[Chainblade]

well I've been without a gaming console for a couple of years. The last one I had was a Playstation 2. Since I will be on my own soon, I thought I'd invest in one so I have something else to do.

I guess what really matters is the games. But these days, the consoles do so much more. The Nintendo Wii looks nifty with it's interesting controller interface but is there really any MUST HAVE games on there? The Wii is probably the most inexpensive of the bunch I'd assume.

Then there is the Playstation. It is the most expensive. I understand it has blu ray so it's actually a good value but I don't care about blue ray. It would be nice but I wouldn't pay extra for it. I've always enjoyed the games on the Playstation series. Has the trend continued on the Playstation 3? It also has backwards compatibility with PS1/PS2 right?

Last, that leave the XBox 360. I've never owned an Xbox before. The price seems pretty good. How are the games? From what I've seen, they look pretty good. I especially like how it can stream music/video from a PC. Right now, I use a 3rd computer hooked up to my TV for that. Be nice to just retire that PC and stream it from my main PC. Is the Xbox 360 backwards compatible with XBox games? That would be pretty cool if it could as I didn't get to experience the original Xbox experience. I guess I'm a tad bit confused about the different versions of the XBox 360. Are there some versions that I should stay away from because of problems?

I haven't researched a whole lot but I'm leaning towards the Xbox 360 as it seems the best value for me. any thoughts?

[Daveyiv2k1]

I've played all 3, and I love my 360. I absolutely can't stand the freakin Wii, its just not fun at all. There are more games that i'm interested in for the xbox than there are the playstation. Also, like you said the streaming from the PC is an awesome touch, I use it all the time. About backwards compatibility, it is backwards compatible with most of the original xbox games, with more being added with each update. You can check xbox.com for a list of games that are backwards compatible.

[Chainblade]

Originally Posted by Daveyiv2k1

I've played all 3, and I love my 360. I absolutely can't stand the freakin Wii, its just not fun at all. There are more games that i'm interested in for the xbox than there are the playstation. Also, like you said the streaming from the PC is an awesome touch, I use it all the time. About backwards compatibility, it is backwards compatible with most of the original xbox games, with more being added with each update. You can check xbox.com for a list of games that are backwards compatible.

thanks, that pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. It will probably be what I pick up sometime in the near future.

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by GiggidyGee

What does backwards compatible mean?

Google
Wikipedia

[Juballharshaw]

Originally Posted by Dustin

Google
Wikipedia

Originally Posted by GiggidyGee

What does backwards compatible mean?

Let me google that for you

[Torx]

360

wii and ps3 exclusive titles are garbage.

[Chainblade]

backwards compatible, for example, means that the XBox 360 can play the original Xbox games and that the Playstation 3 can play Playstation 2 games.

[namelessentity]

I really don't suggest a PS3. Everything is basically multi-platform or 360 exclusive. All the PS3 can really offer you is Blu-Ray and Metal Gear/Little Big Planet.

I have both systems, and the only reason I keep my PS3 around is for Blu-Ray movies.

[Chainblade]

ya that's what it seems, thanks nameless.

man, who would had thought microsoft would bring out a console and overtake nintendo and sony. i never did, that's for sure.

but ya, it seems it's unanimous for the xbox 360 and i agree. thanks all.

[-=Lurker=-]

Well I have a PS3 and love it. But as for backwards compatibility on the PS3, the different systems have different compatibility. AFAIK the 60 GB (which they stopped making) was the closest to 100% compatibility with PS2 games. Next is the 80 gig with less % and then the lowest compatibility (~40%) with the 40 gig. I debated between the 80 and 40 because of the storage space but got the 40 after all was over and done. I have ~10 PS3 games and go online aswell as single player campaigns with all of them and have only used 45% storage.

I play the 360 once in a while and honestly don't see a big difference between the two in MOST games.

[tweakmonkey]

I switched to PS3 from Xbox 360... I had an Xbox 360 from day one and it was a good console. Then it got red ring of death like so many others. I lost all my save games because I had to upgrade to an Elite (there were no Premiums in stock and I was going to have to wait 2-weeks).

Other than that, two things I didn't like about Xbox 360 were that it required Xbox Live Gold ($5/month) to play online (PS3 has free online gaming) and get some new demos, plus it was extremely loud. Mine would vibrate the desk I had it on nearly to pieces. My Premium was a bit quieter, but nothing like the PS3.

I also have a projector and prefer to have HD movies since they're a huge improvement over regular DVD. HD-DVD lost the war, so the Blu-Ray made it an easy option. If you don't plan on watching HD movies now, considering what you may be doing in 1 year or so. Blu-Ray won't last forever, but there's enough momentum to make it a good choice for Netflix if you use it.

There are some good PS3 exclusives and most games are multi-platform, but I don't buy many games these days so I stopped caring. The PS3 can run a somewhat crippled Linux and has a web browser that's not great-but-is-getting-better (if you have a KB/Mouse it's okay)... I don't know if the Xbox has this feature yet.

Edit - The controller batteries tend to last a lot longer for me than the Xbox 360 one, that didn't even come with a rechargeable pack that I bought for $30 or something. I don't think the console had Wifi (??) either. Although I prefer the feel of the Xbox 360 controller and use it for PC gaming.

I also switched for the G25 steering wheel support. The Xbox 360 requires you to use the Microsoft wheel.

What's the price difference these days? /lazy

[-=Lurker=-]

Yeah the +'s for the PS3 are built in wifi (an accesory for xbox), blue-ray media, and free online gaming (though many say that LIVE has better structure).

I dunno what the prices are but I know XBOX prices have dropped recently. As far as the PS3 models, if you don't need the media card readers, just get the 40 gig and if you need to you can upgrade the HDD later (soon to be a sony upgrade.. or just do it yourself).

[tweakmonkey]

Mine's the cheapie 40gb. It still has Wifi and HDMI though which is nice.

[-=Lurker=-]

Mine aswell.

[tweakmonkey]

BTW if you want an Xbox 360 check this:
Slickdeals.net

[-=Lurker=-]

One of the biggest factors between the two is people's experiences with them. My son got a 360 for Christmas and it had the whole ring-o-death nearing summertime. So being the go-getter 10 year old he is, he contacted MS himsef and had a casket sent to him. He sent it in. He was out of commission for about 3-4 weeks. He recieved the replacement refurbished unit and after a month, it scrathed up most all of his games. After that, it went in the trash.

2 months later I went from a MS XBOX user to a first time Sony PS user.

[Torx]

you guys are talking hardware but havent mentioned anything about good games
and thats the point OF a console.. am i right?

the games get scratched when moving it from horiz to vertical/vice versa

im on my 3rd 360

[Steve Juneau]

What are you doing moving your console while it's reading a game though? :-/

You wouldn't move your PC when it was doing that would you?!

I'm on my second 360 in about 3 years, this one is a brand new Arcade though and have had it for about 6 months and it's working fine so far.

The exclusives for the 360 are way better than the PS3's. Gears 1+2, Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising and someone else would say Halo 3 but I don't like it

So, one more vote for 360 over here

[randomtask]

I like my PS3, traded in my 360 for it.

[-Seven-]

I sold my 360 to get a ps3.

Will be buying a 360 my next time home again.

I like the 360 alot more. Better titles and the UI is much better for online play.