Xbox 360 vs PlayStation 3: Designs and Revisions Ironies

I was looking at the new Xbox 360 S, with its glossy black finish and touch-sensitive buttons. Then I looked over at my PS3 Slim, with its matte black color and mechanical buttons. Suddenly, it hit me. What the flippityflop happened here?

The original Xbox 360 was a matte black or white color, and used physical buttons. Meanwhile, the original PlayStation 3 had a glossy black finish and featured touch-sensitive buttons.

Note the sideways smiley on the right :0. Great design choice.

Ah, round and glossy - a sure way to blend in with other home theater equipment.

Cut to present day, cue the hardware revisions, and what do we have? Some kind of design exchange was agreed upon and now they’re reversed. Now the 360 S is a glossy black fingerprint magnet with fancy-pants, touch-sensitive buttons, and the PS3 Slim switched to a more reserved matte black and clicky buttons.

The PS3 Slim does not like your PS2 games. They are not hawt graphix enough.

The Xbox 360 S should have stood for Sport, and been bright yellow with black rubber accents like those old Walkmans (Walkmen?) from Sony

I’m sure there’s some elaborate conspiracy theory behind all this. Time to put on my tin foil hat.

Image sources (Creative Commons): Xbox 360, Xbox 360 S, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 3 Slim