The numbers from the NPD Group are promising for the game industry. The Wii took the title for selling the most systems in '07. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 came in second and third place respectively. This news is not a shocker to anyone, but I question if the Wii has the lasting power as Microsoft and Sony look to make up ground. This will be another great year for gamers.

Wii

Nintendo is enjoying good times--The Wii and DS Lite are selling well around the world. The company outsold its inventory of Wiis consistently in 2007. Unfortunately, the company screwed itself by not having enough systems made available for the public. That will not factor too much into another issue that people are starting to realize.

The Wii might take a hit because the development of new and fresh titles for the system is slowing down. Thinking off the top of my head, I fail to think of a single title that I might be purchasing for the Wii this year. As far as other systems are concerned, I could name several games that I am looking forward to. This is an issue that gamers will be considering. After all, what is a great system without great games?

Xbox 360

Microsoft faired pretty well with pushing out 1.3 million units. The company holds the biggest share in the next-gen console wars; however, the Wii seems destined take over the Xbox 360 by the end of this year. Xbox Live is the biggest contributing factor to the system's dominance. Great multiplayer connectivity is an area that the PS3 and Wii needs to make great strides in.

The system is solid and stable, well, with the exception of those who have received the "red ring of death." Reliability issues aside, the gaming division at Microsoft have a lot to be proud of with their performance in 2007. Top notch games are sure to come in the late first and entire second quarters 2008, and the system will maintain healthy numbers throughout.

PlayStation 3

The 2008 year is do or die time for Sony's PlayStation 3. The company managed to put 800,000 consoles in the homes of gamers. This has left Sony in last place with around 16% of the market share; disappointing at best. Sony does have that awesome "Universe of Entertainment" commercial with rockin' music by Saliva, but a commercial can only go far. This could potentially be the year that the Play Station 3 bites the dust.

Not all is gloom and doom at the Sony camp as the PlayStation 3 does have a few important things going for it. First off, being the most recent news, the Blu-ray disc format has pretty much sealed the deal in the physical format wars, and thus the console will benefit from those who are going to view high-def content on their HDTVs. Next, the PlayStation 3 will receiving the most impressive lineup of games since its incarnation. Last, but not least, the do or die attitude will have to motivate Sony to work hard for their current and potential new console owners.

A Look Ahead At The 2008 Console Wars

The Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 are going to mix it up for another year: The Wii needs a killer title, the Xbox 360 needs to avoid the red (ring of death), and the PlayStation 3 just needs everything to go right. The one thing in common with the three systems it that they all have have room for improvement.

It is going to be a great ride for gamers worldwide this year. The competition is getting fast and furious. To put it simply--there has never been a better time to get your game on.

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Sony has pretty much sealed up a victory in the battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but the prices of capable devices for Blu-ray are still fairly expensive. Easing the pain, Sony announced a Blu-ray drive for $200 that will be released next month. It might seem like a great value, but it does have a few issues that might turn people off; however, if you are into high-def content, it still might be worth consideration.

What It Is

The BDU-X10S by Sony is an internal Blu-ray drive that allows you to play Blu-ray discs.  You shove this thing in your computer case, and you have high-def content on your computer.  The included Cyberlink PowerDVD BD Edition software allows you to decode Blu-ray discs, and play the content in H.264 or MPEG-2 formats.

The $200 pricetag is also a sign of decreasing prices for Blu-ray hardware.  It is about time that this happens.

What It Does

This drive will bring the latest in high-def video content to PCs at a cheaper price.  While it does read (play), this drive will not write (burn) to Blu-ray, and that is quite disappointing to know.

This player is also backwards compatible with DVD and CD discs.

What It's Worth

The $200 BDU-X10S could be worth the price if you are going to purchase Blu-ray discs with the intent to play them on your computer.  Unfortunately, the lack of the ability to write to Blu-ray media is a huge downer.  It might be reason enough for people to hold off on purchasing.

My Thoughts

I am very disappointed that this drive does not have the ability to write to Blu-ray media.  Most people who install a Blu-ray device in their computer system will likely be looking forward to writing plenty of data to the huge 25GB or 50GB discs.

In the end, I would strongly urge most to avoid buying the BDU-X10S.  Eventually, a good number of people will have the desire to write to Blu-ray media--just as we do with DVD media today.  If you have ever written to a DVD disc, then consider waiting until later this year.

Sony has yet to release a true entry-level dSLR in the market. That changed with the showing of the Alpha DSLR-A200 (the Alpha DSLR-A100 was not entry-level). A late arrival in this market might have cost the company, but the A200 will get Sony into the fray immediately. The $700 camera has plenty to offer new photographers, and the competition should take notice.

