Which should I buy? A PS3 or XBOX 360?

[loves2splooge]

It really depends on your tastes. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are like the SNES and Sega Genesis of this gen. If you own either one to be honest, you can't really go wrong.

I got a 360 this spring because..

1) when you take into account the opinions of reviewers and the gaming community, the Xbox 360 has the stronger software lineup (look at metacritic and compare the number of AAA's, AA's, A's, etc., the high attach rates, xbox live arcade`s quality lineup, 360 having a history of better multi-plats due to the difficulty of programming for the PS3, 360 all-time software sales being almost caught up to the wii despite having an inferior install base.) And yes I know that we all have different tastes but I do read reviews and take them account when I buy games so I don't see why I shouldn't look at game reviews when selecting a console.

2) I noticed that second-hand 360 games tend to be cheaper than second-hand PS3 games on ebay, amazon, etc. (considering that I'm a bargain-hunter and I only bought 2 full priced new releases, that's important to me) It doesn`t surprise me that 360 games are cheaper used considering that in the Americas the 360 sold a lot more software and when you have more software in circulation, the prices in the resale market are naturally going to be low. Software is the single largest expense when owning a console (unless you pirate, which would make the 360 even cheaper compared to PS3! lol) so software prices matter.

3) I'm not big into PC gaming. I own a laptop that can do everything I need it for besides maybe top-of-the-line gaming and there's no way I'm building a rig seperately solely for the purpose of gaming (not to mention, all the upgrades you gotta do along the way). And console-wise, the Xbox has a lot more PC games in addition to their true exclusives (and lots of times, the Xbox version of a game will be out much earlier). So if I can't run a particular PC game, I can just play the Xbox version. And given how I hate troubleshooting PC games and what not, I'd much rather the convenience of playing the Xbox version even if it can run on my laptop. My laptop`s GPU isn`t exactly a world beater anyway so why go for the less convenient option if I probably won`t get much more performance, if at all, out of the PC version? The PS3 console exclusives (as in PS3/PC multiplat but no 360 version) seem to be mostly MMOs and I hate MMOs.

If you are going to look at price alone (hardware wise at least) then yes the PS3 is better. Both consoles are at $300 but you get free online (though PSN is not as good) and you don`t have to buy rechargeable kits or batteries with the PS3. Software wise, most would say that that the 360 has the advantage there. I don`t consider Blu-Ray to be much of an advantage with the PS3 because you`ll want to save your PS3`s laser for games anyway. The Playstation brand is infamous for weak lasers and it was stupid of me to play all those DVD videos on my PS2. Luckily the drive didn`t burn out. If your blu-ray drive gives out on you, you`re going to have to pay $150+ to Sony to fix it for you after the standard warranty. At least with the 360 you get three years coverage for RRoD and e74 and you can always just buy an Arcade and snap in your old HDD if you really need a new Xbox. Standalone blu-ray players are cheaper these days so you might as well buy those if you really want to watch blu-rays. I wouldn`t recommend using your Xbox to play DVD videos either. DVD players are dirt cheap.