Jul 7 , 2007. Is Microsoft going to finish off the PS3?

Face it, the PS3 is looking real bad. Just horrible. Look at the lineup to Grand Theft Auto 4 and you'll see half of the PS3 games that are coming are sports titles. Sports titles? The exact same franchises that are available on the 360. And even worse, half the ones that aren't sports titles are still headed for the 360! That leaves the PS3 with a handful of exclusives before the arrival of Grand Theft Auto 4.

And speaking of GTA4, Microsoft already threw $50 million in cash for exclusive downloadable content in GTA4. That's a freaking lot of money for just content. But if you know Microsoft, they're more than willing to spend money to hurt a competitor. When Netscape started selling Nagivator, Microsoft gave Internet Explorer away and then integrated it with Windows, which pretty much reduced Netscape to the margins.

Microsoft has also gotten real close to Namco Bandai. So close that Namco has cancelled the PS3 version of Beautiful Katamari and has given the 360 exlusive rights to Ace Combat 6 and Eternal Sonata. They've also added a 360 version of Gundam Musou.

The Elite was released to go head to head with the PS3. It's got HDMI, a bigger hard disk, and even includes the HDMI cable that the PS3 lacks. Was the Elite really needed? No. But Microsoft released it anyways as a competitor in terms of specs to the premium PS3.

Microsoft even has a Saturday morning cartoon show around one of its products, Viva Pinata. That's a great way to get younger gamers interested in the 360.

Microsoft even has an Xbox Live for Windows gamers all centering around Windows Vista. The Windows version will allow PC gamers to play against 360 gamers.

Sony is barely keeping up with Microsoft, just having released their own achievements type online system. They have no answer for Vista Live, and their financial situation is awful after the battery recall and the expense of developing the PS3. Even worse, developers are stating that they will not develop games for the PS3 until the installed base is sufficient to make a profit. Great idea integrating bluray into the PS3 Sony. Like that doesn't cost even more money for publishers forcing them to buy bluray discs whether they need it or not. One thing is certain, Microsoft is making a huge push into the gaming market in just two years that's much greater than the original Xbox ever made in its lifespan. And it looks like Microsoft wants to KO Sony before it can even develop a solid install base.