WIthin the gaming world it seems that this is the debate of the century. A conversation that can polarize a room of fanboys quicker than which was the best star wars movie, or was Enterprise truly better than Voyager. All I can say is "suck it fanboys". There are definitely differences to the systems, but to me as gaming platforms neither has a clear edge. A lot will depend on your usage not the "specs" of the system.
Having said that there are clearly some area's that I think the XBOX has got it wrong. And some areas that Sony is well behind. Lets delve into this a bit.
Hardware. Both are pretty good, though in my opinion the Sony has a better feel to it. The difference between a Cadillac and a Lexus. They are both luxury products, both with a lot of features, but the Sony just feels a to do it a little bit better.
PS 3
My PS3 is actually pretty old now, but it was the top of the line offering in its day. This was the 60gb, wireless, and all the USB ports that you could want. PS2 backwards compatibility and a slick look O/S. Problem was ... at first although that O/S was slick it wasn't actually fairly clumsy and not overly feature rich. Sony's changed that, and now it is a pretty effective media player, and I'm quite happy with it.
The big downside for me and the PS3 right now is ... the fans. Its loud. Not crazy crazy loud, but loud enough to be annoying from time to time. Plus its hot. It can actually help heat a small Japanese room. Which is kind of crazy too. I've heard / read that most of this has been fixed with the latest version of the PS3, but its still an issue for me.
Happily the wireless connects pretty much flawlessly. The O/S is perfect for a big TV and in the living room. If sony could make surfing the net a more pleasant experience, maybe with something like firefox it would really be perfect.
As a blu ray and dvd player this thing is great.
Other than the size of the disk (which can be easily upgraded - just do a google) and the noise, which I can't do much about , I think the PS3 is a perfect system. Good games, good media and a slick O/S.
One other point... if you're not located in the US... or want other region games. Games on the PS3 are NOT REGION LOCKED. This is a HUGE plus for people like me living abroad. (Hello Nintendo).
XBOX 360
Got the XBOX 360 Elite this Christmas. A nice little Gift from the WIfe. Its a pretty nice system, and I like the simplicity of the hardware. I also hate the simplicity of the hardware. Where do I start... there are some things that are SERIOUSLY missing on the XBOX considering what it is designed to do. First off... where is the built in wireless. Why do I have to pay extra money for something that really should be built in. This is clearly a money grab that Microsoft has to rectify soon. With price cut on the PS3, I can't see how they can have a system that is clearly inferior in the living room for basically the same price. Its missing Blu Ray andy also wireless.
The hardware is good. But chunky. It lacks that refined elegance of the PS3. But on the plus side, has a "get the job done" kind of feeling to it. Over all, I quite like it, but just think it is very "American" in its setup. Its HUMMER vs Toyota, or green Tea vs Coke. There's a largeness to it the way it is built and feels. Like a claymore versus a Katana. They'll both get the job done, but one will just take the head off in a pretty manner.
The O/S is good. Not as good as the PS3 in my opinion, but still very good to use when on a large TV and across the room.
What is kind of a small feature that I love is that you can install games to the hard drive on the XBOX Elite. I'm told by other friends you can't do this on older versions. Don't know if this is true or not, but I can (so f-u all). I love this feature. The XBOX is whisper quite when gaming off the Hard Disk. Sony... stand up and see if you can match that. This is really important to me as the XBOX when using the drive is louder than a PC and actually shakes the floor of my little Japanese home. Not a great thing. But this sorts that out, so I'm happy.
But because of that issue with the drive being so loud, I can't see how anyone would ever watch a DVD on this thing. It would be insanely loud and just disturb any quite parts.
XBOX Live? KICKS ASS. My god Sony doesn't get on-line. And there are a lot of people who say that Microsoft doesn't either when then compare them to google and all that. But in my opinion the guys who are running XBOX live get what an on line community is about, and really do understand what people what. Really an excellent job here, and something that really changes the whole gaming and console experience. Fantastic job here MS and hope that the guys in charge of this are the ones who are getting to drive new web initiatives like Bing at MS. It will be good for all of us if that is the case.
OVERALL?
Well Sorry XBOX fanboys... I'm going with the PS3. With a caveat (I'll get to that). The PS3 is currently the better overall option. Its got a great O/S. Comes with everything you need built in ( and in the box), and over all just feels like a bit better option.
The caveat I would have, is ... if you only want to game. If you really are ONLY going to game I'd probably recommend the XBOX 360. This is because if its strong library of mature titles and XBOX live.
See Fanboys. Life isn't black and white. There are happy shades of grey.
PS… if you're like me just get both. They're not that expensive and they you can have the best of both worlds.
