Do keep up. The 360 *is* multicore. Multicore is good. Multicore is the future.
But the cut-down Cell in the PS3 is not. It has just one general purpose processor and then a bunch of high-performance math processors. You can't just stick a compiler onto a bit of code and make it work on the Cell. - You have to tease it apart and hand-re-code it with nasty non-branching assembly language. You know - like in the 50s.
Powerful? - yes. Commercially attractive? - not so much.
Sony screwed up. This stuff happens. Kuturagi resigned, Stringer's drafting his letter. They are already saying the PS4 will be better. Sony themselves are in freefall: Read this:
As a clarification, I think it would be easier/better all around if the PS3 had general purpose cores, but 1+7 is hardly the end of the world or a cause for massively delayed game projects. (Or more delayed, anyway. They never seem to be on time.)
i'm by no means a console gamer, but frankly, the WII is much more appealing to me than either of the other consoles. I like the fact that it's not too expensive. I like the new gameplay with the controller.
So I think the wii is going to "win" this round. what is clear as day to me, is that unless the price of the PS3 comes down to compete with the 360, it will lose. If the ps3 is hard to dev for, and its not got a huge installed base, then people will just start making games for the other consoles. This will kill the ps3 faster than anything.
sony needs to get the price of hte ps3 down fast. It needs to be 299$ and 399$.
600$ for a game console? Why? WHY? W H Y ??? That's insane!
i saw a blog where some guy lost 9 pounds playing WII sports. I like the idea of a game console that gets you off your ass. I think it's cool that it's not just the twitch of your fingers but how you move the controller.
As a clarification, I think it would be easier/better all around if the PS3 had general purpose cores, but 1+7 is hardly the end of the world or a cause for massively delayed game projects. (Or more delayed, anyway. They never seem to be on time.)
Gon, you seem to have a better idea of what is going on.
1+6 is not a total disaster. But it is proving to be a real problem out in developer-land. I have heard some real horror stories. It is especially bad for studios not relying heavily on middleware. And where exactly are these middleware games?
The 360's 3+3 hardware is causing far fewer problems. Teams get it, use the free middleware and ship games. The games are getting better. It is a bizarre thing, I know, but Microsoft have actually done something right. OK so they still have not done enough to attract the right sort of developers. Microsoft should have bought Square and not Rare in my opinion. And they should release the Zephyr as soon as possible.
No it's not. But it does have its own Alitvec unit. And it does something like "hyperthreading" Perhaps that's what you mean?
Actually it's a little worse than that. Because the PPE has to act as "conductor" for the SPEs. Which means you can't fully utilise it as a general-purpose processor. It has chores to perform.
My opinion for PS3.. if you just have an old regullar tv, not an HDTV, no matter how good the graphics are, the quality isn't going to show up on an old television. There also don't seem to be too many games yet for the PS3 that spark any interest for me. I haven't gotten a Wii yet, however the controller seems really cool and it is a way to really get into the games more physically. I have seen videos of people playing it and it seems real cool.
My opinion for PS3.. if you just have an old regullar tv, not an HDTV, no matter how good the graphics are, the quality isn't going to show up on an old television.
This is completely absurd.
My XBOX 360 looks phenomenal compared to the original XBOX on my really crappy 26" TV.
The next generation games aren't shitty polygons and shitty textures at higher resolutions (well, maybe the Wii is...). They're incredibly complex polygons and incredibly detailed textures. At higher resolutions.
While none of the games on the PS3 interest me enough to buy one yet, the games currently out there look great compared to last generation's games. The resolution is only one part of that.
No it's not. But it does have its own Alitvec unit. And it does something like "hyperthreading" Perhaps that's what you mean?
Actually it's a little worse than that. Because the PPE has to act as "conductor" for the SPEs. Which means you can't fully utilise it as a general-purpose processor. It has chores to perform.
C.
right from the link spline model provided...Maybe the guys at IBM, you know the people who designed it, dont actually know what it is they built...
"It is a dual-core PowerPC®-based element, called the Power Processing Element, or PPE for short. The other eight processing elements, however, are a different story."
Yes, it is. At least, IBM seems to say so. IBM is also pushing a lot more marketing and development muscle behind the cell than they are behind the Xenon. There are no Xenon blades on the market. Xenon is not being used to make super computers. Cell is here to stay, like it or not. (Well, I know you don't like it).
