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With that disclaimer out of the way, time to move onto the article I intended to post here....

Actually thank the higher power(s) and thank the deep, deep pockets of Sony and Microsoft (and I shouldn't forget Nintendo here either) for keeping competition in console gaming, and for the positive effects that such competition seems to be having in the marketplace.

Without pressure and competition from Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft probably would be letting their customers take the shaft on their current hardware issues.  Issues that have cost, or will cost, over $1 billion to resolve as Microsoft was forced to extend warranties to cover the 'red ring of death' issues on the Xbox 360 consoles for a period of at least 3 years.  Microsoft might have done the right thing and worked with customers on these repairs if they didn't have Sony and Nintendo there ready to steal their business, but something tells me that Microsoft wouldn't be making these repairs for free if they didn't have to keep their place in the market and weren't worried about losing business to these competitors.

Thanks to Microsoft, and probably for a great many reasons Nintendo, Sony has also had to pass along the benefits of competition to their customers.  There is, if all of the current accounts are true, a pending price cut coming on the PlayStation 3 console.  The PS3 system price is expected to take a $100 price cut in the coming week, bringing it's price down to the $499 mark for the 60GB version of the system (the 20GB version has been phased out entirely in the U.S.A.).  Again, without competition from Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony would still be trying to rake in the $599 price tag.  A price tag that reportedly had them losing a considerable amount of money per unit already.

And Nintendo, well, they seem to be the company that just keeps going, and going, and going....  They developed a nifty, and somewhat gimmicky, control system for their newest console.  A console that really isn't that much improved over their previous generation of equipment, and thanks to that new control system they've sold every unit they can make and continue to see a seemingly never ending backlog of customer demand for their product.  They priced at the lower end of the market, and have customers happily snapping up their systems whenever they appear in stores, even if the customer already has an Xbox 360 or a PS3 in their home.

This competition has been great for consumers.  Even if I am not a PS3 fanboy, or if I absolutely hate Microsoft, I can benefit from this competition while the companies whose products I do favor are dropped in priced, or get warranties extended to help keep these expensive toys running well into the future.

Thank the gaming gods for competition.  It is a very good thing.