The companies that create the video game decks like Xbox and Playstation are locked into what seems to be a bitter rivalry for the top spot in the hearts of gamers the world over. While both systems offer similar concepts, games and graphics, there are still those that have their favorites. Favorites mean more sales for one company or another. Then one must take into consideration the new advancements that are made and when the new decks hit the market. All of this is highly important to the consumers that make the purchases and the companies that produce them.

This past year was a good and bad year for Xbox. The release of their Xbox 360 model, which is thought to be the most advanced of all video game systems on the market hit the shelves just in time for the Christmas rush. The shortage of systems that followed was good for the company as new orders went through the roof and many people were told they would be waiting at least six months to see their new system. The secondary market exploded and some of the machines were selling for three or four times the retail price before the final day of Christmas shopping.

The only downfall for the company seems to have been a mistake made in their rush to hit the market with the system. The new Xbox 360 worked on the same premise as a computer, with a hard drive and processor. The system was released though before all the bugs were worked out and the games were locking up during play. The manufacturer rushed to release a patch but the damage was done.

The same can be said for Playstation on the good and bad front. While their Playstation 2 was a highly advanced and functional system with hundreds of games, they needed to release something new and high tech. They announced the Playstation 3 game system to the market but gave no certain release date for the machine. Anticipation built in the months leading up to Christmas and still no word from Sony. Low and behold Christmas came without a new release from Sony on the Playstation front, setting the company back millions in the market and allowing Xbox 360 to take the lead.

Finally in the spring of 2006 Sony announced that the release date of the Playstation 3 would be even further off as they were facing similar problems to that of Xbox. This announcement actually helped the company in many ways because people saw it as a sign that the new machine would not have the glitches that came with the Xbox 360 which made all involved very happy. There is still no definite date for the release from Sony but one can be assured that when the day arrives it will be a mad house for people to pick up the new machine.