Concepts that come out of VLSI-land always seem to take a few years to really catch on with programmers. Spin the clock way back and there were people badmouthing the 4004. In a few years the software development community will have embraced the Cell and will instead be whining about having to adopt the next next big thing.
Yes, it is. At least, IBM seems to say so. IBM is also pushing a lot more marketing and development muscle behind the cell than they are behind the Xenon. There are no Xenon blades on the market. Xenon is not being used to make super computers. Cell is here to stay, like it or not. (Well, I know you don't like it).
Concepts that come out of VLSI-land always seem to take a few years to really catch on with programmers. Spin the clock way back and there were people badmouthing the 4004. In a few years the software development community will have embraced the Cell and will instead be whining about having to adopt the next next big thing.
Yes, it is. At least, IBM seems to say so. IBM is also pushing a lot more marketing and development muscle behind the cell than they are behind the Xenon. There are no Xenon blades on the market. Xenon is not being used to make super computers. Cell is here to stay, like it or not. (Well, I know you don't like it).
I do like it. Cell is a great supercomputer part. But not a games chip. It's like putting a jet engine into a rally car. Lots of power, but entirely the wrong sort of power.
Xenon is a reasonable games chip. Not a supercomputer part.
As far as I know - and I am a flawed mortal .... The Cell variant which ships in the PS3 has a single core PPC ( with hyperthreading style fast register swapping.)
There are 8 SPEs on the silicon. Of which only 7 are programmable ( to improve yields -one can be broken).
1 is fully reserved by the Sony "OS" and one is partially used by the Sony "OS" - giving a 1+6. Although as I pointed out. The PPE is compelled to fulfill various chores - servicing its harem of SPEs.
My assertion is that the PS3 - although containing some cutting-edge technology, is actually a poorer solution for delivering videogame content than the 360.
This is based on....
...the complexity of the hardware demanding more programming effort for a given outcome.... the paucity of the support software and documentation ... the way the GPU is an afterthought.... the inexcusable lack of a dedicated scaling chip .... the lack of texture bandwidth and texture memory .... and the fact there is NO BLOODY RUMBLE in the controller.
I have only one remaining question:
At this precise moment in time - everyone accepts that right now the 360 has more impressive games. - So....at what point do you guys concede, based on evidence?
A) By the European launch of the PS3 ?
By the launch of Halo 3 ?
C) By the launch of Oblivion ?
D) By the launch of the first Unreal 3 title ?
E) When Howard Stringer loses his job?
F) When a world-famous developer breaks the silence and flames the PS3?
At this precise moment in time - everyone accepts that right now the 360 has more impressive games. - So....at what point do you guys concede, based on evidence?
A) By the European launch of the PS3 ?
By the launch of Halo 3 ?
C) By the launch of Oblivion ?
D) By the launch of the first Unreal 3 title ?
E) When Howard Stringer loses his job?
F) When a world-famous developer breaks the silence and flames the PS3?
I do like it. Cell is a great supercomputer part. But not a games chip. It's like putting a jet engine into a rally car. Lots of power, but entirely the wrong sort of power.
Why, tell me, does Toshiba want to put the cell into their HDTV sets if it is not good for graphics? The PPE is a varient of the PPC processor to take cane of the other stuff.
I do like it. Cell is a great supercomputer part. But not a games chip. It's like putting a jet engine into a rally car. Lots of power, but entirely the wrong sort of power.
Xenon is a reasonable games chip. Not a supercomputer part.
The Cell in the PS3 has the same two-core PPE as all Cells. The only difference is that it has one SPE disabled, so there are only seven SPEs. This is done to keep the yields higher.
The argument that the Xenon is better for programming games is a bad argument, because a game itself is quite detached from the finer points of programming concepts. I find it hard to believe that Sony and IBM would sit down for five years to develop a high-performance processor -- designed initially to run games on a PS3 -- without giving any thought to how elements of games can be programmed. What you should be saying is that the Xenon is better for running legacy C/C++ code that has been used in games before. All it takes are a few good libraries for PS3 game programming and all of the sudden the tables turn.
We've conversed about this ad nauseum. At this point I'm satisfied to let time finish this debate.
My assertion is that the PS3 - although containing some cutting-edge technology, is actually a poorer solution for delivering videogame content than the 360.
