Game console dilemma - Xbox 360 or Sony Playstation 3

October 31, 2007 - 2:25pm — bmann

I've been recently going down the path of re-shuffling my home media environment. Since I'm also still kicking the tires on various PC games (the new Steam community site is very interesting (link is my userid, you may need to be logged in) -- for the record, all the other games I mentioned I'm no longer playing.

Anyway, I've been thinking about a game console at home. The choice is really between the Xbox 360 and the PS3: the Nintendo Wii is a great supplementary machine with its very different interface options and social nature, but not such a great media center. I'm more likely to buy my own Wii controller and go over to friends that already have one.

Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 seem to have solutions in place to easily share media from your Mac. There is Nullriver's Connect360 and there is the open source MediaTomb which can let you run an open source UPnP server to share to both platforms (older how-to).

The Xbox LIVE and Xbox Live Arcade is compelling. Easily download small mini games. Get an account, earn achievements. Even playing "simple" games, you can compete with other people at home anywhere else online with you, and "invest" in an identity.

But...

...it's Microsoft. I acknowledge they've built a very interesting machine. It's much more of a market win than the PS3 by a long shot (at this stage of the game...). But it's optimized to work with Windows Media Center, and it's not really that hackable.

The PS3 on the other, I love for its open-ness. It actually has "install other operating system" as a *menu item*. That's fantastic, and totally appeals to me wanting to tinker.

But...

...for the price of a PS3, I could buy both an Xbox 360 *and* a Wii. It's pricey. Am I buying into tomorrow's technology, today? Also...it does come down to the games. And to the social network. My social network mainly has Xbox 360s (aside from Mark Yuasa who has a PS3 in addition), and some of the upcoming games that I'm interested in (e.g. Mass Effect) are Xbox only.

Hmmm...it seems like in writing this, I've convinced myself. My heart says I should get a PS3, but my head says Xbox 360.

What would you get? Why? Do you have one already? What do you use it for?

Comments

November 2, 2007 - 8:58pm — logicnazi

PS3 For Awesomeness

The remark above about the Xbox being better at detering cheating isn't very compelling. The openness of the platform has very little to do with the ease of hacking a game on the platform (which runs very close to the hardware) to cheat. This isn't a differentiating factor and (no offense) I think citing this point suggests bias by that commentator.

In my opinion both because of openness and the more innovative and powerful cell processor the PS3 clearly wins the contents for awesomeness points. You may not want to admit it but the truth of the matter is that many of us buy hardware for the same reason people buy $5k wristwatches, because owning an awesome object makes us feel good. So if this is a significant concern buy a PS3.

Also if you are only ever going to buy one game system buy a PS3. Currently developers have no clue how to take advantage of the cell but in the future they will figure it out and in a couple years I fully expect the games for the PS3 to have better physics and generally be more advanced than those on the xbox 360.

Thirdly if you really want a blu-ray player the PS3 is the way to go. Sure it's expensive but compare the cost to that of buying an xbox 360 plus a next generation player.

However, if you are more concerned about immediate benefits or are willing to buy a PS3 in a couple years when they have better games and are cheaper AND don't have much desire for a blu-ray player then by all means buy a PS3. I feel the pull of the PS3 as much as anyone but you just can't deny that at the moment the xbox has greater market penetration and better games. Hell, given that the xbox 360 is pretty close to commodity hardware it would be surprising if it hadn't come out of the gate stronger than the PS3.

October 31, 2007 - 9:10pm — Dingo (not verified)

Prioritize the uses

You've done a good job of considering what you'll use the console for. I'd encourage you to veer away from the idealist uses, and focus on the very real, practical uses. There certainly are some people who will actually use that menu item to install and run another OS on their game console, and a set of people who might even spin up some experiences (like specific media remoting that isn't supported by a console out-of-the-box). But how likely is that to be something you'll really spend time doing?

For me, it's primarily about the games. I look at the portfolio of games, and pick the system that's most likely going to thrill me with the gaming experiences it offers. For some people, it's a specific title (Halo 3 will lead you to Xbox 360), while for others its a genre of titles (family-friendly gaming will likely lead you to Wii).

If the gaming experiences that excite you most involve online play, Xbox Live is where it's at for consoles, full stop. Despite my admitted affiliation with Xbox Live, I also believe as a consumer that it's head & shoulders above any other console's online gaming service.

Media experience outside of games are also important to me, and sound like they are to you. Connect360 from Nullriver has been a joy for me except for some Leopard-specific issues (http://jeff.henshaw.org/?p=139). It makes it brain-dead simple to get photos, music, and video from my Mac to my Xbox 360. It's worth every penny of the $20.

While your heard make lead you away from Microsoft's approach of a closed hardware and software ecosystem, that same approach helps them keep the online gameplay on Xbox live fun and secure for all players by deterring cheating and hacking on the service. You may feel a sense of "open-ness" elsewhere, but you need to decide for yourself whether that feeling is something you're likely to really capitalize on, and whether the potential experience tradeoffs (games, online play) are worth it.

Dingo

October 31, 2007 - 6:45pm — John B (not verified)

Great points Boris...right

Great points Boris...right now the Xbox is where it's at for media and games. The PS3 isn't quite there....it's where the 360 was at it's launch - very few compelling games and a limited set of media options (Blu-Ray or HD DVD if you're so inclined to buy into another media format).

I have a Wii and an Xbox and so far, for online gaming with friends, the Xbox is great - Microsoft really has a slick service. Not so big on the micropayments thing (I'm a cheap bastard) but the full games are starting to hit their stride - depending on the kind of games you like.

There are other options for the 360 (Connect360 for the Mac is a great way to turn the Xbox into an Apple TV and more).

My suggestion is get the 360 now and trade it in towards a PS3 later when it's a little more compelling.

John

(360 gamertag: r3trocactus)

October 31, 2007 - 3:08pm — Richard Eriksson