Need help...xbox360 or ps3?

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:33 am Post subject: Need help...xbox360 or ps3?

So the wife has decided that we need a console game. We can't decide what would be best, xbox360 or ps3. She liked Fable on xbox, I wouldn't mind getting rock band 2(?). Or since we both need more exercise, do we get a Wii. Not sure if we need anything since I like PC games, she doesn't game much at all, and we heard Fable wil be avail for PC. Any suggestions?

Snaf

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:36 am Post subject:

The only reason I would recommend a PS3 to anyone is for the Blu-ray player. Other than that, I would advise you to go after a 360. It has a whole lot more games and Xbox Live is where it's at as far as online play. I own both and I rarely touch my PS3 unless a good movie comes out and we have a group over for movie night.

I can't comment on the Wii because I don't have one, but I do know that they are great fun for my friends simply because it's a great group activitity.

I just beat Fable 2 by the way, and now I want to throw it out the window. I was very disappointed with the game, but that's just one man's oppinion. I'm taking it back For Gears of War 2 today.
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 1:27 pm Post subject:

Fable 2 is better then the first and its quite fun.
get a Xbox360 it has more games, live is real good on it, and there is a big update coming out on the 20th for the 360. that will change it a bit.
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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 1:38 pm Post subject:

Uh oh.

Right. I know this is a long post and ignore it if you want, I'd understand LOL.

The consoles:

Both consoles are great. That's for certain. I favour the PS3 for reasons I'll list further on, but I wanted to start by saying that. No matter what console you go for you're going to enjoy it.
The PS3 IMO is a far better built machine than the 360. The 360 as you may know has a seriously and embarrasingly common problem known as the RROD (Red Ring Of Death) which put simply, is where components in the machine stop working due to overheating. The solution is to send it back to Microsoft and they send you a refurbished one, NOT a brand new. You'll find many 360 fanboys say "Oh yeah well you got a 3 year warrenty on that RROD problem" and while that IS true, it doesn't make it OK for Microsoft to still make unreliable consoles. The console I had got an RROD but because the store I got it from had a 1 year warrenty anyway, I got a new console, then shortly after got rid of it.
The PS3 has a lesser known YLOD (Yellow Light Of Death) and the game disks stop reading and the system may or may not turn on. But in all honesty, this is FAR FAR FAR less likely to happen than the RROD. In fact, everyone I know who has a PS3, still has the original one they purchased, sometimes being a couple of years old. They ARE a better built machine. But then again, you get what you pay for.

The Consoles Features:

PS3 offers a Blu-Ray player as well as upscale DVD's to High Definition to a stunning quality. Many people have stated that the Blu-Ray player in the PS3 is in fact superior to the ones you see on the market. The 360 uses good old DVD. The PS3 also has a Wi-Fi Wireless network adapter built into the machine as standard allowing you to connect to a wireless network whereas on the 360 you have to purchase this item seperately. I think it's around $80. The controllers on the 360 IMO are a bit better I have to say. The controllers are obviously both analogue, both digital but the 360 controller has triggers for the L2 and R2 buttons. The PS3 controller has weird squeezy buttons. It's hard to explain. But GioTek have released 360 like triggers for the PS3 controller for like $5 or something, worth getting IMO. But the 360 controller uses 2 AA batteries UNLESS you buy yet another add on, the plug and play charger kit which is another $14 or so. The PS3 has a recharge cable provided with the console. The PS3 controller also offers motion sensing used in some games. It's not to the effect of a Wii mote but it's still a nice feature to have as standard. Both controllers tend to last a fairly long time from fully charged.
The Playstation 3 also has a harddrive as standard. The only differences are the size of the harddrives. You can get 40GB, 80GB and soon 160GB versions. The 360 has primarily 3 different editions. The Arcade, which does NOT come with a harddrive and uses a rather small memory card, the Pro or Premium, which come with 60GB harddrives and ideal for the mainstream user or the Elite which is the same but features a 120GB harddrive which I think is a bit too excessive but whatever. I wouldn't recommend going with the Arcade simply due to the lack of harddrive. The memory card just isn't...right and never seems to store enough data. And with news that soon you will be able to optionally install games to make them load faster, the Memory card is simply out of the question.

The Games:

What we buy the game console for right. Well again I'll start off by saying both systems have their fair share of great games. Really. The only thing that will really sway your decision is the exclusives. Let's start with the 360. The 360 has been out I believe a year longer than the PS3 so naturally it WILL have more games. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're better. The main exclusives you'll hear people worship are Halo 3, Gears of War 1 and recently released Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Mass Effect and perhaps a few others but they're the main ones. All of the games listed, besides Fable 2 ( I haven't played that yet) are good. Halo 3 is a REALLY popular First Person Shooter. I think it's overrated, it's good but not THAT good. It's fun to play online with a bunch of friends but I thought the single player campaign story fell apart after the first one.
Gears of War is basically just a third person shooter with big heavy dudes and loads of gore and a cover system that since it's release, has been used in practically every third person shooter since. There are more games on that system worth noting such as Lost Odyssey, Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising etc but that's something you'll have to research on your own to see what genre suits you better.
I do feel however that Microsoft has played all of it's big cards now. I mean they haven't really said what they have planned next year, despite them saying they have some surprises, but that's still kinda worrying. You have a Halo 3 prequel, Alan Wake (MAYBE), Mass Effect 2 and probably a Gears of War 3 announcement, and off the top of my head, that's about it. Maybe they will shock us, but Sony IMO have a more promising line up for the years ahead. A downside to the games on the PS3 is that some may require a small (or rather large) install, like a PC game. The ammount of room requried for each game is different of course but it's still a bit of a pain if you just want to jump in and play. Once it's installed, it's done unless you delete it from the harddrive.