You mean like how devs can depend on having a HDD and not streaming from a 12x DVD drive? Or they can have more than 8GB of content on one disc?
Quote:
This is based on....
...the complexity of the hardware demanding more programming effort for a given outcome....
Programming the SPE's aren't as horrible as you make them out to be. Yes, it does require more handholding and potential to shoot yourself in the foot. On the other hand getting the best performance out of hardware often requires hand tuned code anyway and the SPE's offer power. And no...C with SPE intrinsics doesn't look much like assembly...more like Altivec code.
On the plus side for the 360...MS makes some of the best tools on the market and for 360 development it shows. Sony...not so much.
Xenon=3 PPEs of course. With VMX-128 (enhanced Altivec, basically) as well.
And a PPE is single core, dual thread. Not dual core.
As for tools, well Microsoft put a lot of effort into their tools, Sony didn't although this has started to change it's a little late for the first wave of games.
The premise of the thread, that Sony screwed up, is entirely correct. Please note I really don't have a dog in this fight. The last console I owned was the Sega Dreamcast and although I might buy a Wii it won't be for a year or so.
Sony failed to secure exclusive titles despite developers quite literally asking them. Furthermore relations with developers have not been that good.
Sony has at the moment a horrendous relationship with the press (PR lies, basically).
They spent a vast amount of money to develop the Cell (excluding IBM's PPE development) and then for much less money Microsoft just stuck together 3 PPEs and got nearly the same performance. Presumably Cell will make money for them elsewhere, but not for a little while. It was a major delay in the launch.
The Blu-Ray drive is expensive and slower than a regular DVD drive and was a major factor in the delay of the launch. Although it does store more data that doesn't really matter given that most games don't need it, and most of the ones that do will just be sticking very long very pretty movies on it.
Development tools sucked.
All this aside they have a console which is marginally more powerful than the Xbox360 and which has both a decent HDD and an off-the-shelf replaceable one. They have close ties with the PSP (don't know how much that will help them). Most importantly they have the Sony Playstation brand name?though I'll point out how much Sega's and Nintindo's brand names helped them face off the original Playstation.
Did Sony screw up? Absolutely. Has it, and will it continue, to hurt them? Yep. Can they come back from this? Sure.
I don't really care who 'wins' a console war (by profit earned that looks likely to be Nintendo, anyway) but there does seem to be a lot of vested interest, at least in this thread, in a winner.
So I'll say this. Why does it matter? Everyone will take away lessons from this round just like they did from the last. Odds are all three main players will be up for another round in a few years and we'll see who learned the lessons best.
At this precise moment in time - everyone accepts that right now the 360 has more impressive games. - So....at what point do you guys concede, based on evidence?
Yes, the 360 has more impressive games, meaning it has a small handful of nice titles out where the PS3 has none. I fail to see how this is a cause for fanfare, especially looking at how long the 360 has been out.
I'd like to play GoW, Dead Rising and Viva Pinata. What else in the lineup is good?
Do they add up to something worthy of the entry price to get on this platform?
The Wii has interesting title parity with 360 at this point, IMO. By the end of 07, PS3 will also. (No, I don't think those consoles are good deals either right now.)
The new consoles actually have very tough competition from the last generation. For someone getting into consoles right now, I'd actually recommend a PS2, slim version, off a sale or used. You can pay half of the price of the new consoles and end up with a console and a big stack of best-on-the-system games to boot. I just finished God of War. Before that, it was We Love Katamari. Shadow of the Colossus is on hold till later. Even the releases haven't dried up. I'm currently waiting for Okami PAL release and Guilty Gear Slash US NTSC release, both of which I think are due next month. God of War 2 also. All exclusives.
Can't go wrong with a Gamecube either, with all the top notch older games and Twilight Princess. Releases have very much dried up, but I expect they will be revitalized with Wii as with the similar hardware it's going to be a breeze to back-port all the games that suit a classic controller. I don't believe Nintendo can afford to abandon the installed base. Some art will have to be redone to lower the hardware intensity, and it will look slightly worse, but meh.
XBox has the best hardware and works great especially after modding, but I find it hard to get excited about almost any title on it.
Might not score any bragging rights, but the older consoles rule if you care about the actual titles.
It would be interesting to hear about the "getting bit by Sony" thing you mentioned. Anything you can fess up without contract breakage.
Comments
Do keep up. The 360 *is* multicore. Multicore is good. Multicore is the future.
