Birthday time: Xbox or PS3??? (NLC)

[Dark]

Already have a Wii and an old PS2.

Thinking of either a Xbox or PS3 as a birthday present idea for the kids to buy me!

Was originally thinking PS3 but now I don't know.......... help!

Looking to play games like FIFA11 & Medal Of Honor. Also want to be able to use as a media player for films, etc stored on my NAS.
The PS3 is tempting because of the Blue Ray player although maybe this isn't the future, maybe downloads are better?
The Kinetic controller on the Xbox looks so much better than the PS3 Move.
The XBox also seems to be about £50 cheaper.

Has anyone got both? What does SE recommend?

Thanks, Mark

[haggis catcher]

My son swears by the PS3, and i would say that the majority of his mates also have the PS3. So lets see how many SE vote for the PS3 ?

[Shug]

People will recommend what they have

Take a look into the games you want to play. There's a decent amount of exclusives to each format. Also, and it pains me to say it, the XBox is an easier development platform for a lot of developers, as it's basically a PC - so you tend to see a lot of multi format games playing a little better on the XBox as it's the easier platform. Stuff developed on PS3 first tends to be excellent, though.

PS3 has a lot of media player functionality and I still use the Bluray player on mine several times a week (and being a bloke that sells Popcorn Hour media streamers, I'm in the vanguard of the whole digital delivery revolution - from my experience, physical media still has some legs in it)

If you play online - down to what you want to play. XBox live is the more stable platform, but it costs a monthly fee. PSN (now that it's patched and on the road to full recovery) is a great resource that had never let me down until the hacking b*stards had a go at it - and it's totally free.

No simple answer - for my 2c, it's PS3, but that's because I love driving games and you get GT5 + some other class driving games and the steering wheel peripherals on PS3 are in a different league.

[BiggestNizzy]

Having both I will say games are possibly slightly better on the xbox and Dance Nation on kinect is fantastic (Still can't do the tick tock but a double gunk thats a different matter)

For media the ps3 wins hands down blue ray is fantastic as is streaming high def stuff from my nas.

XBOX live is better but thats because you get what you pay for.

when all is said I use the PS3 more than the XBOX

[Blaque]

No definitive answer, I have both, with Move and Kinect.

Ps3 - GT5, Bluray, free online gaming, I love film downloads, Move.
Xbox - More games available, online gaming "Better" but subscription to pay, kinect.

Do you have a bluray player at the moment, if not, are you a collector/renter of DVDs? Would you buy/rent blurays?
Move games are thin on the ground, but less space needed to play them compared to kinect.
Kinect - alot better than the online reviews would have you believe, but does need abit of space.

Do the Ps3 exclusive games (GT5, Killzone3) appeal more than xbox exclusives? What new games are coming up that you would want to play.
The new Ps3 slim will not play your Ps2 games.

Just my 2p, sorry no "you must get x" answer.

Blaque.

[Justin]

Xbox for gaming, PS3 for everything else.

[Corranga]

Great responses so far, and all truths, just expanding a little, plus shoving my 2p in...

No definitive answer, I have both, with Move and Kinect.

Ps3 - GT5, Bluray, free online gaming, I love film downloads, Move.
Xbox - More games available, online gaming "Better" but subscription to pay, kinect.

Do the Ps3 exclusive games (GT5, Killzone3, Modnation Racers <- like Mario Kart, Little Big Planet <- kinda like Mario)
appeal more than xbox exclusives (Halo series, Forza Motorsport, Kinect) .

^ more exclusives added..

Xbox for gaming, PS3 for everything else.

This. I have both (well, all 3 if you count the Wii) and my 360 is where I choose to buy all my multiformat stuff.
My ps3 is used everytime we watch a DVD / download / blur ray, my 360 solely for games.
I rarely use my ps3 for games, tbh I own only the exclusives on ps3 (and not even all of them as the 360 often shows an alternative)

I also think the ps3 controller is a steaming pile of rhubarb, though as a ps2 player, you can maybe deal with it.. (whilst the 360 pad is probably the best one ever made!)

