Is the Xbox 360 on the decline?

[Slaanax]

Most people I know still have their x-box's and some have purchased a ps3 for fun times and blu ray players.

 

[MaxPower2003]

I ditched my 360 after my second year of Gold Membership ran out. I'm tired of paying $80 CDN (or whatever hell the price is) to play online when I can do the same on the PS3 for free. And I hated the new GUI of the 360 dashboard. I wish I could go back to the tabbed version. I liked that WAY better.

 

[GloatingSwine]

NPD figures indicate no. Xbox 360 was up 7% on last February. They're still selling solidly.

 

[MgalekgoloHunter]

I don't think the 360 is declining, per se. Mainstream consoles usually start off in a flurry of exclusives and 'name' titles to draw in the buyers, then it quietens down. That's what's happening now. This generation was all in a muddle with the PS3 being so damn expensive and with such a small library of games, and a Blu-ray player before Blu-ray was that popular. Now that the prices are coming down, the Blu-ray beat out the HD-DVD and is becoming more and more widespread, and the PS3 library is better, people who either wanted the PS3 but settled for 360 or were on the fence and opted for the 360 are now able to get PS3s, and so are thus swapping out their 360s. It's just rebalancing of the gamer demographics. That's my opinion.

 

[TPiddy]

Development has always been difficult on the PS3, a widely known fact. But, from the get-go they did have some pretty decent titles, the thing is some developers have always been able to work with it just fine, even from launch. Sure it takes extra time, but it doesn't negate the end product. Having been an owner since launch and played the vast majority of exclusives released for the PS3, I gotta say I'm not disappointed, not in the slightest. And thus the issue, I have a PC that's miles beyond the PS3/360. So, for me it's a matter of the 360 needing enough exclusives (not on PC), to make it worth my money. Thus far, it really isn't.

I'm in the same boat with the PS3. I have a blu-ray player, I have my 360, and every year I have to pass on a few games that come out for 360, so why would I compound that problem to play the 2-3 PS3 games that I want? As for early exclusives, some of them looked good, but stuff like MGS and LBP just doesn't appeal to me as a gamer. I'm not knocking what earlier games on the system did, but the 360 went through the same thing. ME 2 looks miles better than the 1st, and the same with Gears. It takes time for devs to learn the platform.

The PC/360 conundrum is allot more simple than you make it out. Their similarity in architecture makes it pretty easy for developers to create hardware scaling engines. Allowing for the 360 to take full advantage of it's hardware, and PC's...well, PC performance is only as good as the drivers will let them be. So, they continuously get better for a time.

Yeah, I'm not saying it's a problem, I'm saying hitting an audience like PC/360 combined and only having to re-jig some graphics processing algorithms is pretty appealing. When you add in having to create another dev team just for the PS3 fanbase, many devs will get turned off.

Oh and for me, I was really never surprised to see those franchises go multi-platform (nor was I suprised to see the 360 version suffer in XIII). It made a ton of sense monetarily. Honestly, the exclusives amongst 3rd parties are the minority now, and will continue to be so. While Sony has lost out on some of the first installments of the better franchises this gen (so far), as stated previously the loss in revenue it represents will only get bigger and bigger and bigger as time progresses, and undoubtedly entice devs to go multi-platform...also remember that Sony _makes_ devs bring a better version to the PS3, to make it worth peoples money, for one. And probably for a bit of good ole fashioned revenge too lol.

This is another thing that will turn devs off of the PS3. Forcing additional content? Telling developers how to do their jobs? It's like blackmail. It's not the same as buying exclusivity rights and I equate it to just being a prick.

Valve's problem is they just don't know when to shut up, and just do what they like to do and stop answering everyone's questions. Sony has _plenty_ of in-house devs to counter the loss of Valve. To be honest, that they allowed their IP to be made by another team internally lost allot of cred in my eyes. Even moreso, that it was a pretty crappy port. Again, I'm of the mind that if you don't want to do it yourselves...don't allow it to happen. Lofty aspirations I know.

Regardless of why Valve chose not to, the end result is that I get to play Left 4 Dead on my console and you can only play it on PC. In-house devs are overrated. If you look at the top selling games none of them are by in-house teams.

 

[TPiddy]

Well, the difference between yourself and me, is that the exclusives you're missing won't ever show up on PC. Windows tends to receive every 360 exclusive evetnually. It's just naturally bound to happen. Whereas there is no such issue with PS3 games. They won't ever show up developed to properly utilize PC architecture.

Rejigging for the PS3 was once an issue, but with 33+ million users, it's not something developers, especially small devs, can afford to ignore. The added revenue, is just far too large for them to ignore.

See, it's not about them forcing devs to add additional content later on. As I said they're forcing devs to bring them something additional when it comes down to releasing a year+ later. They don't have to release the game on PS3 after all. Remember that. This is simply, you went with an easier option first, now you need to invest in the more difficult one.

I prefer playing L4D on PC, why? Because my PC is about 3 or 4x as powerful as your console. Plain and simple. $2300 gaming rig, versus a 'Next-gen' console that struggles to produce 720p games across the board. Yeah, I start to struggle around the realm of 1920x1200.

I believe you're mistaken with your last statement however, Gran Turismo has most certainly been a top-rated and selling game.

