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As the console wars rage on with no end in sight like a created game of Halo, prices are an obvious determining factor in what your gonna purchase(if you haven't already) in the upcoming months. While the Wii has stayed atop as the cheapest and seemingly best family value there was a big shakeup as of Friday September 5th...

Microsoft who is trying to appeal to a younger audience and a family style in order to sell has also steeply dropped their prices in order to shake up the industry and it more than likely will. Microsoft dropped all their prices starting with the hard-drive barren Arcade version that comes with a 256 MB memory card which is now a seemingly great deal at $199.99 which is $50 less than the surging Nintendo Wii and way cheaper than the cheapest PS3 which is still $399.99 at the cheapest. They also dropped their premium edition (with a 60 GB hard-drive) to $299.99, their 360 Elite (with a 120 GB hard-drive) to the price of the cheapest PS3 at $399.99.

Gaming store giant GameStop seems to have some faith in this move as they are expecting 360 sales to jump somewhere between 1.5 and 3 times in the wake of this movement. You may ask why do this when 360 sales are doing just fine? Simple. people want Wii's but cannot find them due to low stock so Microsoft is looking to cash in and sell to a family based audience with new family oriented games coming out along with a more simplified dashboard coming as well.

This is also occurring in the wake of the seemingly nearly exhausted Xbox 360 console itself. Gamasutra quizzed Epic's Rod Fergusson, the senior producer of Gears Of War 2, about the current technical state of the 360 itself.

"I think we're certainly approaching the upper end of it, as far as what developers are able to do,"

This is something that you would think Microsoft should be a little alarmed about but history has shown that graphics are not always the case and end point of a systems lifespan. Take the PS2 when 2 games that are considered some of its best came out very late in its lifespan, God Of War 2 and Shadow of the Colossus. Even the Xbox had games still being released when the 360 had come out. only time will tell who the real victor is but till then I can say that we all will win through the games released attempting to beat one another. Thank God for an open market system...

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September 07, 2008, chris said:

	Don't they always say this. I like it when they say we are using 20 - 40% of they system on this game... I still find that funny, and ask myself why don't they use the rest.... games will always get better till another system comes along and they focus on that...
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September 08, 2008, Sean Anthony said:

	I agree with you but don't forget that the games we are playing today are still way behind what they do behind the doors. Games being developed right now are not gonna come out for several years. They say that stuff to lower ur expectations so they can 'blow your mind' in the latter years of the systems life.
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September 08, 2008, VinTheDean said:

After Halo the only thing the 360 has going for itself is the GOW series. And if that is approaching the max of the 360 then it is rather alarming. In order to tweak out the 360, the developers have to go back to the drawing board to re-engineer their code. As for the PS3, the developers are just starting to get used to it. (Just Google this point, you'll find it out there) This means that the potential of the console is just starting to be discovered. Granted, as long as there are Multiplatform games though, the big developing houses (EA, 2K, etc) the deferences will never be noticed in multiplatform games.

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September 08, 2008, Nathan Armour said:

It wont be the max the 360 has to offer. Microsoft are making good moves at the right times despite previous hic-ups. The PS3 will funking last... thats for sure. And if (stress if) the 360 is coming to its end faster than expected, it wont put a crimp on how successful the console has been. Sales wise aswel as overall game greatness. As for stooping down to the younger family audience as said above. That is a good thing to do providing they keep the blood-thirsty satisfied at the same time. I hate this wii-me crap and the though of that on the 360 bugs me. Alot. :angry: The prices. Are all good even the PS3. Bluray makes that thing expensive, the PS3 never hit my g-spot but the console has been made well, and you xbox fanboys gotta give it that. The wii just doesn't appeal to me at all. Being an ex-nintendo fan I think it's a damn embarra*sment, but hey, someone had to make the kids a gaming machine eh? :whistle: narm

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September 09, 2008, Saul Berenbaum said:

So you're saying the only thing the 360 has going for it are Halo and Gears? All right, for the sake of argument, let's check my Played Games. 360 Exclusives I've played, beaten and loved: Gears of War, Halo 3, Bioshock (Being an exclusive for a solid year counts), Condemned. Multiplatform games I've played extensively and would prefer on the 360 over any other version: GTA IV, SoulCalibur IV, The Orange Box, Stranglehold. Xbox Live Arcade games I've played extensively for very little cost and loved: N+, Worms, Bomberman LIVE, Chessmaster, Ikaruga, Rez HD, Omega Five, UNO. As well as far and away the best online service and replay value for games. While it's true that I've bought more Wii games in stores than 360 games, I've traded almost all of them in once I've beaten them. I'm not a fanboy, so you know. I'm looking into buying a PS3 when the price is right, but with so few exclusives on the PS3 I'm even remotely interested in and the enormous slate of AAA titles coming out for the 360 in the next six months, it's really no question what the better buy is, at least for myself. And Narm, the Wii owns your a*s. Bow before it.

