it depends on what games u want ,
360 is better choice now IMO because 360 = shooters + RPGs
ps3 = shooters (u really have to change ur mind about KZ2) + uncertain RPGs
if u have a problem with paying for XBLive then this is going to swing the ball to PS3,
ahhhhh my head
as i said , tell me if u find the answer :)

If you're not flush with cash then I doubt you'll have the money to take advantage of that Blu Ray player anyway. You'll be paying extra to use the player anyway and if you're not going to use it for that reason then its of no use to you.

2nd hand consoles

The Xbox360 warranty is tranferable whilst the PS3 warranty is not, consider that if the PS3 breaks down you're far more likely to be out of pocket on repairs than with an Xbox360.

Price.

You can start out cheap with the Xbox360 Arcade and get one now/soon and start enjoying it straight away, whereas with a PS3 you'll be waiting for a bit longer. It's a difference in initial cost of $200 (Sept 7 pricing) between an Xbox360 and a PS3, and since you're going to be looking for the cheapest options possible its reasonable to assume just a cheap 2nd hand HDD for about $30-40

Games.

You like the Xbox360 exclusives a bit better which is great, and furthermore with a much wider/better selection of used games you can fill out your collection for cheaper rather than paying for new/near new games. This is important because if you buy a console for enjoyment and you feel that one will be more enjoyable to you than another you should ascribe a higher value to that console for that enjoyment.

Online/Friends

Do more of your friends own Xbox360s or PS3s? If you can share games with friends/play online with them you'll enjoy having the console more and it'll cost you less too because you won't need to buy so many games.

Also Xbox Live gold costs $40 per year, but its currently a better service and you can use deals such as the netflix partnership to stream 12,000 titles to your Xbox360. I don't know about the relative merits of either so I won't mention it, Xbox Live is considered to be better but I have absolutely no idea how to qualify that at all.

Reliability.

The current Xbox360 Falcons aren't too bad - if you go by the NeoGaf thread, and you get a 3 year warranty to go with every Xbox360. I wouldn't call it more reliable than a PS3 but if you were to compare a New Xbox360 to an older PS3 I would expect a new Xbox360 will cost you less over time than a 2nd hand PS3 due to that 3 year warranty. I personally wouldn't be concerned about the Xbox360 from a reliability perspective.

Edit: I say go for the Xbox360, its more fun for the $$$ unless more of your friends have PS3s.

Well I love RPG's, a limited amount of FPS titles but the ones I like are in the style of HL(2) and CoD4, action adventure games are my favorite I would say most of my time is spent on those then anything else, and then arcade style racing games the ones without all the customization and more focus on the racing itself (IE no GT5)

I think long term you would probably like Playstation 3 better, however, its all up to you, you need to answer a few questions:

1. Which exclusives would you rather have:

Fable 2 - Halo 3 - Gears of War 2 - Mass Effect - Too Human

or

Resistance 2 - Killzone 2 - Ratchet and Clank - Uncharted - MAG - Warhawk - God of War - Motorstorm - Little Big Planet


2. Will you ever buy a PC in the future that has dedicated graphics in it? If you do, than the 360 is a lame duck investment.

3. Do you own an HDTV? If so, would you care to buy blurays? (Also you mentioned the 30 dollar price tag, which the BDA has said will go down this Christmas for retail on discs)

4. Do you like the luxury of wifi, built in hard drives, cooler systems, and free online?

As of this moment, if I were you, I'd pick Xbox 360 over PS3. Only because of all the RPG goodness.

RROD still leave a bad taste, regardless of their claim that it's been fixed.

That's it with the PS3, "NO HIdden costs"! It is cheaper for a PS3 if u add it all up. Built in wireless, free online, HD's are much cheaper to replace. M$ loves taking your $ man.

I can't believe people are still asking this question!?

Think on this too, the 360's games are starting to hit a wall, the PS3 is only half way to it's wall. It is much more future proof. More and more games need space. The PS3 was built to last 10 years, but M$ built the 360 to last 4.

If u buy a 360 now, will u also buy M$ new system when it lauches in 2009/2010 too, [it is nearly 2009 after all]?

Will M$ continue to support the 360 when it has a new platform? [They don't have a very good track record for this now, do they?]

I would buy a PS3 just for LBP, if I didn't already have one.

It seems the wind is only blowing one way here. It seems a little unfair. Come on 360 people. Anyway, my opinion:

Last year I was in the same place as you, and I went PS3 after a great deal of deliberation. My made my choice for PS3 for the following reasons: reliability, family friendliness (I have kids, and the PS3 is better at catering to both kids and adults than the 360), backwards compatibility for PS2 games, Blu-Ray, included wi-fi, no further costs, the look of the machine (it looks great, in my opinion, in my living room), the open nature of the PSN, and a bunch of other, minor reasons.

The 360 almost dragged me in because I had several friends with one, and some of the exclusives looked appealing. However, as I could play many of those exclusives on PC, and I could not play many of the PS3 exclusives on PC, the latter was not much of a draw. Really, the only reason to buy the 360 for me was my friends had one, and that was seriously outweighed by the PS3's advantages I listed above (for me). So, I went with the PS3, and I could not be happier. It has been, in my opinion, my best purchase of the last year, and I use it almost every day for everything from upscaling DVDs to playing music and games, to making home movies, to printing photographs, to aiding tabletop roleplay (I'm a tabletop roleplaying games designer and artist), to playing Blu-Rays, to socialising. What I don't use it for is browsing the internet. As it stands, it's still pretty crap at that (but firmware upgrades keep on improving the service).

Lastly, as to the price: when I put together everything I wanted from my console, the PS3 was actually cheaper, and had no extra costs later for a service I believe should be free.

PS: If you do get one, buy a big hard drive. I've filled over 120 gigs already, and I'm adding new content every day, but perhaps I'm the exception, not the norm.

:)

Maxwell:
ver important question : when do u plan to get one????

I never said I don't like PS3, I'm just being very objective so I get informed on all the details =) I don't jump into things without knowing what I'm getting.  I could probably get a PS3 and UT3 with mods and mouse and keyboard support and be very happy with what I get but I want some good ideas of what is best for me, I don't want fanboy bias thrown on me =D

SONY is a Japanese company. Expect many, many Jrpgs to come. Heck White Knight Chronicals, FF13 and FF13 verses, nuff said!

U can get an adapter to fit to your PS3 to plug in the 360's remote, pretty easy eh!