Technically I don't miss out, because I have PS3 owning friends, so any major release I want to check out I can at any time... I may never get the chance to fully explore every Heavy Rain ending, but I will get to experience the game.

The PS3 does, finally, have a solid revenue stream and install base for devs to build on. I'm sure the trend of devs ignoring it will decline.

That was the problem with the initial development of the PS3 is that many games were ready to go for the 360 like Bioshock and Oblivion, so they started making money, but then Sony had to turn around as say you can't just re-release the same game on our platform, it's been out for a year now. It's still a dick move in my opinion.

I have always said that PC gaming is the pinnacle of gaming, but I think of a hell of a lot of better things to do with $2300, so I guess that's why I'm a console gamer.

 

[mstickle]

I got a PS3 in 2008 in addition to my 360 for PS3 exclusives that I might want in the future. Do you know how many exclusive games I've played on it? One and that was Heavy Rain. The only other game I played was Silent Hill 5 and it was banned in Australia at the time. Other than that it serves as a DVD player. Even after my PS3 purchase I have never bought a multi platform games on anything other than the 360. I guess I can't understand why people like the PS3 more.

But back in the last gen I really disliked the Xbox and would only play PS2 so hey, times change I guess.

 

[eels05]

No I'm happy with the 360.
Though if it RROD's again I'll probably consider a PS3.

Some of the exclusives on PS3 look good but for some reason just aren't enough to convince me to shell out for yet another console.

 

[The Austin]

You know what I have been noticing? Everyone thinks that if anything is around 5 years old, it is on the decline.
So no, I don't thin it is on the decline.
I think that the PS3 just has better exclusives.

 

[Struck21]

I only use my Xbox for the rare exclusive I want to play, none are Halo. If I get to chose platform, I go PS3 without blinking.

Here is how I see Xboxs moves forward:

"We at MS are proud to announce another Halo, ME and GoW game"

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes, we are in works for more titles in Halo, ME and GoW after these titles are rreleased."

"Any thing new in your strategy?"

"Oh, I forgot, a Halo movie, animated series and maybe an GoW movie and ME movie."

"So basically the same thing you said for the last three years?"

"Yea, about it."

 

[TPiddy]

Well, that's good then, at least you have avenues to peruse the PS3 catalogue at least =). My roommate has a 360, but we never turn it on...he's always on his PC and I'm always on mine or my PS3 lol.

Dick move or not, it makes devs think twice about accepting timed exclusivity offers from MS. And I think it's a perfectly legitimate way to get your point across to devs, that behavior like that, will have it's consequences.

As for my gaming rig, agreed, there are many things one could spend $2300 on, but I actually only spent a couple hundred at a time, over the course of 6 months. I'm certainly not rich, but I had severe need of a new PC (Prior to my upgrade, I was running a single Core processor, and a 5800GT gpu LOL). So, I went out to newegg and tigerdirect, and basically built my dream machine from the ground up. Then, month after month, I just went and bought a piece here, and a part there. The end result well, rules hehe =)

I do have a PC that's capable of gaming, as I need one for work, but I just typically don't game on PC. I prefer sitting on my couch, relaxing with a game controller and my giant TV, but I just can't be assed to hook my PC up to it. I may be inclined to play Diablo III when it finally hits but until then I'll stick with my 360.

Also, just a note that Bioshock and Oblivion were not limited exclusivity deals, as Oblivion came out prior to the PS3's release and Bioshock just needed more time to figure out the PS3 dev kit.

 

[DividedUnity]

My 360 keeps breaking and I just gave up on it after the 4th repair. I may love my xbox slightly more than my ps3 but i dont love it nearly enough to put up with RROD

I wont be buying another xbox 360 till microsoft get their act together and sort the problems out once and for all.

 

[one of them]

Many people who used to be convinced that Xbox 360 was the better platform are now starting to realize that it isn't. I still don't own a PS3, but I do want one. I would trade my Xbox 360 in if I didn't have so many damn games for it.

 

[MurderousToaster]

Personally, I don't think it's on the decline. The sales are still in front of the PS3 ( I believe) but still behind the Wii also.

 

[Kermi]

I have a 360 and a PS3. I only use the PS3 for games that are exclusive to the PS3, or in the event that I need to import a game that doesn't reach Australia (i.e.: Silent Hill Homecoming before the OFLC decided not to ban it). As it stands I only have three games for the PS3 - Resistance, Silent Hill Homecoming and Heavy Rain - I traded Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, Uncharted and Little Big Planet to get Heavy Rain.

I like the console but there are some games I can't imagine playing on it, mainly because I like the heft of the 360 controller. The dualshock 3 was great for Heavy Rain and I always preferred the Dualshock 2 back when the PS2 was my lead console, but that was before I primarily played FPS games.
I can't imagine playing Modern Warfare 2 with a Dualshock 3 in place of a 360 controller.

At this point that's the main reason for my preference. Also, the various 360 exclusives, but there's so few exclusives on either console I'd have to want to play them pretty badly. Though in retrospect I'm glad I picked the 360 because of Halo and Mass Effect.

 

[Axeli]

PS3 seems to have had a far better exclusive streak for a while now, although that might be just me missing things.

And there's the fact that 360 hasn't had a notable game you couldn't play on decent PC for a while now. You don't miss all that much with PS3+PC combo these days.