So, I finally got the money to buy one of those consoles
Please tell me which you like the best and why.

It's tough to go wrong with either. Perhaps the biggest and most generalized difference is that the 360 is cheaper versus the PS3 having Blu-ray.

In terms of features, Blu-ray is a big one for PS3. If you have no intention of buying Blu-ray movies (or do not have an HDTV), this feature is rendered pretty much useless. Both systems can play .avi files, in additional to many other video formats, and they both upscale DVD movies to HD resolutions. They both play most types of music files. The PS3 also allows you to surf the net in lieu of a computer.

In terms of hardware, the PS3 comes with built-in wireless internet capability, whereas you need to spend an extra $70 USD to equip a 360 with that capability. If you don't need to go wireless or if you're not using internet connectivity at all, the 360 will be cheaper. When comparing hard drive space, the 250GB 360 Elite bundle is priced the same as the PS3 Slim, so they're pretty even if you need lots of space. However, you can get a less expensive model of 360 with a smaller (or no) hard drive and save yourself some money if space isn't much of a concern. PS3 games require hard drive installations whereas 360 games don't. It would be easier to get away without using up hard drive space on a 360.

Regarding reliability, that really isn't much of a factor anymore for either system. Brand new 360's are using completely different internal hardware and are virtually immune to overheating issues. The 360 I picked up about six months ago is still cool to the touch even after hours of play. The PS3 Slim runs cooler than the original PS3 as well. No more RRoD or YLoD for you!

Regarding performance, if you're not gaming in HD, then performance isn't much of an issue. But if you are, in most cases the 360 version of a game will have noticeably better performance than the PS3 version. This isn't true of every game, but it definitely is for most. The reason is two-fold; the PS3 has less video RAM to work with and it is much more difficult to program for, thus less effective performance optimization. Unless a game is built from the ground up on PS3 first (like Metal Gear Solid 4, for example), it will often not have the same framerate consistency as the same game on 360. The offset to this is that because Blu-ray discs hold much more memory than dual-layer DVD's, PS3 games can potentially (but often don't) have higher resolution textures and a game that would be multiple discs on the 360 will fit onto a single disc for PS3. It is also important to consider that the 360 smoothly upscales all games to 1080p, whereas the PS3 often suffers a performance hit for doing so, and some PS3 games don't even support this ability.

Perhaps most important to consider is the exclusivity. This is in regards to both games and the controllers. Which controller feels more comfortable to you? They both have their pros and cons. What games do you want to play? If you're dying to play Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet, Uncharted 1 or 2 or inFamous, it would be silly to get a 360. If you're looking to play games available on both systems, then put more emphasis on which controller you like more, and factor in the other mentioned comparisons between the two systems.

Personally, I vote 360 because it's much cheaper (especially the Arcade model) and the games perform better in general. While the PS3-exclusive games are great, they are few and far between. I also find that it's far more comfortable holding the 360 controller for hours at a time than it is holding the PS3 controller. The 360 controller is more ergonomic. Better graphical performance plus a more comfortable controller makes 360 the clear winner for me.

For the record, I have both systems. Other than when I watch a Blu-ray movie or the odd time that I play a PS3-exclusive game, the PS3 just sits there gathering dust. I get much more use out of my 360. But that's me.

I also forgot to mention the differences in online play.

To play with/against other players online on Xbox 360, you must pay for the service. If you sign up for a year, it only costs approximately $5 USD per month, which is awfully cheap.

PS3 has free online play.

In both cases, you get what you pay for. The Playstation Network is relatively laggy compared to Xbox Live. I can take any online game and play it over PSN and I get lag and poor connections to other players, especially when voice chat is involved. Then I can boot up the 360 version of the same game and the online play is noticeably better. Lower pings between myself and other players, far less lag and a generally more pleasant experience.

It comes down to getting a decent service for free versus getting a great service for $5/month. I'd spend the money on the better service.

Something to note is that Sony has announced that they will be modifying the PSN service this year to include a paid service in addition to the free service. I don't know if this will mirror XBL or if it will be something new. With any luck, they will begin offering a much more solid service for a price comparable to XBL.

