okay, the three sixty has oddly shaped controllers? in my, opinion, the ps3's controllers are TOO light. and they don't fit your hands well. But, they do have a better D-Pad, thats for sure

Ugh. *cringes with embarrasment* This definitely puts a new spin on gaming's giants.

1. Microsoft. Microsoft did just about everything right, from the level of coolness to the confident attitude. Also, their "Buy a Wii, too!" ads were genius. What better way to take down a mutual enemy (the PS3) than with the help of another enemy? It was brilliant.

2. Sony. Sony made themselves look like an ass in the end. They got WAY too complacent for their own good. It might have helped them to check gaming's history books. Just because your console wins the generation, doesn't mean your next console is guaranteed FTW. Making everyone seem like a servant was dumb, egotistical, and quite stupid in the long run. I do plan on buying a PS3, but Sony's blatant disregard for their consumers ("We want people work extra hours just so they can afford a PS3") puts me off.

3. Nintendo. Oh, Nintendo, Nintendo... Whatever shall we do with you? First they failed in the 90s with their dinosaur of a president's heated remark that "No Final Fantasy game will ever appear on a Nintendo console!!!" and then they do. In great numbers. Then, there was the family-friendly environment of the late 90s and early 00s. That was kinda stupid... I mean, I'm not glorifying peer pressure or anything, but if everyone else in the industry is allowing blood and guts and generally revelling in your inability to do so, that signifies that it's time for change. 2004 was promising, but again, Reggie's poor, misplaced zeal led them to where they are now... the console of choice for grandmas around the world. I'm tired of Nintendo and their lack of hardcore games. The PS2 had hundreds of good titles. The Xbox had hundreds of good titles. The Gamecube had about 75 good titles. The PS3 has about 15 good titles, but has lots more coming. The 360's every other game is critically acclaimed. But the Wii? We poor Wii owners have a grand total of 10 good games:

1. Zelda Twilight Princess
2. Mario Galaxy
3. Metroid Prime 3
4. Mario Kart
5. Okami
6. Resident Evil 4
7. Zack and Wiki
8. Smash Bros
9. Animal Crossing
10. No More Heroes

Great, Nintendo. Nice going. You find yourself with a grand total of 10 NEW GAMES-- and here we'll soon be going into Wii's 3rd year. How many good titles did Gamecube have in it's first 2 1/2 years? How many good titles did anyone have in their first 2 1/2 years? More than Wii, that's for sure. Nintendo needs to get their act back together.

But... It's doubtful they will. Casual games print money, dontcha know?

The "A man carved from a 10 ft slab of meat" was the funniest thing I've read all week.

Foolish mortals gaze upon the future and weep
this is so tru, nothing can compare 2 da ps3
x-box jus has da same old things were as ps3 has the most up-2-date technolegy

All the consoles have flaws and fanboyels can suck it. 360 is the most game heavy and has online well worth the membership which is like 7 bucks, but is the most likely to break, which is unfortunate, other then that it's in the middle of the two extremes, wii and ps3. Ps3 is more powerful, but has a general lack of good exclusives that make the most of it, combine that with mediocre online and you get a console well capable of beating the 360 but with fundamental flaws holding t back. Then the wii has been brought down by all the shovel ware, the motion controls would Be a good pay off for graphcs and stuff, if they couod do it right, most games just come off as gimmicky with few exceptions

@ sage62: Yes none of the consoles is perfect. I agree there. But the PS3 actually has a decent line up of exclusives: LBP, MGS 4, UNcharted, ratchet and clank,Gran Turismo, KZ2, Resistance series, and upcoming God of War. But it does have some fundamental flaws.

