oh about pay interet.... that about equals the price difference in my eyes... well probably not in the US but everywhere else it does.

and Disc swapping is cancelled by installs '(and necessity for disc space...)

eventually you will end up owning both systems (imo they are equal) but it is entirely up to u to decide which one to get first.

I wouldn't take friends into consideration, also if you buy PS3 and show it to them, they'll buy it too. (I did, they bought it)

I'm going to suggest this.

1) don't buy for potential. People bought the PS3 for FFXIII and it's going to X360, so much for potential, they could have bought the X360, enjoyed games they like and get to play FFXIII. Just saying, the future changes and if you are looking past the near future you might as well wait.

2) make a list of exclusives you want for both consoles that are out now and in the next 6 months (confirmed). Whichever is "better" should probably be the console you choose. Personally, I couldn't find any X360 exclusives that I wanted and the differences between multiplatform games is minimal.

3) evaluate your online requirements. The fee for XBL turned me off to the system as I don't use it nearly often enough. I also would have had to buy the wireless adapter or run 100ft of Ethernet cable. I also don't have any local friends that have either system so that wasn't a factor.

4) determine if you want Blu-Ray. I really wanted blu-ray so I got a PS3 for cheap.

other notes

as far as I know, netflix only works in the US. I'm not sure about other counties, but that is the impression I was under.

The PS3 is region free for games, but not for movies. However, the DLC is region locked. I own LBP from the UK and I can't directly buy DLC for it.

If he chooses the playstation 3, he's going to buy it as a bluray player anyway. Asking someone if they're interested in bluray is like asking someone if they're interested in dvd. 

Ok people keep bringing up friends.. 2 own Ps3's, 5 own Wii's and 1 owns a 360 but all my other friends are PC gamers with no consoles apart from one who owns a Wii and 2 who own handhelds. This console won't really be about what my friends own as I already own the system that most have chosen.

Best choice is a PS3.

then obviously this is a non-factor. Like I said, it wasn't a factor in my decision, but you do need to weigh what is important to you and your situation.

Have you made your decision yet puffy?

I'm going to say buy a 360, mostly because xbox fans are underrepresented here. There's a lot of great games on XBLA, some good older games should be fairly cheap by now, and you can make yourself a nifty Mii knockoff. There should be some decent bundle deals as well.