But the cut-down Cell in the PS3 is not. It has just one general purpose processor and then a bunch of high-performance math processors. You can't just stick a compiler onto a bit of code and make it work on the Cell. - You have to tease it apart and hand-re-code it with nasty non-branching assembly language. You know - like in the 50s.
Powerful? - yes. Commercially attractive? - not so much.
Sony screwed up. This stuff happens. Kuturagi resigned, Stringer's drafting his letter. They are already saying the PS4 will be better. Sony themselves are in freefall: Read this:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=22334
But it's art right?
C.
I know the 360 is multicore, it has 3 cores and 6 threads, the PPC core on the cell is dual core.
Way too expensive for a console
Blue-Ray / HD-DVD war is far from over
And...it's a huge, ugly beast of a console
Gameplay >> Graphics
This is great for the PS3. Having games, it has lots of excellent gameplay.
Way too expensive for a console
It'll come down in price in a year, which is when the general public starts buying things anyway. We've seen this with every other system launch ever.
Blue-Ray / HD-DVD war is far from over
This is irrelevant, PS3 will get huge games delivered on a realistic format for next generation games even if HD-DVD takes over for movies.
Remember, not having CDs killed the Nintendo 64, and not having DVDs killed the Gamecube.
This is where XBOX and Wii are going to be hurting in a year or two.
And...it's a huge, ugly beast of a console
I'm assuming you haven't seen an XBOX 360, then.
So I think the wii is going to "win" this round. what is clear as day to me, is that unless the price of the PS3 comes down to compete with the 360, it will lose. If the ps3 is hard to dev for, and its not got a huge installed base, then people will just start making games for the other consoles. This will kill the ps3 faster than anything.
sony needs to get the price of hte ps3 down fast. It needs to be 299$ and 399$.
600$ for a game console? Why? WHY? W H Y ??? That's insane!
i saw a blog where some guy lost 9 pounds playing WII sports. I like the idea of a game console that gets you off your ass. I think it's cool that it's not just the twitch of your fingers but how you move the controller.
As a clarification, I think it would be easier/better all around if the PS3 had general purpose cores, but 1+7 is hardly the end of the world or a cause for massively delayed game projects. (Or more delayed, anyway. They never seem to be on time.)
Gon, you seem to have a better idea of what is going on.
1+6 is not a total disaster. But it is proving to be a real problem out in developer-land. I have heard some real horror stories. It is especially bad for studios not relying heavily on middleware. And where exactly are these middleware games?
The 360's 3+3 hardware is causing far fewer problems. Teams get it, use the free middleware and ship games. The games are getting better. It is a bizarre thing, I know, but Microsoft have actually done something right. OK so they still have not done enough to attract the right sort of developers. Microsoft should have bought Square and not Rare in my opinion. And they should release the Zephyr as soon as possible.
C.
the PPC core on the cell is dual core.
No it's not. But it does have its own Alitvec unit. And it does something like "hyperthreading" Perhaps that's what you mean?
Actually it's a little worse than that. Because the PPE has to act as "conductor" for the SPEs. Which means you can't fully utilise it as a general-purpose processor. It has chores to perform.
C.
My opinion for PS3.. if you just have an old regullar tv, not an HDTV, no matter how good the graphics are, the quality isn't going to show up on an old television.
This is completely absurd.
My XBOX 360 looks phenomenal compared to the original XBOX on my really crappy 26" TV.
The next generation games aren't shitty polygons and shitty textures at higher resolutions (well, maybe the Wii is...). They're incredibly complex polygons and incredibly detailed textures. At higher resolutions.
While none of the games on the PS3 interest me enough to buy one yet, the games currently out there look great compared to last generation's games. The resolution is only one part of that.
No it's not. But it does have its own Alitvec unit. And it does something like "hyperthreading" Perhaps that's what you mean?
Actually it's a little worse than that. Because the PPE has to act as "conductor" for the SPEs. Which means you can't fully utilise it as a general-purpose processor. It has chores to perform.
C.
right from the link spline model provided...Maybe the guys at IBM, you know the people who designed it, dont actually know what it is they built...
"It is a dual-core PowerPC®-based element, called the Power Processing Element, or PPE for short. The other eight processing elements, however, are a different story."
No it's not. .
