XBox 720 vs. PS3

It looks like the worsening economy just bought Sony some more time. What do I mean by this? Many analysts and enthusiasts either were expecting or are still expecting a new XBox console (e.g. XBox 720) sometime between holiday season 2009 and mid-year 2010. And honestly, I believed so as well. However, given the poor (and worsening) economy there's little chance of a new XBox. I'm sure if Microsoft was planning to release the XBox 720, those plans are now on hold.

So what does this mean for Sony? Well, I believe an XBox 720 would have dealt a crushing blow to an already fragile console. Sure, Sony has Killzone 2, InFamous, Uncharted 2, and a slew of other exclusives being released in 2009, but the lure of a next-next-generation console would have overruled anything Sony could muster. I'd imagine that Microsoft would have new versions of Halo and Gears of War making an appearance as launch titles, both running natively at 1080p!!! That would be truly compelling.

Alas, Sony has been given a gift. Without the XBox 720 coming out, Microsoft's line up for 2009 looks rather unimpressive. I'm not saying that there aren't any good titles coming out, because there are!!! Resident Evil 5 for example will be huge... However, it will be cross-platform, as are many of the other hot titles for the 360 in 2009. Exclusives are what we care about!!!

Which brings me to my final point... Can the XBox 360 continue to compete with future high-end PS3 titles? If Sony's first and second party developers can continue to produce games of the caliber of Killzone 2, will the XBox 360 slip to third place? Time will tell...