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September 09, 2008, Sean Anthony said:

I gotta agree with Narm with the whole Wii business. It appeals to a small fan base and as soon as you beat the game other than MarioKart and the such they have no I repeat NO REPLAY VALUE. I still play Gears and Bioshock as well as Enchanted Arms(im waiting for FF) The Darkness and Oblivion. With games like Star Wars and Fallout 3 and Boarderlands set to come out how can u say that the Wii is so good? Everytime I play the Wii I end up getting bored and wondering ...what would Master Chief do??? As for the PS3 I love it but the games are beyond awful. Other than the obvious goodies like Metal Gear 4 they have nothing nodda exclusive worth the 400 price tag. For 400 I can pre order and pay off 8 new 360 games that will last me at last a year or 2 in which I can wait for a cheap PS3 to find its place. I think you need to balance your gaming to this degree, 60% plateform importence (Gears, Halo, MGS, Mario) 20% family (Wii games in general like Carnival) and 20% online(games and abilities in general). The importance of online play is yet to be touched by the Wii along with DVD capabilities. Until that is answered by PS3 and Wii, the 360 is the overall current best value. To the PS3 I say this...I didnt buy your system to play PS2 or PS1 games and Blu-Ray is no where near being dominant in the market yet...AKA low price or make a Blu-Rayless PS3 where I can buy it seperate if I want. Thats what 360 did with HD and it has payed off.

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September 09, 2008, Marcus Beasley said:

To be honest if we want to see more good looking 360 games developers should start ponying up the cash and time and develop their own graphics engine. Unreal Engine 3 is becoming a very tired looking engine. Granted it has given us such graphical gems such as Gears of War, Bioshock, Rainbow 6: Vegas and Unreal Tournament 3, but that's it. Sony on the other hand won't touch that engine and guess what all of their exclusives (1st party and MGS 4) look great, minus Lair because it was rather glitchy. Personally I couldn't care less who wins and what I play what on (though it is debatable for me at times), but if I RROD one more time I just might get rid of the thing, but I couldn't because I already have so many free games on it. And don't get me started on the Wii, so much wasted potential. I've never had 4, with a 5th eventually on the way on a system for so long.

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September 09, 2008, Sean Anthony said:

	For the most part I agree with you Beasley except for the PS3 games being good overall. Lair...was terrible I agree but so was Genji, Heavenly Sword was severely overrated especially when compared to Price of Persia, Gundam sucked and I love Gundam Wing! Haze was meh and I cant think of a reason why these games r ne good.
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September 09, 2008, Lex Walker said:

	They can't make a Blu-Rayless PS3 dingbat, the games themselves are Blu-Ray discs. And while I'm all for giving MSoft credit when it's due, they didn't remove the HD DVD drive to save you the consumer money. They did it because HD DVD lost the Hi-Def format war. They backed the wrong fighter and took the losses.
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September 09, 2008, Marcus Beasley said:

For the most part I agree with you Beasley except for the PS3 games being good overall. Lair...was terrible I agree but so was Genji, Heavenly Sword was severely overrated especially when compared to Price of Persia, Gundam sucked and I love Gundam Wing! Haze was meh and I cant think of a reason why these games r ne good. I did narrow the exclusives down to first party and MGS 4. I actually liked Lair, but the controls killed it's potential for a lot of people. Heavenly Sword was nowhere near as bad as what people are saying, the only problem I really had about it was it's length. Of course Gundam sucked, just name me one good Gundam game; I dare you! Haze sucked and was such a disappointment. You do realize Heavenly Sword was compared to God of War right?

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September 12, 2008, Sean Anthony said:

Heavenly Sword was compared because of certain factors that both contained. Such as the button using in situations as well as the fighting style. I say it sucked because it didnt live up to what the hype said. Lair sucked because of the controls yes, but also the gameplay was boring on its own too. I agree Gundam games usually are bad but not THAT damn bad. Genji was just beyond awful and until God of War 3 comes out we won't see the full potential of the PS3. MGS helped and was great but GOW is the real hook line sinker for Sony.

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September 12, 2008, Marcus Beasley said:

Screw the hype I actually liked Heavenly Sword. It's gotten to a point where every action game seems to be compared to God of War. Two different games. The puzzles weren't as complex and there was no magic system what so ever, plus they played a lot differently with Heavenly Sword relying more on combos. Though I'm not going to say Heavenly Sword is on the same level as God of War, but it was enjoyable on its own merits. Lair was a definite acquired taste. I actually liked the game until they started asking you to keep track of way too many things during the missions. Yes Genji was terrible and actually Heavenly Sword made a crack at it during a scene with Kai. Sony has many hook line sinkers, but it ultimately depends on what kind of games you enjoy playing, I honestly have no problem with it.

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September 14, 2008, Sean Anthony said:

	while I understand that tell me this. Here's a scenario. I don't have a PS3 or a 360 and im trying to decide which to get. Is Heavenly Sword and Lair worth the minimum $400 bones price tag?
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September 15, 2008, Marcus Beasley said:

	Why do you use an under rated game and a highly flawed game as examples? Both systems have really good games if you take the time out to look for them. Plus multi platform games aren't as gimped as they used to be for the PS3. So look at the exclusives out now and coming out soon to make that decision.
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