Playstation 3 or X-Box 360?

[Animal]

Well I believe the first batch of 360's was heavily flawed but you're in the safe zone if you're gonna buy one now. Most of the really bad problems have been fixed so i would definitely get a 360 if I were you. I can think of no reason to buy a PS3 untill Metal Gear comes out. And even then I'd just wait for it to come to XBOX...

[Vilge Duin]

As far as the Wii, while it has the potential to be a great system, but so far the games have just been mediocre or complete rubbish. I expect that all to change when Super Mario Galaxy is released.

Zelda says Hi.

[IAceI]

I'm hoping to get a Wii soon, but I can't comment on which you should get because I currently own none of the next generation consoles. However, a lot of people I know have Wii's and X-Box 360's, in fact I don't know one person who owns a PS3 - well maybe one, but that's assuming, since at school he was a total computer geek and imported consoles from Japan and had PS2, X-Box, PSP, hundreds of games and never left his back room except for school.

So I would have to say X-Box 360, and despite me loving Sony - and my Playstation 2, I wouldn't pay the money they want for a PS3. If I liked racing and shooting games, no doubt I'd have a 360 - but I don't like them, so I don't have one.

[zero]

My main concern about the XBox 360 is all this talk of rampant breakage I've been hearing about.

Is its reliability really so appallingly bad?

In the interest of fairness, yes. It's quite similar to the PS2's infamous Disc Read Error, but luckily Microsoft extended the warranty and have made the repair process pretty simple. I was without a 360 for less than two weeks, so hardly the end of the world.

[The Kraig]

360 wins. Flawless victory.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Thankfully I can now give an unbiased opinion (compared to a year ago!)

I love a bit of 360 for DIRT, Viva Pinata and the like BUT I'd still undoubtably go for the PS3.

Yeah, the 360 is cheaper but add the £40 a year for XBox Live compared to free net for PS3 and two years equals all that out.

There are enough good games on the PS3 to tide you over until the autumn when some decent games will ACTUALLY come out. Formula 1 is FANTASTIC, especially in high-def, Resistance is brilliant (THAT'S an exclusive for you), Oblivion's there, Fight Night's a good'un too and Motorstorm is good fun.

PS3s are FAR more reliable than the 360 (We've not had a single PS3 returned due to not working but have 360s returned DAILY). We also have had two PS3's traded in so far I believe, one was cos a guy preordered from two places to was getting some money back by selling one back to us. Another was from someone who wasn't online and only had one game to play (Ridge Racer).

The Wii annoys me a little, though Rappala's an excellent game and I like a bit of bowling.

Also the PS3 is only gonna get stronger as more games are released, as it gets cheaper, more support etc. With a high-def TV set-up it outperforms the 360 BUT the 360 outperforms the PS3 graphically on a standard scart.

Also:

ChartTrack has confirmed that 165,000 PS3 units were sold during the console's launch weekend.

The figure is three quarters of the total 220,000 UK launch stock for day one, and makes PS3 second only to PSP in the overall launch weekend sales stakes. The Sony handheld shifted 185,000 in its opening weekend back in September 2005.

PS3’s record-breaking debut for a home console comfortably beats the previous top seller Nintendo Wii, which sold 105,000 after its frantic launch weekend in December last year.

Fellow format rival Xbox 360 racked up an estimated 70,000 at launch in December 2005.

The figure also means that Sony has not sold all of its opening weekend stock, something the platform holder claims is part of its overall strategy at retail.

- mcv uk.

So I dunno where people get the idea that it was a failure at launch. Wii doesn't sell THAT many (It does sell a lot though) cos it's so ridiculously under-produced due to Nintendo's approach of alternating DS and Wii production.

I know sales don't make a GOOD console but it means success for a company.

Since then their sales have been a lot lower, and yes, lower than Sony would have wanted without doubt. The lack of a decent price drop and more in-house game releases is sloppy and should be rectified but I feel that if they dropped it to £299 or even £320 by Christmas with a good game line-up, more similar to the 360, then it'll sell extremely well. If they don't bother dropping prices or start releasing more good games before people get bored with what's around now, then it's gonna struggle.

[Scott McFly]

Yeah, the 360 is cheaper but add the £40 a year for XBox Live compared to free net for PS3 and two years equals all that out.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Yeah, the 360 is cheaper but add the £40 a year for XBox Live compared to free net for PS3 and two years equals all that out.

The Xbox is £279.99 isn't it? And the PS3 is £425?

Even considering you can find the PS3 for £399.99 online, that's still a £120 offset, so it'll take 3 years to make up the difference. But you also have to consider the games and accessories are more expensive for the PS3 also.

But anyway, there are more 360's out there than PS3's since it's had almost a year and a half headstart, so you will get more 360's returned than PS3's. The 360 still does seem to be less reliable from what I've heard though, although my bro's is still going strong from launch.

Personally I'd have neither and stick with a PC and DS.

We also have people in who have had theirs break three or four times in the last year. Compare that to my PS2 which I've had for seven years and it's still working pretty much fine (except the old blue disc issue that all that generation of PS2s have).

PS3 is £399 in store also.

Accessories are actually comparable in price - wireless pad vs wireless pad, plug and play vs USB cable, high def cables, remote controls....

