PS3 is going to Pass 360 in sales very soon...

[RsteeleAUG]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/324651/lifetime-ps3-sales-close-to-catching-xbox-360s/

I admit that I like the PS3 better. Free online access, blu ray, and the exclusives on the PS3 have always been better in my eyes.
That being said I like certain games that only the 360 has. Halo, Fable, ect.  The 360 failure rate has always baffled me but it's nothing a little work can't fix most of the time.

The Kinect is impressive as gimmicky as it is tracking and the way it plays some games is good/great. I don't like the fact that I have to pay for an online service. Now with the "online pass" coming to most multi player games we'll be paying for the system, then the game, then online access, then if you have a used copy of a game a $10 online pass to enable multi player options.

I'm to the point now that I view the systems as equals if all you want to do is play games, it's a toss up. Both consoles are starting to offer more and more features. I keep hearing the new consoles are on the way and with the Wii U already being announced look for Mircosoft and Sony to be on their heels with announcements of their own.

[Alomax]

It's going to be awhile before we seen the next-gen consoles from MS/Sony.

http://www.gamespot.com/vita/hardware/playstation-vita/news/6320314/no-next-gen-playstation-for-quite-some-time-sony

The Xbox sooner than the PS though, as it's been quite obvious from the get-go that Sony is playing a much longer game than MS is.  The PS3 hardware is capable of powering things for at least another 2-3 years.  The X360 is going to start showing it's age pretty rapidly though.

[Skyshark]

I agree.  All of the gaming talk shows and publishers have been saying 2014 for new Xbox models...probably followed six months by the new PlayStation. 

I think Xbox's Achilles heel is now the media density (DVD over Blu-Ray).  I haven't seen a red ring issue in a while but the multiple discs now shipping for newer titles is going to be an annoyance.  I think the GPU could stand up to the newer technologies fine but now the company is working to overcome their optical drive issues...recommending titles are installed to the hard drive and 2 to 3 discs for new titles.  If there's any reason to push ahead early...it would certainly be for capacity not processing power.

[Alomax]

And as if the PS3 having bluray capacity wasn't enough, it also has the ability to swap out the HDD for a new one anytime you want, they even give you instructions in the user manual. That always impressed me that they did that.  X360 and their proprietary HDD can suckit.

[RsteeleAUG]

The Wii U will be on full display at E3 this year. There are whispers that Microsoft may have a peek at their next Gen console. While Sony has said NO WAY will the next Playstation be at E3.

Several thoughts come to mind. First off the Wii U is just finally catching up to the types of graphics that the PS3 and 360 have been able to produce for several years now. With that being said both SONY and Microsoft have claimed that developers have not yet tapped the maximum capabilities of either one of their machines.

The next thought is that both Sony and Microsoft have redesigned their consoles to prevent massive hardware failures. The 360 came out with the "stealth" 360 that was totally redesigned on the interior moving important things like the GPU and CPU away from the DVD drive and solving most of their hardware issues.
Similarly Sony had about 6 or 7 different internal set ups for their older "FAT" PS3's. When they released the "SLIM" PS3 they also moved power supply away from the chip sets solving the majority of their hardware failures as well.

With all things considered: the cost of a designing a new console,  the cost of developing games on a new platform, the fact that neither console has reached it's maximum potential, and that the Wii U is just a version of the Wii that is catching up to the other two consoles.

I believe Alomax was 100% correct all things considered don't look for anything new from Microsoft or Sony for a while at least. I sort of hope it is a while before they release something NEW. New products come with new problems and of course NEW PRICES. With the amount of repair work we are doing here increasing almost daily I look forward to having the PS3 and 360 around for a while longer!