Home Gaming PS3 loses to the Xbox 360… again. So who's at fault?

PS3 loses to the Xbox 360… again. So who's at fault?

3 min read
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flamesuit.jpg

It’s quite tough to type while climbing into my flamesuit, I mean, I only have two hands… but I find that it’s always better to suit up in situations like this. Be safe, you know?

*zzziiip* Right, so the suit is finally on.

Why am I putting my suit on? Well, it’s because I feel the need to throw some stones at the PS3 again. So what has Sony done to deserve a stoning? The truth is that they have done nothing and that’s the problem.

As you all know, the Eurogamer head to head comparisons have become pretty infamous for putting the Xbox 360 ahead of the PS3 pretty much every time. The thing is that they aren’t staring at two screenshots and throwing their opinions around based on what they see with their own eyes. They use pretty advanced equipment to run their tests, so the results are pretty solid.

So what does round 13 have to report? Well, the same thing that it has been reporting for a while. The PS3 is still playing catch up with the Xbox 360. How is it that a machine capable of producing games like MGS4 and GT: Prologue is still losing to the 360 every time?

I blame Sony.

You would think by now that Sony would be putting more pressure on third party developers to ensure that the PS3 versions of cross platform games keep up or surpass the quality of the Xbox 360 versions. Reading through the article from Eurogamer it becomes evident that the Xbox 360 is still leading and even though the PS3 comes close in a few situations, its still the one coming in second.

Why hasn’t Sony done something about this. You could assume that they have, but that would be saying that it’s just the PS3 that isn’t good enough to pull the same magic tricks and we wouldn’t want to do that now would we?

What is going on at the Sony HQ? Are they still so smug about the success of the PS2 that they have completely forgotten that if they don’t start doing something about the PS3 then it is will land up playing second fiddle to the Xbox 360 in the long run?

Microsoft is constantly bringing the price of the Xbox 360 down, Blu Ray players will eventually become as affordable as a DVD player are now and there are articles flying around the net that the Xbox 360 is outperforming the PS3 on almost every head to head comparison. Do I even need to bring Nintendo’s world domination into this as well? Home better be as good as they say it is.

Sony better kick into gear, they are hoping to keep the PS3 in play for a long time to come and it isn’t going to help them if the Xbox 360 takes over from the PS2 as the cheap, affordable console with tons of games and then still releases a monster next-gen console in a few years as well.

I think that Sony has become way too comfortable and arrogant because of the PS2’s success, so much so that they have forgotten to take a real good look ahead.

Eurogamer Comparison – Round 13

Last Updated: July 30, 2008

39 Comments

  1. My thoughts exactly , do they care (while tearing up the screen .. i mean streets ..in GRID)

    Reply

  2. Lupus

    July 30, 2008 at 12:48

    Shh you can’t say this, the Sony Fanbois will strike at you where it hurts. With bold claims of it’s PS3 brilliance. I was actually hoping Sony would be knocked down a peg or two but hey. Can’t be the best for too long as you then become complacent and your next generation is terrible, Nintendo knows this.

    Reply

  3. abe

    July 30, 2008 at 13:03

    Yawn so there is actually no factual backing to this story, just your biased opinion again. Lol fanbois will be fanbois!

    Reply

  4. SlippyMadFrog

    July 30, 2008 at 13:03

    No champion stays champion forever. It might or might not be this gen but it’s coming. This gen is already a lot closer than last gen.

    Reply

  5. SlippyMadFrog

    July 30, 2008 at 13:19

    Did you read the article abe? Thats factual backing enough.

    Reply

  6. Janrik

    July 30, 2008 at 13:24

    Sony feels a bit lost at sea at the moment( to me)

    I know my PS3 is capable of great things. I’ve seen what it can do… now where is the blowing me out of the water games? Other than a racer (and it is easy to make a racer sans physics, to look good) and MGS4… I am yet to be impressed by my PS3.

    It sits under my tv, brooding with potential.. waiting to be tapped. And my 360 gets all the gaming action.

    Now they are going after ‘casual’ gamers… How casual are you after spending that mutch on a console and TV, if you can play most of the casual games, for free, on PC…?

    I want to be blown away and impressed! All the time. Not just with Drake and Snake!

