But what about Xbox 360 exclusives like . I think it'll be even bigger, personally, and I say that as someone with mixed sentiments toward the original (which, incidentally, has nearly twice Resistance's total worldwide unit sales). While I'm personally most excited about LittleBigPlanet, put me in a room and apply thumbscrews and I'd have to admit Microsoft has the edge here by a pretty wide margin.

(For a closer look at the above four games and 11 more, check out our feature.)

Sony's argument: Hardware costs are brutal, and the company can probably hold its own -- if it places last, it'll be a strong last. That's a reasonable position, and maybe the cost-per-part bleeding doesn't justify sell-through gains if the PS3 dropped to $300 or even $350, but three years into the PS2's life cycle it was positively soaring, with .

By comparison, the PS3 has only sold around 15.7 million units globally since it launched in November 2006. That's a 34 million deficit to shore up over the next 12 months, just to achieve intergenerational parity. Factor in the loss of exclusives like and (and who knows what else to come) and Sony's rolling a price-point boulder uphill, both ways.