Another co-worker and I were discussing the Xbox vs PS3 sales numbers and I guess Xbox has pretty much trounced PS3 all the way around. And we just don't get it. How can a unit that is notoriously unreliable be such a big seller compared to the PS3? Yes the Xbox, when it works, is an amazing machine, but as a person who owns both systems, I have to tell you, it's pretty much the same experience.
It's really puzzling how the Xbox continues to dominate when more and more people that I come into contact with that have a Xbox have had system failures. Granted I don't know as many people who own PS3s, but so far, of the ones I do, not one of us has had a failure. Of the 7 people that I personally know with Xboxes, 5 of us have had a least one failure, and a 6th person who hasn't had a failure yet, got rid of his Elite because it was making noises and he thought it was about to fail.
Yet Xbox rolls along trouncing PS3 sales numbers every step of the way.
I think like others have said, I think the Xbox dominance is a combination of the price and the game library. Given the recession, when a kid asks his parents for a PS3, they look at the price and say "No f*cking way, get the Wii instead." Then the kid complains that the Wii is for babies, so they compromise and get him the Xbox 360.
I also think that, while the RROD is notorious in gaming circles, the general public isn't really aware of how widespread the problem is. Plus the fact that Microsoft extended the warrantly out for so long, people think that if they get it, they'll just send it in for a replacement at no extra cost. Which, to be fair, is exactly what happens.
