[KhaOZ]

I've been pretty heavy into the Game industry since about 1989, reading every scrap of videogame news I could get my hands on. I've just always LOVED to read about games and hardware and who's backing what, and what isn't selling well, etc etc. When Microsoft first announced they were doing a Console and said one of their primary focuses would be the ability to play games online, I knew the Software giant would create a hit. I do admit though, that I thought the xbox1 would do better than it did at first, but it did well enough. I knew that Microsoft had the required money to get into the game industry against Sony. The only way any company could compete with Sony was if they could buy back some of the exclusives Sony was snatching up. Microsoft set out and started buying up video game companies and exclusives. HUGE ones. Lionhead, Bungie, Rare, Bioware etc etc.

At the time when MS announced the Xbox, I owned and ran the most popular Halo website on the internet, HaloHQ.com(it's long gone now and under new ownership). The community for Halo, which was originally a MAC only game, then a Mac/PC game, was HUGE. Halo had a mass amount of fans from the start. When Microsoft bought out Bungie and said Halo would be an Xbox Exclusive, I had to respect what they were doing. It was a smart move. By buying bungie alone, they guaranteed themselves a cult following from launch, and as we all know now, the Halo Heads are a bunch of freaks.

I knew MS would do great in the gaming industry, what I never expected though, is that they'd have to struggle this hard to get this far. I expected it to come to them a little easier, them having the superior console hardware, great online play system and good games, but you can't put a value on Brand Loyalty, and there are an ass-ton of Sony Loyalists/Fanboys out there.

My biggest surprise though is Nintendo. I grew up a hardcore Sega fan. I had em all. Master System, Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn(on day 1 and spent $400 :`( ), and Dreamcast. If it said Sega on it, I bought it. I even owned near 200 games for my Genesis alone. When Sega consoles went the way of the dinosaurs, I expected Nintendo to follow soon after, and they almost did. They had entered negotiations with Microsoft to be absorbed by MS, which I believe eventually lead to the deal of MS getting Rare but not all of Nintendo. I figured it was just a matter of time before Nintendo went belly up against these 2 giants. Nintendo just doesn't have the money to throw around that MS and Sony do. Nintendo was smart though. Instead of trying to compete with the money Sony and MS had to poor into new hardware development, Nintendo stuck to what they knew. Innovation. They came out with a system that barely has any better graphics than the GameCube, but seems to be sooo much fun. Is it just a fad? A gimmick? Time will tell, but for now, Nintendo is kicking some ass.

I'm happy to see Nintendo doing as well as they are though. I just wish Sony would get their act together and keep up with Microsoft. Without Sony pushing MS, they'll slack off, and things wont advance as well as they could. This means bad things for the consumer. We need Sony to get their Online plan together and force MS to even further enhance their XB LIVE. We need Sony to continue to pump our pretty games, forcing MS to keep pushing their guys to pump out just as good if not better games. We need Sony to lower their Prices to get Microsoft to keep their prices within reason.

Competition is good for the consumer all around. I'd rather see a near 50/50 divide between Sony and MS so they can push each other to greater heights like back in the Nintendo VS Sega days.