"The next-gen console wars are going to ignite with the U.S. release of the Xbox 360 on the 22nd of this month, and Igniq member dek has posted some thoughts on how the battle will pan out:

The Past:
Will Xbox 360 fail in Japan? Hell yes, despite buying up licences with Japan oriented companies to release lots of games in the style that Japanese fans are familiar with they will still as buy the PS3. I do think Xbox will do marginally better, but it will never replace PS3 (or Nintendo) in the east.

Hardware/Tech stuff:
Ok excuse my ignorance I'm no longer an engineering major and really don't care about keeping up to date on stuff but here's what I remember. The PS2 chip Emotion was supposed to be revolutionary, but imfo it was just a chip that was the next rung in the ladder. The new PS3 chip is quite powerful no one questions that, but I've heard it is better at apps outside of games - I have no credible source and by no means am I saying PS3 will not be a game machine. Hell look at the PS2 as of late, despite having a CPU half as power as GC and 1/3 the Xbox it spits out incedible looking games like RE4 and God of War. Hardware wise, despite any non believable or overblown assumptions PS3 will be a beast - I still don't believe devs will take advantage of BluRay with anything more the "extras" but walk by faith.

Nintendo.... I still hate you, respect you slightly more but hate you none the less. You make a bold statement early on that you will be the top dog, then after the first Xbox fiasco on MTV you say how the big N will focus on innovation instead of the continuation of uninspirational genres. Well done, you've screwed yourself. What the hell is with the controller? Good move saying you can use a traditional style one (after saying how your want to be fresh and innovative). Brave move to focus on "innovation" and admitting Revolution to be the weaker in the race, despite all this big N will survive in the homeland.

Ah Xbox 360, MTV has not done you justice as the reviews are mixed on that 30 minute disaster. 360 focuses on top of the line current components - as such it should be easier to develop for then either of the other consoles. It never shyed away that it would be using current DVD format disk nor current CPUs when Sony revealed its master design. Honestly, I will probably go with this despite Sony and MS reps saying its basically ver 1.5 because I like the more mature games and with Halo it should survive. However, it will never be number 1.

Games:
I have to admit, the next gen consoles are capable of amazing things despite all the bashing and battles ahead. All of them are roughly on par with top of the line PCs that blow all ours away, taking into consideration how well designed and clear games became near the end of the current gens lives; what can't they do with these things? Considering how reallistic things have become they can only improve on them by increasing the amount of models and textures using shader engines, capping FPS at a solid unaltered rate (60), physics engines for all genres now, reallistic weather and lighting, and a few others I can't think of. The best example I can think of right now is this, each game has to look as good as FEAR, special effects need to be as overdone as possible with no noticeable drops in FPS, phsics need to be limited slightly so avatars do not fly around in unnatural positions, and devs have to throw in a few new features you only see a handful of times a year (or console life).

I bring these up because Xbox 360 launches in 10 days and to say its not a true next gen is foolish. All 3 are going to survive and you should buy based on the franchises you love. In 10 days we'll see what on my list has been taken into account and what isn't. Some of it will be praised, other parts hated, and some parts underappreciated by the masses." [link]