    Reply

  7. Mac

    July 30, 2008 at 13:27

    what a load of trash, once again a bias write upon. what exactly are these technical process that Eurogamer uses for these comparison? Just yesterday i read on ign that they thought Soul calibur was slightly better on the PS3 but yet this is never pointed out. lets what till the christmas season start and see what happens, Im no saying its going to be huge for PS3 but lets wait and see. Do you really think a compnay as big as Sony would sit back and forget about succes because yesterday was successful for them, come on!

    And by the by the PS3 is now a whole $50 more than the top xbox, after the into of the bigger HDD this should make a difference

    Reply

  8. kabraal

    July 30, 2008 at 13:32

    Actually all I see the whole time is xbox fanbois proclaiming the brilliance and the Xbox, Kick Live mofo DL y’all, and ofc MS. Not the other way around.

    My thoughts on this article? Meh, so sad, too bad. I’ve always liked supporting the underdog.

    Reply

  9. koldFU5iON

    July 30, 2008 at 13:44

    dammit you got me thinking it was friday! 😛

    but let’s be rational, and give sony the benefit of the doubt, in “most” cases the PS3 is not the lead platform when it comes to games development, and we’ve read in previous stories that the PS3 has been very hard to code with. and in today’s industry time is everything with Publishers like EA churning out a game franchise a year, porting(still remember their time frame) to the PS3 (a beast of a machine) can and will cause errors, and hence the reason why it always sits at second best and probably always will however there is hope developers like Ubisoft are doing their utmost to make sure that their games perform equally well on XBOX & PS3.

    and I think if you note some of the exclusive titles that have taken a couple of years to develop (MGS4/GT) you’ll see the excellence of the console coming out possibly something that isn’t possible on the 360 (but we’ll never really know, since they’re exclusive).

    on the other hand I think Sony themselves have been putting a lot of effort into the software side of things and really making their online better than before, and although they’ve had hiccups i think we’ve seen some dramatic changes in the PS3, and it’s good to see.

    and their seems to be a lot you can do with your PS3, as long as you know how i.e. upgrading the HDD, installing linux, etc. personally I think that Sony has to come back and focus on the less techincal user base and make their product “easier” to use, which I strongly believe they’re making an effort to do, but only time will tell.

    Personally I prefer my 360, and the above is just my opinion since I don’t even own a PS3… can’t afford one.

    Reply

  10. baba

    July 30, 2008 at 13:46

    Mac, maybe if you read the article you’ll know the EXACT technical process Eurogamer uses. The first page is the important one to read.

    Overall I agree. Either developers are not spending time to get some proper code on the SPU’s (see Bad Company in the comparisson), or the PS3 simply can’t hold a candle to the 360. Everybody knows that the 360 has got the superior GPU – To get the same performance out of the PS3 GPU, developers need to make the SPU’s work harder.

    Reply

  11. darthdad

    July 30, 2008 at 13:52

    Please koldFU5iON try to make your posts reasonable and unbiased. There are enough people here trying to get the boot in. 😉

    Reply

  12. kabraal

    July 30, 2008 at 13:52

    “what exactly are these technical process that Eurogamer uses for these comparison?”

    Don’t ask, the techmology is top secret. The most advanced you’ll propably get to experience in your life time.

    Reply

  13. Fred

    July 30, 2008 at 13:54

    Dont get me wrong , i love Battlefield , but why does it look so washed out on the ps3 , the spu’s cant help for that i’m sure . how much effort does it take to get the colors more vibrant?

    Reply

  14. Lupus

    July 30, 2008 at 14:00

    Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of Xbots on here today saying how awesome their console is, oh wait sorry Sonybots too 😛

    Reply

  15. koldFU5iON

    July 30, 2008 at 14:16

    ok 🙄

    Reply

  16. darthdad

    July 30, 2008 at 14:18

    😕

    Reply

  17. baba

    July 30, 2008 at 14:24

    I absolutely agree with you koldFU5iON. Fortunately I have both consoles, and also prefer the 360 at this moment. Personally I would love to see the PS3 rise to graphic stardom, I have a very soft spot for Sony’s machines in my heart 😳

    Reply

  18. Fred

    July 30, 2008 at 14:24

    No more excuses , we should demand to get the same quality product at least. I’d be embarrased if I worked for Sony’s quality control and these are the results. And all these patches are driving me nuts too .

