It’s interesting to contrast that against the Xbox 360, which has just had its most stunning game, Gears of War, become a huge hit with consumers around the world. But can games developers top the Gears of Wars experience?

There’s certainly scope to create many more games as graphically lush and exciting as Gears, but it was interesting to read prolific Windows blogger/writer/pundit/author extraordinaire Paul Thurrott’s views on Gears of War where he says that “It is available only on the Xbox 360--you can't play Gears of War on a PC or the PlayStation 3, sorry--and it makes the 360 all the more valuable and desirable. It is, in short, the best video game I've ever played”.

So far, so good. But the interesting bit is where he says that: “It is, of course, not perfect. Gears of War is occasionally marred by minor bugs, a fairly-short single player campaign, and the rare lockup that seems to only occur when a game pushes the Xbox 360 to its limits”.

A lock-up when the Xbox 360 is pushed to its limits!? That’s not a good thing to hear. Consoles generally only reach their limits at the end of their 5 year lifespan, not after one year of being on sale.

But let’s not get too dramatic. I’m sure there’s oodles of life and power yet to be tapped in the Xbox 360 yet, and perhaps the minor bugs and the lock-ups that Paul Thurrott was experiencing can be fixed by a patch to the game.

And as Gears of Wars was so very, very good, it sets a clear benchmark to other games developers that consumers are expecting games to look just as good, if not better. No-one likes the see the gameplay and graphical experience go backwards, no matter what games console they’re using.

But this brings me back to the PS3. While its initial offering of games are on the whole a very capable and enjoyable bunch, the PS3 should theoretically be capable of much, much more. I guess we’ll see just how much more can be squeezed out of the console over the next few months and years.

The same goes for Blu-ray. It’s technically superior, although currently losing out in the sales stakes of affordability and number of movies on sale. But Blu-ray systems have been on sale for only a very few months. Christmas 2007 will be the truer benchmark of performance for both video formats and all three consoles, with the success of online video and digital media stores from Apple, Xbox 360 and Sony themselves ready to skew the results of the HD content war.

Until then, you can rest assured that the fat lady will be exercising her vocal cords in preparation for her big song. Who she’ll be singing for is yet to be seen!
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