusion the Playstation might be the superior bit of hardware but the software on offer with the Xbox is miles ahead of it’s counterpart. The slight increase in cost is nothing compared to the overall amount to enjoy with the Xbox right out the box. It’s a bit like looking back at the original Playstation again and comparing it to the N64. Once was superior inside but the Playstation always lead the field because it had much more going for it.