    Reply

  19. kabraal

    July 30, 2008 at 14:39

    Yes lets start to toi toi

    Reply

  20. Fred

    July 30, 2008 at 15:11

    Yes , basic human right, 60fps gaming …. :mrgreen:

    Reply

  21. LazySAGamer

    July 30, 2008 at 15:19

    Technical Process=”This is achieved with the now ubiquitous Digital Foundry TrueHD capture kit, the only equipment in the world capable of ruthlessly plundering the HDMI ports of the respective consoles at full 24-bit RGB precision. Literally every single piece of digital information pumped out by the hardware is ours – ours I tell you – and from there we can supply ultimate quality screenshots and comparison videos.

    Flash’s support for h.264 combined with Eurogamer TV technology allows for video comparisons that actually work, with as much detail retained as possible. One pixel in the video is one pixel on your HDTV, and we’ve manfully done our best to sync up the two versions of each game to provide the best comparison coverage.”

    as it says on the first page of the article

    Reply

  22. LazySAGamer

    July 30, 2008 at 15:20

    Abe you cannot post the same response every time, the technical details are open to inspection on the site

    Reply

  23. SlippyMadFrog

    July 30, 2008 at 15:59

    💡 ❗ ❗

    Reply

  24. Nick

    July 30, 2008 at 16:10

    😯

    Reply

  25. darthdad

    July 30, 2008 at 16:11

  26. SlippyMadFrog

    July 30, 2008 at 16:43

    👿 😥 😕 😐 😉 🙂 😆

    Reply

  27. darthdad

    July 30, 2008 at 16:51

    @Slippy :mrgreen:
    @ koldFU5iON , On the possibility that you did take my post the wrong way, I was actually complementing you on an unbiased and very refreshing post.
    Sorry if it came across incorrectly.

    Reply

  28. Mac

    July 30, 2008 at 16:53

    Funny that EA has just posted that PS3 is now its biggest cash cow (kotaku.com). Funny that

    Reply

  29. doobiwan

    July 30, 2008 at 17:36

    You make it sound like the PS3 got trashed. In fact it did pretty well this time around and the “loses” are due to barely perceivable inconsequential niggles.

    but that all outlines what we already know about the differences between PS3 and 360. What I found most interesting about this round was BF:BC – Frostbite was built from the ground up on both and it plays to their weaknesses and strengths as apparently there is slow down in both, but it’s in different places for either. (How do you not slow down when 12 Supports all drop mortar barrages on the same spot at the same time 😉 )

    Reply

  30. kabraal

    July 30, 2008 at 18:05

    Well that’s why I keep asking…. What’s the point!?!?

    Lets see what’s in this thread:

    “I blame Sony”

    “Why hasn’t Sony done something about this”

    “What is going on at the Sony HQ”

    “Sony better kick into gear”

    “I think that Sony has become way too comfortable and arrogant”

    You said:

    “In fact it did pretty well this time around and the “loses” are due to barely perceivable inconsequential niggles”

    Now seriously, the difference between these 3rd party titles is so small, give or take one or two, that at the end of the day, nobody gives a flying fuck. We seriously don’t need 24-bit precision Hollywood Quality Video equipment to do some simpel video analysis bullshit. 1st party titles will always get more love from developers because of the MS Sony money while 3rd party titles will always look practically the same. Get the fuck over it and for god sake get over the Eurogamer horse.

    Reply

  31. SgtFiddler

    July 30, 2008 at 18:29

    Get over the Eurogamer horse? But it’s the only non-biased site in all of internetz-land!! That means we’ll have to do these comparisons *shock,horror* with the naked eye!:wink:

    Reply

  32. Tubbynickel ZA

    July 30, 2008 at 19:07

    “I think that Sony has become way too comfortable and arrogant because of the PS2’s success, so much so that they have forgotten to take a real good look ahead”

    @Lazy :
    Two years ago, I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly, and statements like “5 million people will buy a PS3 on day one even if there are no games” from CRAZY Ken Kutaragi, didnt help to sooth my anger at the company.

    They were brash, cocky, and made us feel as though they had lost touch with their consumer audience (us!!!)