If you're planning to play online a lot, Xbox Live is best by far, and yes you have to pay for it, but subs can be had for as little as 24 quid on occasion, and 30ish regularly.

The 360 also has more cheap games available if that be your want.

I prefer Forza over GT5, in fact I never got into GT5 at all, despite being a bit fan of all previous GT games!

Chris

[Dark]

This is rapidly turning into a discussion about why I should get both! Does two children = two presents???

Please keep the suggestions coming.................

[StiflerMR2]

I have both and my ps3 hasn't been on in around 3 months, I stream films from Live or my PC over the xbox and although Live is a paid service it just works: All the time!

I'm a game designer by trade, we got our free office copies of Dirt3 the other day and I'd say the ratio was around 95% of people getting it on 360 with around 5% getting the PS3 copy.....Speaks volumes

Anything multi platform is bought on 360 and the pad is so much nicer to use. The number of cases of RSI in the office amongst the chaps forced to develop on the PS3 is ridiculous !!

The only downside is the lack of a good steering wheel on the 360, although you can buy a Fanatec GT2 which works on everything, but it costs a he'll of a lot.

[Corranga]

I'm a game designer by trade, we got our free office copies of Dirt3 the other day and I'd say the ratio was around 95% of people getting it on 360 with around 5% getting the PS3 copy.....Speaks volumes

Anything multi platform is bought on 360 and the pad is so much nicer to use. The number of cases of RSI in the office amongst the chaps forced to develop on the PS3 is ridiculous !!

The only downside is the lack of a good steering wheel on the 360, although you can buy a Fanatec GT2 which works on everything, but it costs a he'll of a lot.

Shhhh. I'm trying to save money and Dirt 3 is high on my list of things to forget about
What's it like compared to the 2nd one? Not sure why, but I adored the 1st one, played it to death (despite the slightly, erm, interesting handling model on tarmac), but never really gelled with the 2nd.

Glad to see someone else echoing my ps3 pad comments, everyone I know in the industry agrees that the pad is awful (and that's ignoring the technical aspects!) yet most non-games industry / casual gamers I know say exactly the opposite!

The official m$ wheel wasn't too bad especially considering it cost less than half of the ps3 compatible logitech wheels, but I reckon they oddly discontinued it and replaced it by officially licensing an inferior madcatz wheel?

Chris

[Ferg]

I think uptime of networks etc is not a valid comparison, it's PSN thats had troubles recently but XboxLive went through something similar a few years back.

Functionality wise they both do online gaming, media streaming etc. it's down to how well each does what.

I have a PS3 and I really like it. It's very good at playing media from media servers, usb harddrives etc and it has iPlayer, ITVPlayer, 4OD and LoveFilm built in now. I find it massively flexible in playable formats, all things that weren't available at launch and are evidence of continual improvement.

Because of the development differences you'll find slightly more titles on Xbox but nothing thats a deal breaker. All the big games are pretty much always available on both except the exclusives. This is annoying for people like me who can't have both, but which ever console you go with it's going to be the case. If theres something you MUST have and it's an exclusive, then maybe that should drive your decision.

Controller wise my experience is that the PS3 controller functionality is maybe slightly better and it's a lot lighter, but the XbOX ergonomics are slightly better. TBH as I had playstations for years, the controller doesn't bother me although I do change controls to use the triggers as little as possible as they are the most un-ergonomical part of it(you can get trigger extensions to help though).

I think the last thing to consider is what your friends have!? If you want to go online, it's good fun if you can play with people you know. But also note that if you go PS3, and enjoy online gaming then you could always come and join the OAPs clan. I spend most of my online gaming taking part in clan events which is much more fun than playing with the masses.

Have fun deciding, either way you'll be a happy bunny for sure.