also, microsoft is known for releasing products early. thats why they have so many problems. so, that throws the year early argument out the 10th floor window. sony is also allowing much more backward compatiblity than microsoft is. so sony wins again. the cell processing engine has 7 cores, versus the 3 processing cores in the xbox360. sony wins again. sony online is free, whereas xbox live you have to pay for. sony wins again. now... nintendo. havent researched much on nintendo. the wii, while offering possiblities, is more likely a family-oriented-games console. there is some support for the hardcore fps niche on the nintendo platforms.. but not as much as the xbox and the ps2 have already, versus the gamecube. but we will see what this wii brings to the table... :