Oh but if you wanna watch HDTV movies on 360 you need £100 worth of player - BluRay PS3 player is built in and it's a good quality one too. Hell, a standard BluRay player on it's own is the same price as a PS3.

Game-wise, 360 has the advantage of it's Classics range and cheaper preowned. However release prices for both generally bounce between £49.99 - £39.99 though some 360 release can be £34.99.

[Scott McFly]

I know people who've been through many PS2's aswell, so you're a lucky one I guess. Both consoles seem to have a reputation for being unreliable. But yeah, games and accessory prices are roughly comparable, but most are around £2-£5 more expensive for the PS3, if not more. That will add up after a few purchases and you'll be looking at the cost of a year's worth of Xbox Live.

But yeah, if you're planning on watching a lot of HD movies, then the PS3 may be a better choice, but you run the risk of Blu-Ray losing the format war and being stuck with it. A 360 with the HD-DVD drive will still be cheaper, but not by as much if you really need the HD movie option.

[Toe]

My XBOX runs for at least 8 hours a day between me and my two brothers, I've had it for a year, and I have not had one problem.

The PS3 does have the amazing looking Formula One game though...

[Kaney]

I've got both systems and I'm pretty happy with both, but for the moment at least I have to say go with a 360. It's obviously going to have more and better games out because it's had a head start, but I think the PS3 will easily catch up, with franchises like FF, MGS and God Of War on the horizon. I don't really want to sound like I'm just defending the PS3, because I really love my 360 but I've never understood people arguing that the PS3, or any system for that matter, has shit games because well, the entire catalogue isn't going to stay just the launch games for forever :\

The Xbox Live system is a lot more polished and easier to navigate than the PS3's store, and more stocked, but the sheer gap in quality more than makes up for it. 360 offers downloadable retro games such as PacMan or Street Fighter, while the PS3 is offering full PS1 games like WipEout, Medieval, Syphon Filter and Gran Turismo, and even PSP games like Tekken Dark Ressurection for roughly the same price, cheaper in some cases. The backwards compatibility will take some time to sort out, but once it does the PS3 will be charging ahead. Street Fighter 2 and CastleVania are all very well and good but the proper equivalent would be being able to download shit like Halo or KoToR through your console.

I dunno whether Blu-Ray will beat HDDVD in that format war, but it'll certainly bring something new to the table. John Woo's game Stranglehold is set to have a special edition release where the game will come with the full-length feature film Hard Boiled on the same disc. Personally I think this is a fantastic idea, as it'll make these special editions worthwhile for once, it might help sales of shitty film to game adaptions if they get the film with the game as well, or the game with the film as the case may be, seeing as thats how most such games are nowadays, and if nothing else it'll bring something new to the table. The fact that Sony are giving away free copies of Casino Royale on Blu-Ray simply for connecting your PS3 to the already free online network is also a nice touch.

Online play itself is better on the 360, if only because a whole lot more people are going to be playing that system than there currently is for the PS3. PS3 has dedicated servers and I'm yet to notice any lag whatsoever, and all I've been able to play online are 40-player games of Resistance. 360 has now integrated MSN Messenger to it's system, but the PS3 can browse the whole fucking internet, with only a few problems when it comes to flash players/software etc. The Dashboard on the 360 is about a million times better than the PS3s Cross Media Bar, but Home might make this comparison irrelevant. Then again, it is just basically a networked game of the Sims, so who knows. The PS3 store currently has really nothing of interest but the one good thing it currently has over XBL is that you can access both EU and American versions of the store, giving you access to the American content even though it's not released over here yet. No regional coding is also awesome. There isn't a micro-currency system on PS3 though, you add real money funds to your "wallet" and pay only for what you want.

If you have the luxury of being able to disregard the cost, a PS3 isn't quite the horrible investment people like to say it is, but given that it is really fucking pricey, if you're looking for a straight-up, dive-in-and-play then get a 360. I don't think you'd be disappointed with either.

The Xbox is £279.99 isn't it? And the PS3 is £425?

Even considering you can find the PS3 for £399.99 online, that's still a £120 offset, so it'll take 3 years to make up the difference. But you also have to consider the games and accessories are more expensive for the PS3 also.

You're from Edinburgh so I can say this with a better degree of confidence than our English/American members, but there's only a difference of about £20 between the systems, if you want an equal set-up. PS3 is £399 from places like Gamestation, as Hamster said, and has wireless straight out of the box with no online charge. 360 is £280 alone, Xbox Live is £40 if you're going for the yearly option and lets face it, since the PS3 has no time-limit it's only fair to compare with the 360's longest option, and it costs £60 for a wireless adapter which brings the cost to £380. I haven't noticed any extra expense for PS3 games/accessories either, my copy of Oblivion was actually cheaper than the 360 version (though that is from Asda who know fuck all >_>) but things like the plug and play system for the 360, which is almost necessary unless you like your system eating batteries are made irrelevant on the PS3 since it comes with a USB charging cable right out the box. Coupled with the fact that the PS3 has a hard drive triple the size of the current 360 Premium package, you really do get your moneys worth.

Edited June 15, 2007 by Kaney