Thank you very much Asaic, for putting all the facts together
I think I wont be needing blu-ray and most of the people I know play 360. Still, its gonna be a hard decision!

Those two facts seem like enough to make the decision easy.

yea, but with my PS1 and PS2 history im so used to PS. I searched the internet for both and true; my choice is at this moment far on 360 side

I was pretty anti-Xbox when the first system was out. The games just weren't very fun and the controller was awful.

Later on, the Xbox 360 comes out and I figured it was just more of the same. But after a couple games came out that I just had to try, I broke down and bought a second-hand 360 and I was blown away. The controller was finally comfortable and had an effective button layout. The games I wanted to try were awesome.

I realized then that just because a company comes out with a competing product doesn't mean I have to stay dedicated to the other guy just because they never did me wrong before. Eventually, there will always be somebody else who comes along and does a better job.

I decided to put my loyalty where the quality is, rather than behind a name brand. These days a company can put out a winner followed by a total loser, or vice versa. Staying dedicated to a name brand will only hurt you in the long run.

While I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford both systems, if I could only get one my money would go where the quality is. And in this case, in my opinion, it is with the 360. Especially since I'd be paying less for the superior product. I can't complain about an offer like that.

Lin, I used to be in the same situation you were. And then a few years ago I made the jump to 360. Here's why:

First of all, back in 2007, the next-gen experience was about to explode. In that year alone, Halo 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Fable, Gears of War, Assassins Creed, Bioshock, Rainbow Six Vegas, AND Mass Effect were all coming out. Now the two that originally made me jump were Assassins Creed and Halo 3, and I took a "leap of faith" with the 360, mainly because Halo 3 is a 360 exclusive. Now it's almost 3 years later, and I still believe I made the right decision. You see, with the exception of Modern Warfare, all the games I just listed were at some point 360 exclusives, which should tell you that Microsoft is the company that gets the better games. And it doesn't stop there, the list continues well up to the present day; whereas, the PS3's list is greatly limited. Now, granted, PS3 has some great exclusives like MGS4 and Uncharted 2, but in this case it's generally quality vs. quantity. Do you want around 3 great games? Or perhaps a multitude of solid games that will keep you entertained for a while? I went with quantity, but the choice is up to you.

Next comes the console's performance overall. 360 doesn't even compare to the multitude of features the PS3 has, but you probably won't use many of the features a PS3 has to offer. As Asaic previously mentioned, the online is slow and laggy as sh*t, so I would much rather browse the web on a PC than a PS3. In addition, I'm not going to start buying more expensive Blu-Ray DVDs as opposed to standard definition ones, and I'm fine with the DVDs I have now (which aren't that many, anyway). But again, it's all about opinion. So do you want 3 USB ports for the 360 or 36 on the PS3 that you're not even gonna use? You'd basically be spending an extra $100 for crap you're not gonna use.

I also feel a need to address this Blu Ray topic. The reason PSN's quality is so terrible is because Blu Ray, while having great quality and extra disc space, is slow as hell. Its so slow that the game developers have to duplicate loading data onto the discs so that the game will run at normal speed, otherwise the drive laser would over accelerate and the failure rate on the PS3 would be way higher than the 360's. This makes the extra disc space redundant. However, that doesn't transfer over to online, and that's why the online is so incredibly slow. So Blu Ray isn't all what it's made out to be, and that duplicate game data that needs to get saved to the PS3's hard drive will take up A LOT of space very quickly.

As far as online goes, we've already pretty much covered it. PS3 is free, but the quality is so poor that it offsets. Xbox Live is $50 for 13 months when you buy a card from somewhere like a 7/11, which is still a great deal. Hooking it up is a little harder, however. Most people break down and buy the wireless adapter, but if you buy/use a ethernet cable instead like I did and find a way to plug that in, you'll save a lot of money.

In terms of the controller, it works great for any game that isn't an FPS. So that means if you were going to play Modern Warfare on the PS3, in addition to having to deal with the online issues, you'd be a little more frustrated with the controller layout. The PS3's controller is motion sensitive, but no one uses that, and it's another worthless feature you'd be paying extra money for. The controller on the PS3 is virtually weightless, and 360's is a little bulky, but after about a week with it, you don't even notice how much it weighs in your hands.

