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Are console exclusives really exclusive?
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The console wars are something that anybody who has ever gone onto a video game forum has experienced first hand. The Xbox 360 and the PS3 are currently locked in a sort of format war to see which console will finish this generation in second place (because let's face it, neither will outsell the Wii). One of the Xbox 360's main selling points is that is simply has a wider library of games and more exclusives. In defense to this, many have claimed that if a game is also on PC, that it is only a console exclusive and should not be considered to be an exclusive at all. This statement has been given most of the time in an attempt to impeach the exclusivity status of Xbox 360 games as they are quite often also released on the PC. As you would imagine, most of the people who are using this argument are PS3 fans.
But let's look a little closer at whether or not they really should be considered exclusive. Most 360 games that are also released on the PC are released on Games for Windows Live, which is owned by Microsoft. This means that Microsoft is still profiting from sales that game makes on the PC. What difference would it make if they profit by one platform instead of another?
Claiming that a console exclusive game on the 360 that is also on the Games for Windows Live should not be counted as an exclusive is the same as saying that a game that is on PS3 and another Sony platform such as the PS2 or the PSP is also not exclusive. This means one of the biggest PS3 exclusives, LittleBigPlanet, actually isn't exclusive at all because it's coming out on the PSP soon. Now, some fanboys will argue that this is going to be a completely different game but this is like saying the Chrono Trigger re-release on the DS last year is Chrono Trigger 2. It's not.
The fact that games like LittleBigPlanet and MLB: The Show are still considered PS3 exclusives while games like Gears of War and Mass Effect aren't considered 360 exclusives is a double standard that allows for the list of PS3 exclusives to be lengthened while the list of 360 exclusives to be artificially shortened.
Console exclusives should be and are regarded by most video game journalists as full exclusive. The competition is between the companies, not just the pieces of hardware. Trying to write them off because they are on PC or a handheld system is just a poor excuse.
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