Yes, it is. At least, IBM seems to say so. IBM is also pushing a lot more marketing and development muscle behind the cell than they are behind the Xenon. There are no Xenon blades on the market. Xenon is not being used to make super computers. Cell is here to stay, like it or not. (Well, I know you don't like it).
Concepts that come out of VLSI-land always seem to take a few years to really catch on with programmers. Spin the clock way back and there were people badmouthing the 4004. In a few years the software development community will have embraced the Cell and will instead be whining about having to adopt the next next big thing.
Yes, it is. At least, IBM seems to say so. IBM is also pushing a lot more marketing and development muscle behind the cell than they are behind the Xenon. There are no Xenon blades on the market. Xenon is not being used to make super computers. Cell is here to stay, like it or not. (Well, I know you don't like it).
Concepts that come out of VLSI-land always seem to take a few years to really catch on with programmers. Spin the clock way back and there were people badmouthing the 4004. In a few years the software development community will have embraced the Cell and will instead be whining about having to adopt the next next big thing.
Cell2 runs at over 5ghz
Yes, it is. At least, IBM seems to say so. IBM is also pushing a lot more marketing and development muscle behind the cell than they are behind the Xenon. There are no Xenon blades on the market. Xenon is not being used to make super computers. Cell is here to stay, like it or not. (Well, I know you don't like it).
I do like it. Cell is a great supercomputer part. But not a games chip. It's like putting a jet engine into a rally car. Lots of power, but entirely the wrong sort of power.
Xenon is a reasonable games chip. Not a supercomputer part.
As far as I know - and I am a flawed mortal .... The Cell variant which ships in the PS3 has a single core PPC ( with hyperthreading style fast register swapping.)
There are 8 SPEs on the silicon. Of which only 7 are programmable ( to improve yields -one can be broken).
1 is fully reserved by the Sony "OS" and one is partially used by the Sony "OS" - giving a 1+6. Although as I pointed out. The PPE is compelled to fulfill various chores - servicing its harem of SPEs.
My assertion is that the PS3 - although containing some cutting-edge technology, is actually a poorer solution for delivering videogame content than the 360.
This is based on....
...the complexity of the hardware demanding more programming effort for a given outcome.... the paucity of the support software and documentation ... the way the GPU is an afterthought.... the inexcusable lack of a dedicated scaling chip .... the lack of texture bandwidth and texture memory .... and the fact there is NO BLOODY RUMBLE in the controller.
I have only one remaining question:
At this precise moment in time - everyone accepts that right now the 360 has more impressive games. - So....at what point do you guys concede, based on evidence?
A) By the European launch of the PS3 ?
C) By the launch of Oblivion ?
D) By the launch of the first Unreal 3 title ?
E) When Howard Stringer loses his job?
F) When a world-famous developer breaks the silence and flames the PS3?
G) Never ?
C.
At this precise moment in time - everyone accepts that right now the 360 has more impressive games. - So....at what point do you guys concede, based on evidence?
A) By the European launch of the PS3 ?
C) By the launch of Oblivion ?
D) By the launch of the first Unreal 3 title ?
E) When Howard Stringer loses his job?
F) When a world-famous developer breaks the silence and flames the PS3?
G) Never ?
When Microsoft turns a profit.
I do like it. Cell is a great supercomputer part. But not a games chip. It's like putting a jet engine into a rally car. Lots of power, but entirely the wrong sort of power.
I do like it. Cell is a great supercomputer part. But not a games chip. It's like putting a jet engine into a rally car. Lots of power, but entirely the wrong sort of power.
Xenon is a reasonable games chip. Not a supercomputer part.
The Cell in the PS3 has the same two-core PPE as all Cells. The only difference is that it has one SPE disabled, so there are only seven SPEs. This is done to keep the yields higher.
The argument that the Xenon is better for programming games is a bad argument, because a game itself is quite detached from the finer points of programming concepts. I find it hard to believe that Sony and IBM would sit down for five years to develop a high-performance processor -- designed initially to run games on a PS3 -- without giving any thought to how elements of games can be programmed. What you should be saying is that the Xenon is better for running legacy C/C++ code that has been used in games before. All it takes are a few good libraries for PS3 game programming and all of the sudden the tables turn.
We've conversed about this ad nauseum. At this point I'm satisfied to let time finish this debate.
My assertion is that the PS3 - although containing some cutting-edge technology, is actually a poorer solution for delivering videogame content than the 360.
