Because my son’s domination of the television and, indeed, the entire living room by his 24/7, non-stop playing of Call of Duty 4, and his loud, loud, continual swearing, homophobia and racially-tinged epithets which is, of course, your standard Xbox Live experience really made it impossible to get anything done that required thought, I consigned him, the 360 and the TV to his bedroom, where he could belittle strangers with some doors between him and I.
This left an empty space in the living room where the TV used to be, and a rather lonely set of Rock Band drums. The only game I played on the 360 was Rock Band, but since CoD4 invaded the house, I’d gotten very little chance to play, anyway.
So I subscribed to ConsumerReports.org, put in my desired screen size and price, and got their top recommendation for a cheap, basic HDTV, an Insignia (who? yup.) 37 inch, 720p TV. It was even on sale at Best Buy. This last weekend, I completed the set with a Playstation 3.
I didn’t buy the PS3 for the games. It’s been out for how long? And I still have not seen even one game that would compel me to purchase it, aside from Rock Band, which I already own. For the past however long it’s been out, I have been waiting for that one PS3 game I could not live without, that would force me to buy it. Nothing, nothing and more nothing. I don’t play shooters or war games. I’m not really into killing games, my MMO hobby aside. I don’t feel like competing online with foul-mouthed boys. I do like family-friendly games, but then, I have a Wii. Oh yes. Unlike the PS3, the Wii WAS a system that compelled me to buy it.
I bought the PS3 as a DVD/Blu-Ray player, and a media server. First thing I did was watch some Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who episodes from my Linux server. Then I put in a DVD — Iron Giant — and watched as it looked sharper and clearer than I had ever seen. The PS3 is an amazing media/DVD player.
Anyway, the PS3 I bought came with Metal Gear Solid 4. Since I had less than zero interest in a game where you run around assassinating people (and I wonder how I will feel about the Agency when it comes out? Since it’s all about randomly assassinating people from what I understand), I handed it to my son.
We waited ten minutes while the game installed on the hard drive. I thought this odd. Can we toss the disk now? During those ten minutes, Snake smoked three cigarettes all the way through, and had started on a fourth. Yup, the LOADING… screen is just this old guy, chain-smoking. Early on in the game, in one of the game’s interminable cut-scenes, one of the other characters asks him why he looks so old. My guess: his smoking habit. After a hard day dragging the victims of your sniper-scope attack into the shade so they don’t attract attention, you can even select the cigarettes in his inventory, and he’ll light right up. Ahhhhh. Suddenly the fact that he’s been spotted and a leapfrogging robot is after him, just fades away, like a cool mountain breeze.
I had kicked the Xbox 360 away from polite company only to hand the PS3 and the living room right back to my son. The irony was crushing.
Anyway, now that I have both consoles, here’s the comparison, so far.
Playing media. Both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 can play most media files from their hard drives. The Xbox 360 can talk with Windows machines running the Media Center extenders to stream media; the PS3 can talk to any DLNA/UPnP media streamer, including Windows MCE. Both consoles can play DVDs. The controls work better (imo) on the PS3. Plus the PS3 controller does not need batteries or a rechargeable battery pack, since it gets its power from being plugged into the PS3 via USB cable for an hour. Built in wireless networking removes the need to buy an extra wireless card, as the 360 requires. Plus the PS3 upsamples DVDs amazingly so they look high-def, AND it plays the new high-def DVD format, Blu-Ray, out of the box. Advantage: PS3 by a long mile.
Games: I am going to have to disqualify myself. I don’t like any of the system-exclusive games for either system enough to actually fork out $60 to play them, aside from franchise games that appear on every platform. I’ll play Guitar Hero World Tour on PS3 when it comes out, and in fact I will probably buy franchise games for the PS3 now that I have it, but I didn’t buy a PS3 to play them. That said, Xbox 360 has all these achievements with which you can keep score with your friends. I don’t know if the PS3 has achievements. Their Playstation Network is free, while Xbox Live has a monthly fee. Since I don’t care particularly for the games on either system, I will have to consider this one a draw. My son has a clear preference for the Xbox 360, since all his friends have 360s and they can get together and call each other gay for twelve hours straight. So counting his vote, advantage: Xbox 360.