What It Is

The Alpha DSLR-A200 is the first true entry-level digital SLR camera that Sony has released.

Amongst typical things you would expect in a dSLR, the camera has the capability to shoot at 10-megapixels, built-in image stabilization, a 2.7-inch 230,000-pixel LCD screen, an ISO range of 100 to 3200, and can burst for 3fps (unlimited JPEG, 6 frames max Raw).

What It Does

The A200 brings more competition into the entry-level camera market. Cameras used to be extremely expensive only a few years ago; however, in such a short amount of time, things have changed drastically. It is impossible to predict how the A200 will perform in the market, but it is likely that Sony will steal away a number of potential customers from Nikon and Canon .

What It's Worth

The Alpha DSLR-A200 will cost $700, and will be coming to a store near you in February. It will be on-par with the features and price offered from both the Canon Digital Rebel XTi and Nikon D40x. Surely an impressive attempt to enter the entry-level market by Sony.

My Thoughts

After comparing the specs from the competition--Digital Rebel XTi and Nikon D40x--the differences between all the cameras are minimal at best. It no longer really matters what you are looking for in performance because all the entry-level cameras are very similar in that regard.

What it will come down to primarily is how the camera feels in-hand, and the price willing to be payed. All that aside, I believe the A200 is a welcome addition, and worthy of consideration by future digital SLR customers.

The Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) received mixed impressions during its late 2006 launch. Some people had considered the PS3 to be far too expensive, but others were ready to pay the big bucks for the pure power the system has to work with. A year after the PS3's launch, the fate of the system is still unknown, but the potential for a huge comeback still remains.

Editor's Note: After the initial writing of this article, which began in late November, there has been widespread news about the fact that the PlayStation 3 has outsold the Nintendo Wii in Japan for the first time. This news could be relevant to the future performance of the PlayStation 3. It most certainly is a morale boost to Sony.

VG Chartz reports that the PlayStation 3 is far behind its competition with the console selling 6.71 million consoles worldwide while the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii have both sold 14.06 million and 15.48 million respectively. This all adds up to Sony having less than 20% of the market share. Hardly impressive numbers; however, it could be much worse for Sony.

(Credit: VG Chartz - Hardware Comparison Charts - Updated and as of 12/6/07)
Ever since the release of the PlayStation 3 there has been much criticism of the console. Many of the points raised in the past have been validated. The system was priced too high, and even if worth the price, the high cost ultimately lead to lower sales. If Sony had put out a system that was around the same price point of the Xbox 360 or Wii, then I would not be writing this article. Unfortunately, for Sony, there are even more basic problems that plague the PS3 as a result of the above.

As I sat here writing this article, I failed to even come up with a single spectacular title available for the PlayStation 3. Oh wait, Metal Gear Solid 4 must be it! Nope, a long wait until--Q2, 2008. How about Grand Theft Auto IV? Gran Turismo 5? Soulcalibur IV? Any game at all?

Forget about it, there is not one single "killer app" for the PlayStation 3 available. Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm, while both being impressive titles, do not come anywhere near Halo 3 or Super Mario Galaxy. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot might be the title that inspires consumers to pick up a PS3, but then there is also the possibility that a smaller development house with a new game idea could pull off a winner.

It all comes down to Sony needing to perform all the tricks to sell more units before it is too late to recover. The expandability of the PlayStation 3 will allow this to happen. The company already took action to encourage new games by reducing the price of their Software Development Kit, and this hopefully encourages more game development by new and smaller game development studios. However, game developers will be hard pressed to develop games exclusively for the PS3 while the other consoles have the potential to provide much more revenue for their games.

Improving or overhauling the multi-player services would also be in the best interest of Sony right now. There is much work that needs to be done on that front of the system. There is also a lot of distance between the Xbox Live service and the PS3's online component; I am sure the company knows this, and is working hard to improve the online gaming experience in the future.

The PlayStation 3 will make up ground in 2008. Whether this be the result of demand for the other systems slowing (potentially as a result of many gamers owning other systems), Sony getting their act together, or the PS3 getting its "killer app" early is something to keep an eye on in 2008.

If the PS3 ends as a huge failure for Sony, expect to see the latest generation of console wars start early. Development on the "PlayStation 4" beginning before the end of 2010 anyone? Anything is possible.

Update 1 - 12-12-07 @ 2:11 PM Est.:

It appears that Sony is indeed getting their act together with the latest news from GameStop reporting that the company is expanding connectivity for hardware, and improving their online network to compete with Xbox Live.