As far as PS3 games, exclusive games, go the PS3 is certainly no slouch. Definatly catching up to the 360 in terms of decent exclusives especially in the last few months. The big ones are LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 1 and 2, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Ratchet and Clank, Motorstorm 1 and 2 and more. IMO there just seems to be more QUALITY exclusives on the PS3. The 360 has more exclusives yes but many of them turned out to be rotton piles of ass to be blunt.
The games I listed above I do own and I must say, each one is fantastic. Uncharted: Drakes Fortune JUST took the lead over Tomb Raider as the king/queen of adventure games in my opinion. Metal Gear Solid 4 is simply the best game I have ever played in my life. Although you need good knowledge of the previous games to get the just of the story. Motorsotrm 1 and 2 are awesome, gritty offroad racers. LittleBigPlanet is a real creative game where you can make levels with ease, publish them online and share with friends, it makes a nice change from guns and blood all the time. Ratchet and Clank is a fantastic platformer game that can be enjoyed by anyone and Resistance 1 and 2 are just really really good First Person Shooters. Resistance 2 is simply the PS3's answer to Halo 3. Only it has far superior multiplayer. No console game has ever managed to successfully have 60 man online and 8 player co op. That is some achievment for a console game and it seems to work lag free.
Like I said earlier, I think the PS3 is offering better games in the future. With games like Killzone 2, God of War III, White Knight Chronicles, Final Fantasy Vs XIII as well as new franchises and series not even mentioned yet and more it just seems like a more natural choice to follow them for me.

The online:

Ok, this is another factor that may sway your decision on one console or another.
The Xbox Live service is good. It has to be said. It DOES have more features than the Playstation Network. But you are paying for it. $50 a year doesn't sound much, and before people start bitching "can't you afford under a dollar a day for XBL" well the answer is Yes, I can but the point is, it's all adding up to the final cost of the console. PS3's online service is free. Both consoles have great online and PSN isn't as bad as you may read, really. Both consoles online stores have games, demos, trailers and even TV programmes to offer. Again these come at prices but are still a nice option. The games for download on the 360 (the XBL marketplace) apart from a handful, I think, are rubbish. Oh sure you have Doom, Braid, and a few others. But the Playstation store offers so much more better titles. On the PSStore you have access to a growing selection of PS1 games, PSP games if you have a PSP, and full PS3 games too. Games like Siren: Blood Curse, Wipeout HD and Pain are all great PSN titles and IMO far exceed the quality of the Xbox Live Marketplace.
The 360 however has more chat and communication features. For instance, you can voice chat with a friend over XBL and it won't affect your game, on the PS3 you cannot do this...YET. You have to remember, Xbox Live was starting off in the final few months of the original Xbox so it's bound to be better refined.
The Playstation 3 however has a new app on the way called HOME. It's basically like that online craze, Second Life. In which you have your own 3D Avatar, your own house (kinda like the Sims) and you can invite friends over to your house, launch a game and play online or walk around the game world visiting places that represent various games. Like for example you'll run into a Far Cry 2 area or a bar that is themed from the game, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. Really, it's a 3D representation of the games menus all wrapped up in a Sims like program. It will be amazing and I'm sure Microsoft will come up with something to try and compete.
The PS3 also comes with a Web Browser, the 360 does not. And to be fair, the web browser is ACTUALLY prettty good. It features Flashplayer 9 so you can practically visit any site on the internet. It's pretty weird seeing these forums on a big HD TV lol.
As far as chatting goes though, the 360 has a headset included with the console, the PS3 does not. But the PS3 headsets are completely wireless and blutooth connected whereas the 360 headsets plug into your controller with a wire that can often get in the way. Only other drawback to the Xbox Live experience is the fact that many many many kids like to swear or just randomly insult people for no reason. It's a pain in the ass and in my experience, I've noticed it on almost every game I played on the console. Luckily there IS a mute function but it's still a pain in the ass.

Overal I'd have to recommend the PS3 just because it seems like they have great exclusive games on the way in coming years whereas the 360 seems to either play the Halo or Gears of War card. We'll see in due time of course but as the PS3 community is certainly growing, the games are becoming more frequent and the console is just better built, I'd have to recommend the PS3.

As far as prices go you're looking at $399.99 for an 80GB PS3.
The 360 (Pro/Premium w/ 60 GB harddrive) will set you back $299.99 but remember, for the wireless adapter that's another $80, then Xbox Live for a year is another $50, then if you wanted the plug and charge kit it's another $15.

I'm not trying to put you off, really, both are great consoles. I'm just letting you know Wink

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject:

We have both and we use our Xbox a lot more. We only use the PS3 for movies...

I would recommend the Xbox.
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Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the replys (especially JackC, quite an in depth review, very helpful). I am leaning toward the 360 simply because it is probably a little cheaper and I don't know if we are putting on the good TV or the cheap basement TV. I still have not decided on one or the other yet because I still have some time before we get it. To be quite honest, we have an old xbox. We used it a lot for a few months and then it became an extra DVD player for the basement or Mrs. Snafu's work. Keep the suggestions coming. I'll probably go get something when the xmas sales start.

A super tech guy at work said I was stupid for considering anything other then PS3 simply because of the blue ray player. I guess since I have never watched a blue ray movie, I am old and outdated.

Still thinking about it.
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Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:11 pm Post subject:

A lot of people tend to go with the console most of their friends have.

Like I said, either way you're getting a great machine. Wink

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:24 am Post subject:

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:40 am Post subject:

Jak and Daxter is for the PS3 only.. nuff said... Wink

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