Hardware: The PS3 is a nice bit of machine. The controls, and in fact, the entire machine has heft, design wins, and cute little touches like the touch sensitive buttons. The Xbox feels light and cheap. The wireless controllers need a constant supply of batteries, or a recharger — sold seperately. The wireless adapter is sold separately. Because licensing fees for wireless controllers are apparently beyond the means of manufacturers, Rock Band forced people to use a messy, separately-powered USB hub to get all the instrumentes plugged in. Advantage: PS3.
Compatibility: The Xbox 360 is compatible with Xbox games. The current version of the PS3 has no backward compatibility with PS2 games. Advantage: Xbox 360 by a mile.
Variety: The PS3 comes only in the 40 GB edition. The Xbox 360 has a bunch of variations, depending on your needs and budget. Advantage: Xbox 360 again.
Final tally: If you want your next-gen console to live as the heart of your entertainment center, the PS3 is your obvious, easy and best choice. If all you care about is gaming, and especially gaming with people online, and calling someone a ****-****** ****** *** doesn’t bother you, head right down and get that Xbox 360 with your name on it.
If I seem biased, well, remember. I paid money for both these consoles. And the last time I wondered about this, I ended up buying the Xbox 360. Having lived with all its quirks and flaws for seven months, I have a better basis for comparison. I also complain a lot about Xbox Live. After using it for many sessions of online Rock Band, and listening to it for months as my son played it, I honestly don’t have a generally high opinion of the random strangers you meet online. They tend to be children or teens and they spout racist, homophobic language of such fervor that I really wonder how they will view the world as adults. That said, since I have no PS3 games, I have not used the Playstation Network. I have heard it’s not as bad as Xbox Live, but I have no personal experience with it. When I revisit this topic, maybe I’ll have found that PSN is just as bad or worse. As it is, Xbox Live is the only one with which I have experience, and if my son weren’t an adult, I wouldn’t let him use it. The one PS3 game I have seen opens with the main character chain-smoking for ten minutes, so I don’t have a high expectation for PS3 games, though obviously they look fantastic. Well, that one does, anyway. They had Heavenly Sword at the demo station at the store, and that looked fairly cool, but I know from reviews that it is a short play. The lack of compatibility with PS2 games is a severe downer for me.
18 thoughts on “PS3 vs Xbox 360, revisited”
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A couple of things. There are currently two widely available and two hard to find variations of the ps3. They common ones are the 40 gig and the 80 gig. While the 40 isn’t backwards compatible with ps2 games the 80 is mostly compatible. And if you can find the 20/60 gig models they are completely backwards compatible. All 4 versions can play the entire ps1 catalogue.
Second thing is I hope you arent paying monthly for Live cause you are actually spending more than you should. You can purchase 12 months of Live for 50 dollars and is the best way to go.
Thirdky, MGS4 isn’t about assassination. You can play the game without killing anyone. Infact, to get the best secret items you can’t.
Lastly and least important is that your ps3 controllers will eventually perma-die and you will need to buy new ones as the battery pack isn’t replaceable.
Wow I totally need to learn to spell… but you got my points I think. 🙂
I picked up Folklore for the PS3 (you can thank Malfi for that one), and my PS3 started out much like yours started out – for the media aspects (I don’t own a dvd player etc). Anyhow. It’s a fun little game that has me going around sucking up ID’s and using them in combat against other creatures of the Netherworld while piecing together a puzzle about why this girl’s mother went missing. The very basics in any case.
I also am not a fan of the FPS type games, racing, or sports. Which means there’s VERY LITTLE in the way of games out there for me to enjoy.
