3 Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3: aBattle Royale!

So- my friend Matthew Townsend and I have been going back and forth on the 360 vs PS3 argument, and I felt I would make a clear argument, all written out, on what the advantages/pros and disadvantages/cons are for both systems.

Let's start with the 360:

Now, there are absolutely myriad things that are good on the 360. No doubt.

Let's take a look at the first of the two biggest pros on the 360: Xbox Live

The Xbox Live system has been in place for many, many years now. I has had time since the original Xbox to grow and expand, allowing Microsoft to perfect an already impeccable system. The voice overs (although they make everyone sound like the most annoying seven-year-old kid in existence) work absolutely brilliantly mid-gameplay- something that has been duplicated almost exactly only through X-Fire on the computer.

No only that, but the format of Xbox Live (i.e. managing your achievements, friends, etc.) is well-done and very user-friendly (not so typical of Microsoft).

Of course, there is the negative side of the Xbox Live system. Live costs around $50 a year for a Gold membership, the highest version available. This is, in all truth, not such a crazy price for a full year. However, when compared with FREE, it still hits that barrier of costing at least a quarter of the price of the console.

Another supposed plus to the Live system is cross-platform gaming with Windows computers. I have yet to see it placed into any games worth noting, and it is unfair to pit Halo players on a console against PC users. First-person shooters, the inevitably popular choice for the Windows Live supporters, are simply unbalanced. Console users cannot move with the twitch-accuracy of the mouse. There is auto-aim to correct for that, but it still doesn't really match up. Plus, we all know RTS games would just be stupid cross-platform, with the PC automatically having the upper-hand. Pretty much, that only leaves some third-person action/shooters and MMO's.

The PS3 has recently incorporated the new concept of Home, a Second Life-esque (minus the naked people flying around and morons who have no lives) world where one can design a very realistic avatar and walk around a beautiful 1080p world. There, one can play mini-games, participate in current, live events, and watch trailers and other videos (like a live stream of E3 09). Granted, there are many features promised and not yet delivered, such as having the ability to invite friends to your house in-game and sitting around the tv to watch any videos on your hard drive or listen to the cd player with all of your music coming through live.

I suppose it's worth noting, the Microsoft avatars are available for creation and use, but they are essentially more detailed Mii's that don't do anything or go anywhere. Kind of pointless, if you ask me...

All in all, Live is not bad. It costs yearly, however, a major downer for me. Also, PS3 Home is absolutely brimming with potential and, as it has finally gone live for the public, it is going to quickly realize its full capabilities (hopefully). When that comes through, it will blast the 360's sad Wii-imitating avatars out of the water in my opinion.

Now we'll take a look at the other major Xbox draw- its lineup of exclusives and other games...

Note: This is not a list of ALL of the games, but the big players.

Beautiful Katamari
Blue Dragon 1 and 2
Crackdown 1 and 2
Fable (one and) II- The first one was was great, but I still have an old Xbox
Fallout Extra DL Content
Forza Motorsport 1, 2, 3
Gears of War 1 and 2
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, XBL Exclusive Content
Halo 3, ODST, Reach, Wars
Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 (Too bad they are exclusive- good games!)
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise/Party Animals

List of PS3 Exclusives:

Afrika
Agent
The Agency (PC and PS3 exclusives)
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
Fat Princess
Final Fantasy Versus XIII, maybe Final Fantasy XIV
Flower
God of War III
Gran Turismo 5
Heavenly Sword
Heavy Rain
Infamous
Katamari Forever (Which looks awesome)
Killzone 2 (Best LOOKING game on the consoles thus far)
The Last Guardian
LittleBigPlanet
MAG
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Online
PixelJunk Eden, Racers, Shooters, Monsters
Quantum (Looks like a Gears clone, but is that really so bad?)
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Quest for Booty, Tools of Destruction
Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance 2
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Unreal Tournament 3
Valkyria Chronicles
White Knight Chronicles

Here, it appears that PS3 has the edge. However, it really is in the opinion of the gamer, because certain games appeal to some more than others. As a PS3 fan myself, not all of those PS3 games are high on my list. Likewise, some of the 360 games are very strong pulls for me in the direction of the 360.

Now we turn to practicality and functionality of the systems. The PS3 has a bunch of inputs- USB (USB 2.0) slots, 1 SD card slot, and 1 CompactFlash (Type I, II) slot. It also has bluetooth, helpful for wireless connectivity to external peripherals, an HDMI port, and built-in wi-fi. It also supports Blu-Ray discs, a feature absent in the 360- HD movies are only part of it. Blu-Ray discs allow PS3 games to cram around five times the amount of data than DVDs. The PS3 also will upscale any DVD or video played on the system to at least 720p resolution, a noticeable difference on my television.



The 360 does have support for up to four wireless game controllers, 3 USB 2.0 ports, and 2 memory unit slots. It has significantly less hard drive space, as well as no automatic wireless- that will cost an additional 100 dollars for the add-on. No HDMI output forces the use of component cables, producing HD but not as easily (more set-up).

I am also refraining from mentioning the incredible burnout rate of the 360 and its poor manufacturing problems, because that's a whole other story. And the PS3 did have a line of poorly made blu-ray lenses on one or two lines of PS3's, so it wasn't unique (although much more widespread in the former).

The edge once again goes to the PS3.

Well, that's that for now. Weigh in with your opinions! I'm sure I left stuff out, please comment and I will either reply or add to the original note.

A few additions from Noah Siegal are below:

"Hey, the card readers on the PS3 were phased out after the first generation release. With the current 80GB models, there are no readers, and only 2 USB slots. Additionally, there is no backwards compatibility (in the currently produced models)."

"And don't refrain from commenting on the outrageous failure rate of the 360. I bought one about about 2 months ago, and 2 weeks ago it got the E74 error. I'm getting it back tomorrow and MS fixed it for free, but consider that."

Another pro is that "you can upgrade the [PS3] hard drive with almost any 2.5" laptop hard drive, as opposed to the small, proprietary HDDs that the 360 uses."- It is very easy to swap out your HDD for larger one, and without voiding warranty, as well.

"That's not to say that the PS3 doesn't fail, but not nearly as much as the 360..."

"Also consider that the newer 360s with the Falcon and Jasper chipset do have HDMI ports."

"All in all, I have both systems, and I love them both."

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