I agree with Cobalt_Spartan, while this generation certainly has its share of great looking games (Uncharted, Gears of War) there are plenty of games that still show the limitations we're still dealing with. I was playing NBA2K9 the other day and I can still see jaggies and clothes clipping into themselves. As for all these comparisons I think GS is just bored to death. They have nothing better to do with their time then fuss over nuances that are so insignificant that it's almost sad that someone took the time to compare shadows and the textures in the cracks of rocks. What they need to report on is whether developers are deliberately cutting corners to make deadlines or to reduce budget constraints set by the C-level pencil pushers. It's crap like this that makes me visit other sites that spend more time looking for REAL news stories rather than trying to constantly make up articles to justify click-through rates to their sponsors. Even GameTrailers has calmed down on the whole my-system-is-better-than-yours bull crap.

While I'm not crazy about the whole DS3-connectivity thing I like the idea of a clearer picture. This might finally be a reason to ditch the PSPhat and pick up the 3000.

While X-Box'ers are shutting their system down to avoid their drapes catching fire I'll be leaving my system on after downloads to do my part to fight Parkinson's disease. Overall, the updates are really great for MS and I think they'll add a lot of value to the system. Although I think the chatting feature is more reactionary (is that a word) to Sony's upcoming Home that allows you to chat (text, video, and voice) with multiple users at once. What MS is lacking, however, is all the other neat features that Home brings like the 3D avatars. Why look at a bunch of bubbles with nothing more than a name when you can "emote" and chat in a Second Life environment. However, that's not to say that Sony won't have a feature that will allow you chat with friends during games/movies without going into Home but at least the choice will be there. I greatly respect the 360 and feel that the updates are really good but I just feel like it may not be enough to counter-act the Home service, if that's in fact what MS is trying to compete with.

Not to slight any comments made here but it would appear that everyone has a high amount of skepticism about the new Home service. Have we forgotten that it's free? Okay, so at some point you'll have to pay something in order to deck out your condo and spend a few bucks to get a new pair of jeans for your avatar but the friggin' service is FREE people! At its worst the Home service will be a freebie that very few will use. Or at best become a haven of exclusives and ways to interact that neither console will be able to match (Bluetooth chat on the Wii, don't think so). Secondly, the comments by Andrew Park about the PS3 being a Trojan horse for DVD; well the DVD format didn't have any competition during the PS2 days. It was either stick with VHS or go with a fancy new DVD player that average about $300 to $500. With HD-DVD in the mix it changes things quite a bit. As it stands the Blu-Ray format is doing (arguably) very well. Once Disney starts releasing Blu-Ray ONLY films awareness and sales should increase. You could argue that people aren't buying into Blu-Ray or HD-DVD simply because they're better educated and are making smarter decisions as it relates to new technology. Even the average PC user isn't rushing into upgrading to Vista because they figured 'why bother, if ain't broke...'. And if not for the fact that every new desktop/laptop you buy today has Vista preloaded people would probably think twice about Vista if they had a choice between the two. Sure Vista looks prettier but what does it do that my XP won't do? Right now people have choices in buying new technology and they're making them based on what they feel is the investment for them. Finally, I'll just say that of all the complaints people have about the Home service, just realize that the service is scalable. If something needs to be changed in the service then Sony will change it if enough of us complain about it. That's the greatest part about this service is that it can molded and crafted into something gamers not only want but can't live without. So come on people, let's give it a little bit of chance shall we? To quote Seinfeld from The Dealership episode, "Would ya' stop it. You'll plenty of time to destroy it after I buy it".

While the idea of BC is important to some gamers, most PS3 owners will probably dump their current catalog and PS2 in order to get their hands on a PS3. Having said that, however, the idea that Sony is dropping the Emotion Engine and raising the price makes little sense to me but then again I'm not getting paid to make those kinds of decisions. If I was I would be dropping the price and taking a pay cut in order to make sure that Sony's PR department could take a day off. Frankly, none of this will be an issue thanks to regular updates and a really big push coming next month (according to Phil Harrison). What does bother me as a PS3 owner is this is yet another hole that Sony has to crawl out of. There's been practically nothing but bad press for Sony's BBB (big black box) and this news blip on the radar doesn't make things any better. The system has the potential to rise above it all but with other disappointments already on the horizon (like VF5 and GTA IV launching on the 360 later in the year with the potential to lose more exclusives) one has to think how much more bad news Sony can take before pointing a gun at their own heads instead of using it to remove toe jam...the hard way.

