When it was first introduced the Sony Playstation 3 was harshly criticized and Sony had gone through the toughest moment in their history. The Xbox 360 which came out earlier than the controversial console has succeeded in sweeping away customers before even PS3 started to earn attention from the public. Unexpectedly Wii from Nintendo also knocked out the PS3 when the two consoles met as they were both released at the same time. Considering how long Sony has been dominant in the gaming industry, and how successful was the PS2 as well as the original PS, it looked like their PS3 had failed. However experts and gamers now think that the PS3 era is far from over - it has just started.

Playing with Wiimote is fun at first. But Wii offers nothing else.

The Wii is more affordable than the two others so it is not surprising that it has the highest sales record among the three. Apart from that, the Wii’s simplicity and children-friendliness have attracted a large audience ranging from mediocre gamers, kids and busy adults – they do not see gaming as a serious business. These people do not really care about graphics and realism, but only take gaming as a way to fill their empty time. Online play? They do not see a single reason to compete with other players. For them gaming is a fun thing to do regularly, and nothing more than that. Sometimes the Wii is also bought as a secondary console alongside the PS3 or the Xbox 360 especially by Nintendo fans and parents. It is true that the Wii was a phenomenon but it was just because of its unique, never before seen advance motion-sensing remote control. Once people are bored with the remote, the console will be left behind as it does not have anything else to offer.

Xbox 360′s main attraction; Halo 3.

The PS3 was seen as an expensive, worthless, boring console just because the Xbox 360 already had a huge library of games by the time it was made available. Since the PS3 also failed to prove its advantages over the Xbox 360, as its price was higher, gamers did not want to waste their money on a console that looked just as good as the Xbox 360 but only had a few games. Xbox LIVE was already popular and packed by that time, giving another reason to just stick to the Microsoft’s console. When gamers were already satisfied with the Xbox 360 they did not even have the time to take a look at what the PS3 had to offer. The Xbox 360 took an early lead, which is arguably the main reason why until now it is the more popular gaming console.

Afrika – one of the upcoming PS3-exclusive titles.

Today lack of games is not a good excuse anymore to ignore the PS3. games like Heavenly Sword, Resistance: Fall of Man, Gran Turismo 5, Ratchet & Clank: Tools Of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Tekken 6, Motorstorm are all exclusive games for the PS3 – just to name a few. If that is not impressive enough, check out the promising upcoming titles – there are a lot of them. Gamers already have sufficient reasons now to get a PS3 unless they are willing to miss these games. It looks like there are not much left for the Xbox 360 after Halo 3 and Gears of War, while games have just started flowing to the PS3. What we like about Sony’s consoles is they always have a variety of entertaining games for all types of gamers compared to Microsoft’s consoles which only have first-person shooters as its attraction. Looking back at how many great games were made for the PS2, we can predict that the PS3 in the end will have more quality games than the Xbox 360.

Home of the PS3 gamers.

If the Xbox 360 has Xbox LIVE, the PS3 has Playstation Network (PSN). Xbox LIVE is undoubtedly a good online play medium, but users must pay $49.99 USD a year to enjoy it. PSN in contrast is just as good as the Xbox LIVE but is absolutely free of charge. Maybe that is why the PS3 is more expensive? Sony has stated that the lifespan of the PS3 is 10 years. So by purchasing the console once, gamers can enjoy a decade of free online play provided they have an internet connection, wired or wireless. Sony however still do not think it is enough to keep their customers happy. Home, an online world (that seems to be like The Sims and Second Life) exclusive for PS3 gamers, is on its way to make PSN a complete online gaming experience, which will be hard for Xbox LIVE to compete against.

There is no doubt that the PS3 will stay alive for 10 years. The Sony’s latest console is by all means more powerful than the Xbox 360. This can easily be confirmed by comparing the specifications of the two consoles. The PS3 also plays its games in the best optical disc format to date; blu-ray. A blu-ray disc is capable of storing 50 gigabytes of data, allowing a game to be extremely vast and detailed. So why cannot we see the true power of the PS3 at the time being? It is the game developers’ fault – the current games available for the PS3 do not make full use of the platform. We need to give some time for game developers to get used to the PS3, making many people wonder whether the PS3 came out too early. Ten years is not short, so although patience is needed soon we will eventually see how far the PS3 can go – much further than most people think. The only way for Microsoft to stay in the competition by that time is to desperately launch a new console.

If you are buying a current-generation console consider getting the PS3. It has a bitter past, but a bright future.