[sliverstorm]

First I will note that Sony hardware has reputedly never been easy to develop for, so the PS3 wasn't anything new there.

Second, you state while they can drop prices and relax controls, it may be difficult to make their console more powerful. We still don't know how the dice will land in this regard. Microsoft managed higher-than-expected frequency yield, and nobody knows where Sony's chip sits. It also remains to be seen how the SRAM vs GDDR5 plays out.

[jasonwatkinspdx]

It was a different world then, but the original PSX was pretty straightforward. A commodity MIPS processor, relatively straightforward vector and image co-processors. In particular Sony made a bet that ram prices would fall enough to make the console profitable long term and that bet payed out. To remember how much things have changed, the CDROM format was controversial then, but was a huge win for developers.

Bluntly, Sony got it right with the PSX in making it very approachable for developers. They messed that up with PS2 and they should have learned that then. Instead they doubled down on the same misguided approach with the PS3 to predictable results. I'm glad to see they're not going to make the same mistake again.

Source: I was a subcontractor on a PSX title years ago.

[pandaman]

And PS2 is officially the best selling console in the world [1]. But I agree - other than PS1 (which was easier than Saturn), Sony hardware was never easier than competition.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_conso...

[lucian1900]

There is no debate about the hardware, really. The PS4 is the more powerful console in every single way.

What makes the Xbox One hardware interesting is the Kinect.

[sliverstorm]

How so? I thought on specs they pretty much trade evenly blow-for-blow, aside from Sony's unknown chip frequency and the GDDR5 vs eSRAM?

[lucian1900]

The PS4's GPU is somewhat more powerful (in absolute terms) and the Xbox One's eSRAM isn't much to small to make up for the really slow DDR3 (it can barely hold one frame, I believe).