    Now however, I think Sony is not the same arrogant company, they’ve really been brought back down to earth. All I see in their behaviour now is a corporate directionlessness.
    They’re lost and this is why:

    When the 360 came out, it was literally competing with the ps2 and the gamecube.
    Great as these two consoles are, the 360 brought a whole host of new ideas and features to console gaming, things that Sony hadnt thought of themselves, or hadnt been able to implement as well.
    So while Sony are preparing to launch the PS3 (which was developed according to their goals and requirements during the height of the ps2/gc/xbox era) the 360 is busy changing the playing field.
    Smooth seamless online integration – check
    friends lists – check
    ingame messaging – check
    voice chat – check

    amazing things that we take for granted now, but that we suffer without when they’re not around.

    Now if you ask me, i’d say the original vision for the PS3 was not far off from the ps2:
    Proprietary hardware
    latest optical storage format (ps2 had dvd which was pretty new)
    Some online integration
    media capabilities (to integrate into vaio, bravia, walkman etc product lines)
    They were so confident in their market share, that they didnt bother to look at what the competion was doing.
    When the console launched however, the top brass had a rude shock..
    microsoft’s console, though not perfect, was far more in tune with what people wanted from their gaming experiences now.
    The PS3 was basically a PS2 dressed up in the latest hardware clothing.
    Sure Die-Hards bought the system – but those same die hards are the ones who clamour for in-game xmb, trophy support etc. (all features that 360 introduced to us)

    Forward to today..
    Sony are in the unenviable position of trying to make the ps3 everything the 360 is, within the framework of their original development plan.
    Luckily the ps3 is a pretty capable machine, and thus far it’s managed to hold our attention.
    but how long can sony count on developer loyalty to code on their system when the 360 offers easier ways to make money..

    its a sad state for sony, what i think they need is a new luminary.. someone with charisma and vision, who will find the console’s niche and then make it excellent at what it does..

    Reply

  33. LazySAGamer

    July 30, 2008 at 21:53

    This was written by Nick not me… make sure we tar and feather the right person here 😀

    Reply

  34. Flameboy

    July 30, 2008 at 22:48

    ‘PS3 sux. 360 rulz! I r l33t and u r teh noobs.’ Grow up. Check your grammer and spelling. Have a nice day.

    Reply

  35. LazySAGamer

    July 31, 2008 at 00:30

    “god sake get over the Eurogamer horse”

    If you can show me another site that analyses the games as technically as Eurogamer then I will be more than willing to use them as well.

    This is the 13th face off and there is yet to be a single person who can actually fault Eurogamer’s technical investigation. Even the majority of PS3 fans agree with them.

    Reply

  36. eyesuc

    July 31, 2008 at 10:05

    :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

    do you mean… GRAMMAR??
    http://www.google.co.za/search?hl=en&q=grammer&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

    great article! i also have high hopes for sony, but the results are clear. but, as mentioned before, the coming xmas season will prove interesting

    Reply

  37. Nick

    July 31, 2008 at 16:19

    lol @ “grammer”

    Reply

  38. sabagamma

    July 31, 2008 at 23:47

    @ Lazy – I think you overestimate the leverage Sony has over the game development houses. Sure Sony can beg, plead and cry, but when push comes to shove what is Sony going to really do?

    As doobiwan said, the “loss” was barely perceivable niggles. In other words it was a draw. Sony have come to the party of late. Everyone (Sony fanbois) says that the PS3 has awesome power, while I agree that it is powerful I would like an unbiased chip fundie (a savant really) to once and for all categorically state if the the PS3 is better than the XBox. That way we will know if the XBox is really punching above its weight (for now) or if it can go toe-to-toe with the PS3.

    Right now the PS3 and XBox are going toe-to-toe with each other, so this article is sensationalist IMHO. Remember we are in 2008, not 2007.

    Reply

  39. doobiwan

    August 1, 2008 at 10:31

    How about wizard boy John Carmack?

    There’s comments over on Shack News by John Carmack wrt RAGE and PS3 versus 360. He’s fishing for a royalty cut from MS, claiming that the 360 version will look a bit worse than the PS3 version simply because they have to compress the content to fit on 2 DVD’s because the licensing for 3 is too high.

    What he does go out of his way to say though is that it’s nothing inherent in the hardware, just disc capacity.

    Reply

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