However. There are lots of games coming out to PS3 – the way it’s worked so far is a very slow trickle of games. I think that over time, this will expand by quite a bit. Sony’s always had a very slow start to release. This fall there’s a handful of games that I may actually be interested in, we’ll just have to see how it goes.
Oh yeah, and along with TheRemedy’s comments, I have an 80 gig, and it is indeed compatible.
People at the store said 40 GB was all there was; never even mentioned 80 as an option. They did say that the 60 GB was the one to go for, but that they were discontinued and hard to find.
Even if all the machine does is play movies, that’s fine. If there’s ever a game I want to buy for it, cool. The only games I still play on my PS2 is Guitar Hero, so I didn’t consider it a huge loss if I couldn’t play that anymore, I finished them all ages ago.
I used to be a huge console gamer, before EverQuest, but I think only Wii has the kind of games someone like me likes. I don’t know if SOE’s new MMOs will change that. The Agency, as I mentioned, seems to be all about hunting people down and killing them. Free Realms I doubt has any killing at all, but so far I haven’t seen anything that looks fun. People who have actually seen the game say it is fun, so I’m expecting to change my mind about that.
My favorite console game at the moment is Super Mario Kart for the Wii :/ My Life as King for the Wii is a nice little time-waster too.
MGS4 may not require killing, but my son is getting through quite well just by killing everyone he sees, so clearly while stealth may be one way to get through the game, it probably isn’t the fastest or the way most people trained on GTA4 or CoD4 would even consider playing the game.
I hope the PS3 does turn itself around and actually come out with the kinds of games that made the PS2 such a hit. Actually, Ratchet and Clank looks good…
The 20 and 60gb versions were discontinued a long ago and I think the 80 has been disco’d as well but there are some still floating around in stores and warehouses. I haven’t seen an 80gb in any stores around here for months now, only the 40gb.
When it comes to media the 360 is an absolute bitch to get working with any microsoft related software (zune, windows media, etc.) but I got it running in seconds using TVersity. Then it wouldn’t play half my files. I love my modded original XBox, it’ll play any file I throw at it except for hi-def stuff. (no I’m not a pirate I just have it modded to use as a media center)
I haven’t had any experience with the PS3 so far and don’t plan to buy one for a while, no games I want that I can’t get on the 360.
I have yet to buy either. I’m expecting price drops from both consoles in the fall, and there are distinct drawbacks to both that really give me pause. The idea of paying an extra $50 a year to be able to go online really irks me, and I have heard so many horrible things about the x-box live community that I’m not sure I’d even want to if I did own a 360. The PS3, on the other hand, has very few exclusives I would even wish to play, much less that would drive me to buy a new system.
For those rare moments I feel like console gaming, I’m actually still playing through PS2 RPGs. I have yet to even start the latest persona game, and it’s gotten rave reviews. I’m also still only about 1/2 through KotOR II.
It may come down to which console gets a decent MMO first. The 360 is getting AoC, and buying a 360 to play it is much more palatable than buying a new $1000 PC at this point. The PS3 is getting Home, the Agency, and Free Realms. And I think both are getting the super hero MMO that Cryptic is working on. I bought an X-box last generation for True Fantasy Live Online and really go burned by it’s cancellation. I’m going to wait and see what (if anything) actually comes down the pipe this generation, or until one of the consoles hits the sub $300 (for a decently equipped system) mark.
I snagged the 60 GB version of the PS3 before it went out of production and I’m happy I got it. Been playing mostly Age of Conan now but before I was enjoying all the PS2 games I missed out on.
Tipa
Nice post but keep an eye on LittleBigPlanet for PS3 only…I think you may fall in love with this game when its out later in the year…a game the Wii can only dream about!
@Yeebo. The next rpg system seller to come out is on xbox360. Fable 2. Looks fantastic. And it sucks cause the PS3 is the system I want all around however Fable 2 is the game I want most. Frustrating decision. Waiting and hoping it will come to the PC like most xbox 360 rpgs seem to do and then I am set.
