An electronics trading firm recently did some professional analysis, and discovered that the standard Xbox 360 has a 16.4% chance of failing. Out of a sample group including dead 1000 consoles, 60% died due to Red Ring of Death (RRoD). While this is certainly a lot better than the 1/3 chance given during last summer before Microsoft significantly redesigned the layout of the console, it's still pretty high. Both the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii have a failure rate of roughly 3%. The firm did not specify the failure rates of specific Xbox 360 SKUs. If they did, they would have likely found that the "Falcon" Xbox 360, or any Xbox 360 with a 65nm processor or an enhanced cooling solution, would have a much lower failure rate. Speaking of the previous 1/3 failure rate fiasco, the replacement program/3 year warranty has cost Microsoft an estimated $1 billion USD to date.

When a gamer is shopping for the proper device to game upon, they get a huge headache. There are no less than four different choices (PC, Xbox360, PS3, Wii), and all of them have their individual set of games at different price points that perform differently. Electronic Arts is getting very tired of coding it's games four times over, and wants there to be one open platform to ease the headaches of both consumer and developer. Unfortunately for EA and gamers, console manufacturers would not get very much profit if they all just surrendered their proprietary stuff and made one big happy open-source console. Analysts predict that if game consoles do fade out in the near future, they will be replaced by terminal servers, so that users can simply plug in with a set-top box.

While the 40GB PS3 is confirmed for Europe and possible for America, Sony took the time to officially announce the release of the 40GB PS3 in Japan and Australia. On November 11th, Japan will see the 40GB PS3 for $340USD. It will be just like it's European sister: two USB ports, no memory card slots, and no backwards compatibility. Price cuts were also announced for Japan. On November 11th, the Japanese 20GB PS3 will cost about $380USD, and the 60GB model will cost $469USD. In Australia, there will be no price cuts, but the 40GB model will be available for $699.95 AUD (roughly $620USD).