Console Wars...PS3 on the up..and we're all Doomed

Despite being widely dismissed by all those connected with the Microsoft xbox360, in much the same way that xbox mags laughed at the perceived threat of Blu-Ray against their beloved leaders choice of HDVD, sales of the PS3 have been rising and rising and narrowing the deficit against comparable 360 sales. Indeed, with one or two PS3 exclusives launched over the past 6 months, it has in fact outsold the 360 on several occassions. Here is the view of the Sony President as told to the BBC:

Speaking to BBC News, Kaz Hirai said the machine would overhaul rivals Nintendo and Microsoft within its 10-year lifecycle.

PlayStation 3 sales have outstripped those of Microsoft Xbox 360 in Europe but it lags behind in North America.

Nintendo's Wii console is the number one next-generation machine globally.

Mr Hirai said Sony was engaged in a "marathon" race with Nintendo and Microsoft.

More than 10.5 million PlayStation 3s were sold worldwide by the end of 2007. To date, in Europe more than five million PS3s have been sold.

I think 360 has to wake up a little, after the flurry of top class games at the end of last year, with the exception of GTA IV, content has been decidely lacklustre since then. I find myself looking at the PS3 more and more these days, particularly as it has a Blu-ray player built in.

On the subject of Grand Theft Auto, I tried to pick up a copy over the Holiday weekend with no joy...all sold out here in Edinburgh which is the first time I can recall a game suffering the same fate. These stats from xbox360 Fanboy suggest a staggering $500 million worldwide was taken in sales in the first week, whapping the pants off Halo3 sales and an amazing 926 000 copies sold in the UK, of which about 40% were for the PS3.

Last and certainly not least comes the great news, for me anyway, that Doom 4 is now in production...yahoo. Unfortunately, it sounds like it has JUST started production and thus it will a long while before we see it on the 360 which is surprising as it now nearly 4 years since the last instalment.