The fact that all the new Square Enix titles will also be coming to Xbox 360 first (or even exclusive like…Star Ocean…who woulda thunk that?…WoW?…) makes it really difficult to think about the PS3 as a viable console…
But………..the Blu-ray really gets me jonesing…seeing as I also have a 1080p TV waiting for some hi-def video…
Still holding out for X-Mas and see what that brings I guess…
(PS: I did the same thing with my son, in the room on the 360…the cries of “Noob” and “Gay” get to ya after a while..)
Oh, I think the PS3 is a viable games platform, can’t help that they are chasing the 360’s user base instead of going their own way. Wii went its own way — success! **PS2** went its own way — success! **PS3** says, we will make the same sort of games you find on the 360 — *not so much*! Though it should be pointed out that the PS3 is more of a hit in other parts of the world. And of course, the PS3’s success in the US is largely for its excellence as a DVD/Blu-Ray player.
That said, now that I *do* have it, I will try to get games for it. The Aerosmith Guitar Hero will be the first. I will certainly be playing Free Realms on the PS3 as opposed to the PC, though I’ll have to figure out some way of getting screen shots and movies off the machine. Probably The Agency, just because… I love SOE games, what can I say. Though whether any PS3 MMO could ever drag me away from the EverQuests, I don’t know.
So I started a response, and then 20 minutes later I realized it was turning into a blog post of my own. So I’ll just say, check out my response on my blog a little later tonight. Work killed access to livejournal, so I’ll post it up from home.
I realize this is completely unrelated, but… perhaps the children on X-BOX Live would benefit from a discussion on why using “gay” as an insult and other “racially-tinged epithets” is inappropriate, especially within earshot of the child’s parent?
I believe the kids on Xbox-Live use that language precisely because they know it’s wrong. My son, alas, is 21, and though I do talk to him frequently about the language he uses on XBL, there’s little I can do about it. It’s pervasive, and as long as he does not use that language off of XBL, and he does not, then moving him to another room is the best solution I can find for now.
I dunno… theres 3 name brand Bleu Ray players at or around $250 on pricegrabber right now.
Barring those, when I’m ready to go bleu I can get a BD DVD rom drive for a PC for $150 and a HDCP video card with HDMI for around $100, throw it in a chinsey small-form-factor PC (probably salvaged from recyclers at work) and I can build my own br / digital media player for less than a PS3. Plus I can load that sucker with about 10,000 arcade and classic console roms, and play them with the USB wireless 360 control receiver.
Guess it just depends on how much your hustling and knuckle busting time is worth. I’ve never bought a retail PC, never bought a DVD player I couldn’t firmware flash to play VCDs and the like, and never bought a console I couldn’t chip. Times are tough man, gas prices are high, I gotta put food on the table.
I know a couple three-console people but I already got a 360, I could never justify spending money on a second or a third. By the way, I never play anything but RB online, can’t stand the xbl culture.
Well, I also anticipate playing the new SOE MMOs on the PS3, so I expect it to, eventually, become more than just a DVD/BR player. Though I was watching Firefly on it last night and it looked so *good*…!
I think I’ve always been multi-console. I had an original Atari 2600 — I saved and saved for that. A Colecovision (with the Atari 2600 cartridge, of course). A Super Nintendo. A Sega Saturn. A Sega Dreamcast. A PS1 and PS2. A Nintendo 64. And now, finally, each of the current generation consoles, though again, the only one I currently game on is the Wii.
MGS4 is probably one of the most impressive games ever. Alas, its the only exclusive game for the PS3 thats worthwhile. Hopefully that will change, but I mostly play RPGs, and the Xbox 360 has all of the good ones right now.
I bought my PS3 around when it launched and its only been used as a Blu-Ray player so far. Even for streaming Doctor Who around, I think the Xbox 360 is better…