You mean like how devs can depend on having a HDD and not streaming from a 12x DVD drive? Or they can have more than 8GB of content on one disc?
This is based on....
...the complexity of the hardware demanding more programming effort for a given outcome....
Programming the SPE's aren't as horrible as you make them out to be. Yes, it does require more handholding and potential to shoot yourself in the foot. On the other hand getting the best performance out of hardware often requires hand tuned code anyway and the SPE's offer power. And no...C with SPE intrinsics doesn't look much like assembly...more like Altivec code.
On the plus side for the 360...MS makes some of the best tools on the market and for 360 development it shows. Sony...not so much.
Vinea
And a PPE is single core, dual thread. Not dual core.
As for tools, well Microsoft put a lot of effort into their tools, Sony didn't although this has started to change it's a little late for the first wave of games.
The premise of the thread, that Sony screwed up, is entirely correct. Please note I really don't have a dog in this fight. The last console I owned was the Sega Dreamcast and although I might buy a Wii it won't be for a year or so.
Sony failed to secure exclusive titles despite developers quite literally asking them. Furthermore relations with developers have not been that good.
Sony has at the moment a horrendous relationship with the press (PR lies, basically).
They spent a vast amount of money to develop the Cell (excluding IBM's PPE development) and then for much less money Microsoft just stuck together 3 PPEs and got nearly the same performance. Presumably Cell will make money for them elsewhere, but not for a little while. It was a major delay in the launch.
The Blu-Ray drive is expensive and slower than a regular DVD drive and was a major factor in the delay of the launch. Although it does store more data that doesn't really matter given that most games don't need it, and most of the ones that do will just be sticking very long very pretty movies on it.
Development tools sucked.
All this aside they have a console which is marginally more powerful than the Xbox360 and which has both a decent HDD and an off-the-shelf replaceable one. They have close ties with the PSP (don't know how much that will help them). Most importantly they have the Sony Playstation brand name?though I'll point out how much Sega's and Nintindo's brand names helped them face off the original Playstation.
Did Sony screw up? Absolutely. Has it, and will it continue, to hurt them? Yep. Can they come back from this? Sure.
I don't really care who 'wins' a console war (by profit earned that looks likely to be Nintendo, anyway) but there does seem to be a lot of vested interest, at least in this thread, in a winner.
So I'll say this. Why does it matter? Everyone will take away lessons from this round just like they did from the last. Odds are all three main players will be up for another round in a few years and we'll see who learned the lessons best.
Good post. (grin)
C.
I have only one remaining question:
At this precise moment in time - everyone accepts that right now the 360 has more impressive games. - So....at what point do you guys concede, based on evidence?
Yes, the 360 has more impressive games, meaning it has a small handful of nice titles out where the PS3 has none. I fail to see how this is a cause for fanfare, especially looking at how long the 360 has been out.
I'd like to play GoW, Dead Rising and Viva Pinata. What else in the lineup is good?
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/xbox360games.htm
Do they add up to something worthy of the entry price to get on this platform?
The Wii has interesting title parity with 360 at this point, IMO. By the end of 07, PS3 will also. (No, I don't think those consoles are good deals either right now.)
The new consoles actually have very tough competition from the last generation. For someone getting into consoles right now, I'd actually recommend a PS2, slim version, off a sale or used. You can pay half of the price of the new consoles and end up with a console and a big stack of best-on-the-system games to boot. I just finished God of War. Before that, it was We Love Katamari. Shadow of the Colossus is on hold till later. Even the releases haven't dried up. I'm currently waiting for Okami PAL release and Guilty Gear Slash US NTSC release, both of which I think are due next month. God of War 2 also. All exclusives.
Can't go wrong with a Gamecube either, with all the top notch older games and Twilight Princess. Releases have very much dried up, but I expect they will be revitalized with Wii as with the similar hardware it's going to be a breeze to back-port all the games that suit a classic controller. I don't believe Nintendo can afford to abandon the installed base. Some art will have to be redone to lower the hardware intensity, and it will look slightly worse, but meh.
XBox has the best hardware and works great especially after modding, but I find it hard to get excited about almost any title on it.
Might not score any bragging rights, but the older consoles rule if you care about the actual titles.
It would be interesting to hear about the "getting bit by Sony" thing you mentioned. Anything you can fess up without contract breakage.