@Levy: Yes the Ps3 controllers are light, but thats one of very few flaws

Yeah sorry bout the double post

Platypus96, youve sorta got the right idea. if nintendo started to follow through with the older wii games, it would be epic. hopefully madworld can change my mind though

i'm just here to say that the description of Reggie is definitely one of the best things ever read anywhere by anyone.

why is it that a completely objective breakdown of a companies changes turns into a pathetic cock-measuring contest amongst the fans? sigh...

comatose: there's a few more, but i guess they're more subjective (like House of the Dead and Wario Land)

That thing about Reggie from Nintendo was great!! However, sales have the Wii widely considered to be in the number 1 spot. I have a Wii. Wanted one so bad. Got one. I play Wii Sports and Mario Galaxy. I haven't played either of those in months. This would be longer, but I gotta go dust off my Wii.

Playstation 2? Its one of the greatest ever!

Can we get a part two including Sega and Atari? I think they really would have fit into this article, as examples of how a titan can end up in this industry.

Look the Wii is gay and im pretty sure we can all agree on that unless u ask a seven year olf or a seventy year old.
However I own both a PS3 and an Xbox 360 and honestly I like the 360 better for many reasons. The controller has a much better feel to it because of the weight(I always feel like im gonna crush the PS3 controller). Also I dont mind paying for xboxlive because its easier to use than the playstation network. They both have good exclusives and I play abunch of em for both systems but if its a multi platform release Im goin for the 36o version.

@Comatose92 Good lists there, but just two bones to pick: one, the number of brilliant Xbox exclusives was far lower than 100 (it probably had the fewest strong exclusives of all the consoles owing to the games being on the PC/Dreamcast), and the Cube, I think, was a stronger console for games (I love Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Paper Mario 2, for example - both exclusive).

And the Wii does have a few other good games: SSX Blur is fantastic, and I urge anyone with a Wii to buy it, and on WiiWare there's LostWinds and World of Goo, which are both stunning.

Other than that, though, I'm completely in agreement with you.

@ phoenix_wings: you know they have begun to replace the older motherboards that were the cause of overheating (which leads to the RROD) so that won't be much of a problem now. well, for people that didn't buy at launch anyway. If you bought at launch, u=fool. I always wait a year, see if there is any bugs that need to be worked out (ps2 i-phone etc.) As for Nintendo, they dug themselves a hole using shovel-ware. I can't help but feel like they encouraged badly made games being made, maybe that's just me...

Those pics of J. Allard made me lol. Nice article.

Ah, Sony...

Tsk, tsk, tsk...

I definitely think the 360 controller is way better than the ps3 controller. its a piece of junk

Ah i love the smell of a fanboy bitchslapfest in the evening. I'm one of the lucky ones who own all three and for me it's 360 for general gaming, PS3 for blu ray, LBP and MGS and wii to get the missus to shut the f up. I'll never forgive sony for making me pay again for a pad that rumbles.

Good article btw.

Maybe somebody should merge these companies. Hardware specs of the ps3 without the elitist crap and outrageous price. Innovation of the wii and controller without the bucketloads of "family" crap fests and shovelware. Good licenses and good games overall of the 360 without microsofts license based fascism.

Seems to me each of these 3 companies screwed up or headed in a wrong direction. The wii went ina good direction and then crashed into a wall of terrible games and "casual" BS. Sony doesnt seem to understand that a 600 dollar console makes it out of reach for many people no matter how good it is. They apparently havent learned their lesson that the most expensive top of the line product frequently loses out to the slightly lower quality product set at a reasonable price. Microsoft seems to have started to wake up from their previous mistakes at least and are turning around (hopefully).

Only time will tell how this is going to turn around. My bet is that the wii is going to sharply decline as all the fans leave feeling abandoned by nintendo and everyone else will be distracted by the next fad and the hype of the wii disappears. Sony needs to realize that catering only to those with large amounts of disposable income in this type of business is frequently a losing strategy. Hardcore only means only hardcore players will buy your product and they dont provide enough business to keep you afloat in electronics.

"Sony have made themselves the laughing stock of gaming."

yet again, i bring about the two favourite remarks in my vocabulary range. "Fuck you" and "you've probably never been on the ps3! Stop being a jackass!"