Microsoft will win next-gen war, Sony's online infrastructure is "god awful" - Bushnell

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell is of the opinion that Microsoft will win the next-gen console war.

Speaking on GameTrailers' Rollin' With Nolan, Bushnell said he feels Sony's system will be hindered by "lame" and software tools which will be hard to comprehend. An opinion which is in direct contrast to the opinion of many game developers on the matter, such as Epic, Gearbox, and id Software.

"I personally believe Microsoft is in a superior position, and the reason is Sony, whenever they change consoles, the software tools that they have are lame," Bushnell said. "A lot of times in the past they were in Japanese; not well documented and getting the software development community up to speed…they may have been able to do it in Japan, but the American software community just says 'Oh boy, what a pain.'

"And a lot of people don't realize how strong the software community is at making the hardware platform sing and dance."

Bushnell said its software which drives hardware sales, obviously, and Microsoft will excel over Sony in that department along with the online component. Bushnell feels Sony "really needs to get their action together" because its online infrastructure is "god awful."

"Microsoft, because of their strong software tools, will end up with much better products sooner [and] easier, in my estimation," Bushnell said. "And with that, I think will be an advantage. And also don't forget, Microsoft actually has so much money to defend this. Plus, they have a good infrastructure with the [Xbox Live Arcade], with their online world."

Strong words, there.

Microsoft will supposedly reveal its new console sometime before E3 - possibly in May - and Sony plans to have its PS4 on shelves in time for the holidays.

Thanks, Gamespot.