"Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3" won't likely be ending any time soon, especially if fanboys have anything to say about it. Though in fairness, I doubt the suits at either company will do anything to cease stoking that fire, but I digress: it seems that the next war of words and attrition between the two sides is being fought on the battlegrounds of the sultry dark magical girl Bayonetta.

Perhaps the first and most interesting item to note is the recorded difference in performance between the two:



The above comes from Blogpark.JP, via The Examiner, which points out what has already been seen and compared in videos before, that the Xbox 360 version is visibly superior to its PlayStation 3 doppleganger.

"Judging the performance on framerate alone," The Examiner notes, "the data reveals a clear, and expected, winner. ... the Xbox 360 version runs at a consistent 52 frames, while the PS3 stays around 30 frames throughout the game. The Xbox 360 version does dip into the mid-30's several times, while the PS3 falls into the mid-20's."

But despite this, Siliconera reports that the PlayStation 3 version is outselling the Xbox 360 version in Japan, 93,000 to 45,000 on launch day. "We'll know how closely the two match up in the coming weeks," they add, "given that the PS3 version received a far larger initial shipment."

They also point out that "the gap in their sales is far less than other, similarly anticipated multiplatform releases," such as Resident Evil 5 (222,000 to 56,000) and Devil May Cry 4 (140,000 to 30,000).

Siliconera also reports that, perhaps due to the differences between how the versions run, GameStop and Amazon are selling the PlayStation 3 version for less, albeit marginally so.

Perhaps, they note, all of this might not have come about had it not been for the disclaimer at the end of the PS3 demo which noted that version was converted by SEGA, rather than Platinum Games.