Whoa, whoa... slow down there... really? Seriously?

Well, yeah.

I've recently posted a blog about my new-found admiration for Sony's approach to console gaming. Over the years, ever since the days of Nintendo 64 and the first Playstation, I've been a very gradual convert from Nintendo fanboy/Sony hater to a growing fan of Sony. I don't hate Nintendo now or anything, but I just never play my Wii. The thing is... I've realized recently that ever since I picked up my PS3, I haven't bought a single Xbox 360 game. In fact, I've realized that I literally haven't turned on my Xbox 360 since. I keep looking at my dormant gamercard and the only activity it ever shows is "seen recently on xbox.com." 4 of the 5 game icons I didn't even play. Fallout 3 I play on my PC, Fable II was a gift for my ex-roomie, Oblivion ex-roomie again, and Def Jam: Icon was my friend playing while crashing at my place. The only game there that was me playing is Resident Evil 5, and that was months ago. Meanwhile, on the PS3, I've been logging hours on UFC Undisputed 2009, NHL 10, Uncharted, MGS4, Brutal Legend, Dead Space, Killzone 2, etc... and it's my DVD/Blu-ray movie player as well.

The thing is, I was at El Sarape last night with a handful of friends (ungodly awesome mexican food) and at some point we started talking about games for a little bit. I brought up the recent announcement that Netflix is coming to PS3 and they're still not charging for PSN. My friend Erich has shared a newfound admiration for the PS3 as he's been playing mine a lot, and he was planning on picking up his own as a personal Christmas present.

But then came the shocker: Just last night while we're eating dinner, he comes out of nowhere with "I think I'm just gonna sell my Xbox 360 and pick up a PS3 sooner than later." And my initial reaction was like ARE YOU CRAZY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? But then I started thinking... and thinking hard... I literally can't remember the last time I powered up my 360. I've recently gotten fairly heavily back into gaming (by my standards) and I've only been playing on my PS3 and PC. My 360 controllers are probably dead, now that I think about it. And then I kept thinking... why am I still paying for my Gold Xbox Live membership? I don't play Halo or Gears of War any more at all, and the games I like to play online like UFC, NHL, and Killzone are all on my PS3. And that doesn't cost me anything. I sold my PS3 fat to my friend when he moved out and I picked up a slim, and he decided that he doesn't need a 360 either. So why is my Xbox Live account still active? To delve even further, I'm hard up for cash lately trying to make up for some hasty purchases. So instead of asking "Why sell my 360??", it turned into "Why NOT sell my 360? Seriously?"

The one thing that immediately came to mind was Mass Effect 2, but that was quickly dismissed. The PC version of Mass Effect got better ratings than the console version. I was only going to get the 360 version because of the holdover of information from the first game, which I thought was neat. But that's it. Really, I'd probably be happier playing it on the PC. Then I thought about Dragon Age only to quickly remember that it was being released for the PS3 as well, and even has the same launch date now. Then I thought about Forza 3. That was the one I couldn't come up with an alternative for, except that eventually Gran Turismo 5 would come out for the PS3 to satisfy my racing game needs, even though it's probably going to be a long while. But it hit me that the only reason I could come up with to keep my 360 was Forza 3. That's it. My friends are gradually moving to the PS3 as their primary gaming platform, I've been there for basically this entire year myself (well, a combo of PS3 and PC), and I simply do not play my 360. It's funny, when I think about how my Wii has been generally gathering dust lately, I still play it a lot more than my 360.

When I couple these revelations with the general discomfort I get from the fact that Microsoft nickels and dimes at every chance they get (I will NEVER understand their prices for hard drives and wireless adapters), and the fact that companies like Sony are proving that you don't need to do that and consumers don't need to pay for it, I am quickly, quickly coming to the conclusion that I'm going to sell my Xbox 360. I could sure use the cash, and I sure don't use the console. I'm pretty sure I'll be perfectly content playing the games I have now, and tacking on MAG, God of War, and Uncharted 2. I've decided that I can live without Halo and Forza. After all, apparently I've been doing it all along and I didn't even notice.

UPDATE: Just saw the announcement for Brutal Legend multiplayer DLC content. Pretty lame content but the point remains: it comes out on Nov. 5th for $5, but the PS3 gets it for free until Nov. 19th. Guess Microsoft felt that charging $50 a year for their online service wasn't enough to offer the same deal on Xbox 360.