I have a crt, but I'll look into it...

Right. That's the first step. Get a nice, new, HD LCD.

Throw a coin...

Depends on which games appeal to you. I see more of ps3 games appeal to me but I still favor 360. Why? Cos PS3 is damn expensive! If it was $300, it's a no brainer for me (due to exclusive games). Ok let's assume PS3 is the superior and potentially it really is but...

360 may or may not be cheaper than ps3 depending on features of it you use, but the access price is surely lower, meaning, with 360, you dont have to incur a huge expense all at once. You dont get a bluray drive with 360, but most people dont need it now, and its going to be much cheaper in the future anyway. You may need a hard drive for online content but you can add this when you have more money, instead you can start playing arcade NOW. With PS3, all has to be paid now!

360's Online is better, there is also Netflix (A great video service!). PS3 online is free but apparently not as good as 360's. Well, it's an additional cost to 360 (some services are free) but you pay it annually, so it feels smoother thanks to superior online.

Multiplatform games are usually better on 360, and there are more games available (most people dont count the PC-360 games, but I always prefer console versions, so it matters to me).

So Let me summarize...
If PS3 exclusive games appeal to you more than 360 exclusives,
If you can pay $400-$500 all at once,
If you are not interested in PC games that are released on 360 but not on PS3
If you dont wanna pay for online but can suffer a poorer service,
Then go with PS3

If 360 exclusive games appeal to you more than PS3 exclusives
If you cannot pay $400 at once
If you prefer playing console versions of games also available on PC (or if you dont have a gaming PC while PC games appeal to you)
If you can handle an annual fee for a better online
If you dont want bluray/wi-fi or are ready to pay for them later
Then go with Xbox 360

Ask yourself which exclusives are more appealing to you.

Other than that I would get a PS3.

Bluray (since I assume you would already have an HTDV)
Free internet
non-Exclusives are nearly identical
I would require wifi, and after that the PS3 is the same price or cheaper. (I wouldn't buy an arcade)

360 is unexpensive and there is tons of games under $20

just buy both ^_^

For most part, both consoles are actually very, very similar.

Most games are on both consoles
Both consoles have decent online capabilities
Both consoles have great exclusives
Most of all, both consoles delivers the same type of experience.

Because of this, choosing your console has never been harder than this generation. Unless you lean more toward the Wii type of experience, then your choice is easy.

So what it comes down to then is not really the software, but the hardware and what you are currently equipped with at home:

PRO's for PS3:
Blu-ray
Wi-Fi
Bigger HDD

PRO's for Xbox:
Cheaper
Live(?)
(I'm sure xbox fans will find a third thing to put in here, but basically the cheaper part could account for all three spots).


So, if you are in a wi-fi less apartment and already own a blu-ray player, the choice is simple. If you don't play that much online and you are poor, the choice is again simple. The bottom line is how much are the Playstation 3's features worth for you, how much more do you want to pay for them compared to what's on the xbox?

Good luck!

Luckily for you, netflix has more non hd content than HD then!

Oh yes!  The 360 is the "poor" mans console.  Luckily enough for us PS3 owners there are no poor people who own it, thank god.