I've had 5... count 'em, 5 Xbox360s overheat and need to be replaced.

No matter what kind of cost savings I may get, it's no good to me as a paperweight

There is a similar offer from Sony for 5 Blu-Ray movies if you buy one of a selected set of BluRay players, including the PS3. The offer can be found here: http://www.bluraysavings.com/

So (IMHO)the HD-DVD offer still leaves the XBOX 360 more expensive for people who want high def gaming and movies.

I'm really disappointed in the quality of this column. This is not the first time, even.

If you're going to comment on the comparison of console offer prices, you really should have known that the PS3 already had a 5 free movie offer. Microsoft is just trying to match it.

I'm not sure what your qualifications are, but you sure aren't keeping up with the industry.

Which is either good, in that someone picked sides, or bad, in that even the cheapest Wal*Mart BluRay DVD player is $300.

My brothers just blew up on him about a month ago. Which pissed me off, because I was at his house and it was going to be my first look at it.

The PS3's Blu-ray capability does matter to the games people play on the system, because it allows significantly more game content to be included on the game disc compared to DVD discs. Blu-ray isn't just for movies, and as time goes by more and more games will take advantage of that capacity.

And as far as I know, the Xbox 360 can't take similar advantage of the HD DVD add-on for it's games and may be forever limited, in that respect, by the internal DVD drive.

Hey Blu-Ray does matter. In games it allows developers to have 50GB of data, compared to the Xbox 360's DVD disc space of 9GB. You need to do a bit more research. No offense or anything but you made several errors that could confuse someone.

Blu-ray capability will only make a difference for titles exclusive to the PS3. Cross platform games will have minor variations, as always. As of June 17th, there were 8 released exclusive titles for the PS3, and arguably only 3 that are worth playing. Over the next year there are 4 or 5 more that look like pretty good bets.

Sony's current problem is convincing outside developers that there will be enough of an install base to justify making titles exclusively for the PS3 in the future. How much will it cost to develop a game that needs 50gb?

Only 3 games worth playing that are exclusives? Something sure seems wrong. Let me count

Lair 1

Heavenly Sword 2

Killzone 2 3

MGS 4

Little Big Planet 5 (for the sure fun factor, not blood and guts)

Haze 6

Unreal Tournament 7

That is just off the top of my head. Forgive me if one of those 7 aren't exclusives, as I don't know everything. What did Xbox announce at E3? Madden, GTA, and Halo 3. Wow, 2 mutliplatform games and 1 playable game. Also, for those titles that aren't exclusive, it will make a difference having the Blu-Ray if the developers do it right. Some developers are already making crossplatform games for the PS3 first, as to get the full advantage of the system. Then, they are downgrading the game for slower or less graphically intense systems such as the Wii or Xbox 360. Build for the best, then adjust for the rest. Seems a good motto for me.

Kinda insulting to use cheaper ps3 60 gig as reference and use premium 360. if u compare at cheapest level, 360 actually comes out cheaper but only by 21 bucks before tax if u use the core as a base. but that is just merely comparing purely on player value....not on available content or systems total features.