I think that's about every factor necessary when comparing the systems. So the choice is clear, go with the 360. Less money and more fun, so Jump In.

I always used to believe xbox 360 was better than the ps3 since most people i knew bought xbox 360
but as i researched a bit ,i found out the following facts

although the ps3 didn't have many titles in the beginningg but now it has almost equivalentt to an xbox 360

ps3 always had better raw power and in the future advance gaming would not be possible in a xbox 360 in comparison to a ps3

ps3 has online gaming free and the community is also getting better

ps3 has very less problems

ps3 is less noisier than an xbox 360

ps3 has a blue ray

ps3 has more comfortable controller and also keyboards or something like that can be attached to a ps3

we can install windows on ps3 ,i don't know if its legal or not

although xbox 360 has great exclusives like halo 3 and gears of war 2 but so does ps3

but an xbox 360 has better Accessories if u r willing to buy them

an xbox 360 at the moment has better online community than a ps3

microsoft have better marketing than sony although this point is irrelevant

xbox 360 is cheap

do u agree and which is a better buy?

True, but can the same be said of quality titles? In my opinion, the answer is a very clear 'no'.

There are some great PS3 titles, but there are far more great 360 titles. IMO, of course. I'll always take quality over quantity.


It's difficult to either confirm or deny such a statement. In terms of pure processing power, the PS3 comes out on top. However, in terms of both memory and video processing power, the 360 is stronger.

There's also the very important factor of programming language. The PS3 uses a proprietary language and set of development tools that developers have only had a few years to get used to. Many developers claim that the PS3 language and tools are not particularly easy to use. 360 on the other hand uses mostly common Windows-based programming and tools, and there is an endless source of knowledge and experience in that area. Streamlining code to run efficiently is much easier to do for Xbox 360. This will often translate to cross-platform games running much more smoothly on the 360 than the PS3, which is almost always the case.


Free yes, but much laggier.

Is 'laggier' a word...?


This is definitely not true, at least not anymore. Almost no new 360's (manufactured within the last two years) get the RRoD. However, there are still numerous reports of PS3's with the YLoD, particularly the older model. The slim seems to be a lot better in this regard.


Like the previous point, this is no longer true. My six month-old 360 is dead quiet even when playing directly off the disc and is barely warm to the touch even after hours of play. My launch model PS3 is both loud and extremely hot. I can't put anything within 8 inches of the exhaust port or it heats up too.

I assume the slim PS3 has improved in this regard.


Agreed, and mentioned above. Definite plus for the PS3. If you have HD, that is.


360 can use keyboards as well, so that's moot.

Controller comfort is entirely opinion. I find the 360 controller to be much more comfortable after long periods of play. The only thing I like better about the PS3 controller is the d-pad. For every other aspect, I prefer the 360.

This one is entirely up to the individual player's preferences.


Legality aside, under certain circumstances you can put hacked OS's on the 360 as well.

When you install an alternate OS on a PS3, you usually can't do anything the system normally does (like play games, go to the PSN Store) except perhaps play Blu-ray movies. Furthermore, that option is only available on the older models (not available on the slims) and even for the older models it's being removed on the next firmware update.

I'll leave the other points as they've basically been covered already.

Damn, wish I could get them both
After some time 2 friends of mine, one a X-Box 360 addict, and one a big PS3 fan, are constantly talking about how great their console is. I decided to visit them a few times just to check out the differences in play, and see how I like them personally. After some time I check for myself which one I like most in practical purpose. I feel like this is going to be the biggest decision in my life ever...

I will probably go with... I´m sorry FLAE... a PS3. Made a deal with my mother, I´ll buy one console now, and the other in 1,5, 2 years. I´m going to see where I can buy these things.



Why is this site dead GODAMNED!!!
Sorry, just had to say that.

If you're planning to get Final Fantasy XIII and/or Heavy Rain, you won't regret PS3. The PS3 camp gets a strong boost from those two games.

Any advice about how on where to buy a PS3?

Your funeral. Not mine.