Well said "bigboy31" but playing devil's advocate, your comments are about as well received as a grandmother telling little Johnny to stop looking at girls in tight skirts and 3-inch heels and focus on his education. LIttle Johnny will figure out how to do both but will most likely get caught behind the bleechers studying anatomy first hand. Fact is that the PS3 is going to be a great system. I think 360 owners know this and just don't want someone stealing their thunder. And that's okay. I'm sure if the tables were turned all the MS gangsta's would be hatin' all over the PS3 and talk smack for it being "like...like so last year, like gag me with a Sixaxis, ya know dude, like as if the, like the 360 will like totally trash Sony." Me, I'm bursting at the seams and looking forward to getting my own whether it be on Day One (doubtful) or Day One-hundred-twenty (roughly 4 months later but who's counting). And because no one asked me I'm going to go ahead and say that I think Resistence will turn out to be another surprise like Halo was. Everyone pretty much knew it was going to be good but 4 years later and we're already referring to it as the king of shooters. The same thing was said about Killzone but that was bad marketing and word of mouth from the beginning. Having said that, I think Killzone 2 could take out Halo 3 if it looks and plays even close to the "trailer" at E3 '05. Heck, just polishing Killzone to the level of PS3 would be enough in my book to knock Halo of it's high hill. But in the immortal words of Dennis Miller, "that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."

While I agree that the price point is on the high side let's not pretend that the American public doesn't make enough to purchase a PS3. Need I remind you of a $400 device that has swept the nation over the past few years that did nothing more than played music. Yes, I'm referring to the iPod. Sure, the price has come down a bit and they've released versions of the unit with less functions but bottom line is that iPods were selling (on average) for $300+ bucks and no one seemed to complain about that machine. And for those that want one will have no problem getting one (if you have good credit). For those waiting for the price to drop will continue to wait. Sony is famous for dropping software prices but slow to drop hardware. The PSP should be way less than $200 by now but they're staying with the $199 price tag because they probably don't think they should have to drop the price average of the iPod that doesn't do nearly as much. The only way the PS3 will drop fast is if the HD-DVD format falls of the planet leaving only Blu-Ray standing on top. And even with that Sony will try to hang onto the price point as long as they can. Let's not forget about the 360 HD-DVD add on that will be $199 making the price of the 360 the same as a premium PS3 (that is of course unless MS drops the price of the premium SKU in order to compete, which is when you MIGHT see drop a price of the PS3).

First to answer Gamespot: yes, the PS3 is by far the most feature rich console on the market. Hi-def DVD player, truly next-gen graphics (and to the 360 skeptics, get some screenshots of first gen games vs. PS3 first-gen and tell me that PS3 "looks the same"), next-gen controller, insane number of classic games in the PSOne and PS2 libraries, the list goes on. I couldn't help but respond to T33N WO1F's comment about the "poor design" of the PS2 controller. I think it's time for an intervention. You'd have to be on drugs or living in Egypt sailing on the Denial River to think that the PS2 controller is a poorly constructed design. If that were true than the Xbox controllers would be even worse since the sticks aren't symmetrical. He probably won't see and/or respond to this but you have to wonder about where people's heads are when they start crapping on Sony's PS2 parade. The system outsold both Xbox and Gamecube by insane margins and yet all anyone has to comment about is how poor the games are and how poorly constructed the system is. And yes, the first batch had some problems but if the system was that problematic and not worth getting a second or third time around then people would just stop buying the system. But they didn't. So Sony must've been doing something right with the PS2 regardless of how many fanboys blew them up. And takes a good look at those people that had problems. Do they sit their PS2's on the carpet and play God of War for 8 hours only to follow up with all three extended edition Lord of the Rings movies in one sitting? I've had my PS2 since day one and haven't had any problems that's forced me to buy another one. Anyway, the save for the few haters out there the PS3 will do well and I'm sure those same haters will be standing in line the moment they see Resistance running at 60fps in 1080p at their local Best Buy.