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I have been very sure about my opinion of who will win the console wars from the beginning. With the PS3 and Wii on the verge of release, it is becoming very apparent that my prediction will be correct. I had told my friends months ago that this will be the order of winners:

1) Nintendo Wii
2) Microsoft Xbox360
3) Sony PS3

What I mean by winner is whichever is most successful in terms of sales. The victor will not appear in the next few months or even year, it may take a few years to finally see who has dominated this round of video game console wars.

There are many reasons for my prediction, and with all the news that has recently surfaced about the PS3 and 360’s problems, more and more it is looking like Nintendo knew what they were doing. In addition, everyone who has played the Wii so far has had nothing but praises to say about it.

Let’s start with the price. Since the 360 has been out for about a year now, it has already dropped in price from its ridiculous $400-$500 price range. Since there is basically no point in buying the Xbox with no harddrive, most people opt for the premier model. So many people ended up paying the full amount for the premier Xbox 360 console. Now that the price has dropped about $100 in price, it is looking more appealing to us Frooglers out there. The Wii is by far the cheapest out of the three systems coming in at a low price of $250. This is lower than the original Xbox was when it was first released. The PS3 is being sold at a starting price of $499, way more than I would be willing to pay for the system and about half of the Wii. This will send many price-conscious buyers to Nintendo.

Reviews have a lot to do with the success of a product. Good reviews from publishers can sway the opinion of many in one direction or another. Since the 360 has been out for a while now, they have already cemented themselves in the market and therefore this does not apply to them. For the PS3 and Wii however, this will have a big impact on what customers decide to buy. Recently, most headlines about the PS3 have been negative. From Sony not being able to produce enough units, to the backward compatibility being flawed, its been nothing but negative press for the PS3. On the other hand the Wii has been getting nothing but rave reviews. Anyone who has been lucky enough to set their hands on a Wii has been overwhelmed by how much fun it is to play. Even the controller, which most thought would kill the Wii (because it was too different from the norm) has been loved by everyone. Another problem Sony has had is that the Blu-Ray is said to be before its time. Even Sony released a statement saying it overreached with the release of Blu-Ray in the PS3. With all the bad press for the PS3 and good press for the Wii, many peoples’ opinions will be swayed towards Nintendo.

Hardware is a very important feature when considering which console to buy. The Wii has the weakest hardware of the bunch but was not made to blow people away with its graphics. Sony has the strongest machine followed by the 360. This is enough for some people to buy the PS3 but again the price is just way too high. To use half the features that the PS3 provides, one would most likely need a new 1080 TV which is just more money to spend. HD TV’s are becoming the norm now which looks good for the XBox 360 but not so much for the PS3. Even with a HD TV the full potential of the PS3 cannot be reached without the top of the line HD TV’s.

All this information has given me enough reason to believe that the Wii will win the console war. XBox will still have a great following purely because of Halo 3. The list of games exclusively for the PS3 is growing shorter and shorter, which is just another reason not to spend all that money getting one. As always input is more than welcome on this subject. If you have a different opinion please comment and let me know which console you think will win.