http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20061208_001308.html
"More good news for Microsoft is that they have won, for now, the game console war. To be fair, though, it isn't just that Microsoft won but that Sony lost. Blu-ray laser diode shortages are constraining PS3 production just at a time when Microsoft has a shot at breaking even on the production cost of its xBox 360s, which are gaining economies of scale. But the most important win here is the hearts of game developers, and those will go to whatever platform has the greatest number of units in the field, which, for high-end game consoles, means Microsoft.
Don't get me wrong, Sony's PS3 is technically superior to Microsoft's xBox 360, but NOT SUPERIOR ENOUGH. Wooing game developers from 12-15 million xBox 360s to instead write games for a couple million PS3s would require those PS3's to be an order of magnitude better as a game platform. Just somewhat better isn't enough, so for this round, at least, Microsoft wins.
And if Microsoft wins, that means HD-DVD wins, too, leaving Blu-ray as the Betamax of HD optical drives. And like Beta, Blu-ray will probably find its (much smaller) niche in professional markets that can take advantage of its eventual greater capacity."
"More good news for Microsoft is that they have won, for now, the game console war. To be fair, though, it isn't just that Microsoft won but that Sony lost. Blu-ray laser diode shortages are constraining PS3 production just at a time when Microsoft has a shot at breaking even on the production cost of its xBox 360s, which are gaining economies of scale. But the most important win here is the hearts of game developers, and those will go to whatever platform has the greatest number of units in the field, which, for high-end game consoles, means Microsoft.
Don't get me wrong, Sony's PS3 is technically superior to Microsoft's xBox 360, but NOT SUPERIOR ENOUGH. Wooing game developers from 12-15 million xBox 360s to instead write games for a couple million PS3s would require those PS3's to be an order of magnitude better as a game platform. Just somewhat better isn't enough, so for this round, at least, Microsoft wins.
And if Microsoft wins, that means HD-DVD wins, too, leaving Blu-ray as the Betamax of HD optical drives. And like Beta, Blu-ray will probably find its (much smaller) niche in professional markets that can take advantage of its eventual greater capacity."
