With our closing date approaching on our house, we went out and bought a washer and dryer. The deal we got was pretty good and left some money left for a sweet LED 40" TV. We haven't had one in a decade and we think we might have the discipline needed to own one now. Long story short, I thought I might be able to swing a console as well. I've never owned one. I've used them on social occasions, and rather liked the Wii, but I'm not sure if it encompasses all the sorts of games that I would want to play. So, give me your opinions and reasons for them please. xBox? PS? Wii? Is there something new on the 3-4 month horizon?
Will you be playing it online? If so, get whichever your friends have. I got a 360 as the friends I game with have one. My brother got a PS3 as he doesn't game online and wanted a blu-ray player. PS3 - If you don't have one already, the PS3 is also an upgradable blu-ray player which'd go nice with your massive tv. - online use is free - has Lovefilm. - PS3 has Uncharted - Steam! - BBC iPlayer, though I think it may still be non-HD only - ...i really don't know enough about the PS3 360 - The 360 has a better online service, as in less lag and dropping of connections (this being from friends/colleagues who have both), though this'll cost either £5.99 for a month or £35 for 12months. This isn't needed if you're not gaming online, but it IS needed for some of online features. My brother-in-law doesn't subscribe but plays the same games I do. - You can get Kinect to dance about in front of your telly or go to DisneyWorld. - Doesn't have lovefilm, but you can stream movies from Microsoft's Zune, and Netflix will be coming to the UK soon. - 360 has Halo / Gears - it will soon be able to use youtube (as the PS3 can).. if this is a benefit. - you can use the controllers with your PC without hassle. Both can stream content from your PC wirelessly. There's pretty much no diff between games and graphics (the recent Battlefield 3 thing where the 360 had a separate disc for improved textures was down to not all 360s having hard-drives, which the Frostbite 2 engine needs to stream the textures from) If you get the 360, get the one with the hard drive. EDIT: forgot about the Wii! Wii - cheapest - more games for kids (if you have a family) - Zelda: Skyward Sword! - while it CAN stream from your pc, I found it annoyingly difficult to set up and even then is was quite jumpy. Ended up just getting a long monitor cable from the PC to the TV and leaving it connected. - can also do BBC iPlayer, though again non-HD only. Though, most people I know who bought a Wii now barely if ever use it.
I have all three main consoles. If I were buying from scratch and I had to choose one of them, I would probably go for the PS3, mainly because of its Blu-ray player. Xbox Live is better than PSN for online gaming, so I would miss that (plus all my mates are on XBL!). The Xbox has a better controller. If the Xbox had a blu-ray player I would buy that, but unfortunately it doesn't and is never likely to have one! There's nothing really on the horizon at the moment, the only announced new console is the Wii-U from Nintendo but no-one really knows what that is going to be like and it's likely to be late 2012 before its out anyway. The main question is I suppose is what type of games will you be playing on it? Will you mainly use it as a media hub? Is it for social occaisions? Do you want it simply to look good with your new TV (don't laugh as that's exactly one of the reasons a friend of mine bought a PS3)?
I'd look second hand regardless of what you purchase. Providing your careful you should be able to get a console at about half the price of an equivalent new one.
As above really, buy whichever your friends have if you'll be playing online. IIRC you're in the US now, so doubt you'll be that interested in LoveFilm, iPlayer and 4od which will be coming to 360 before Christmas.
Yes they can, however, the xbox's streaming is extremely shoddy and frequently results in choppy playback and another point is that it is very limited on what it will play unless connected to xbox live (I can't believe they still do that, it's so retarded). Personally I would probably recommend the PS3. As a media unit it's much better than the xbox (better streaming, blu-ray, lovefilm, iplayer etc. as said by others), apart from a few obvious exclusives it's pretty much all the same games as the xbox, if you want some energetic action PS Move is far superior to kinect but not quite as much fun as Wii (BUT archey, bocce and frisbee on Sports Champions are painfully addictive but no bowling ). TL;DR From the sound of it you wont be a full on console gamer with it XBL isn't really necessary and it gives the superior media options and the choice of waving your arms about like a mentalist. IF you are going in for some major online console gaming then xbox is the way to go, XBL defecates giant piles of monkey poo over PSN from a great height. IF it's just a thing to have a quick blast on with people round then just grab a Wii and a blu-ray player.
Agree with Throbbi, if you can see yourself playing a lot of online multiplayer, get the 360 for the much better online service (but you will need to forkout £40 a year for it). Games also look marginally better on the 360, but its not night and day for the most part. But if you can see yourself watching Bluray movies or streaming lots of media content, you could go down the PS3 route. Just a note, the 360 is getting a new dashboard on Dec 6th which will also some bring in some new features such as better TV streaming and so forth (possibly make it better than the PS3 in this regard). How well they implement them is another story. http://tech.uk.msn.com/microsoft/new-xbox-live-dashboard-6-dec http://www.pcworld.com/article/2445...dows_8like_interface_drops_on_december_6.html
Yeah, so I'm closer to 40 then not. I doubt the few friends I have are playing games online, or at least don't have the time to. As for media, if I want a Blu-Ray player, I will buy a stand alone player that is region unlocked. So that doesn't really sway me. Chances are, I'll stream media from an online service. Netflix is $8 a month, and should keep us happy. If we spring for cable, a DVR will cover us there. TBH, I won't be investing too much in the media since we know we'll only be here for 36 months. I'm leaning away from the SP3, because I dislike Sony as a company.
but watch out 360's LIVE can only be cancelled over the phone if your in the UK. Id pick the PS3 tbh, blu ray player, free online which ive never had a problem with, Steam, nicer looking interface (none of that avatar childlike shite). Plus it has iPlayer, Lovefilm, and it can play DVDs, just like the outdated xbox can do. I ended up modding my 360 sold it, and bought a PS3 and put a 500GB HDD into it. PS3 also looks nicer (the original console, not the slim). Also games that have alot of cutscenes and are RPG like (FFXIII) don't require 3-4 discs and their cutscenes arent compressed.
If you are buying a games console I reckon the primary concern is, well, games. So I advise you to make your choice based on the type of games you like. Both the 360 and the PS3 have the big franchises (Modern Warfare, Street Fighter, etc) but when it comes to the exclusives it's my experience that the 360 is better served in the shooter genre and the PS3 (being popular in Japan) is better served in the "something a bit different" arena. As for the Wii, well apart from a few exceptions, the market is saturated by "family games". The other consideration is the motion controllers. The Wii and PS3 are pretty similar and can be used in most rooms. The 360 has the Kinect which seems like a great idea but has some caveats like needing a big room and some lag. Both the PS3 and the 360's Kinect have yet to come up with a quality motion controlled game and, arguably, there is very little on the release schedule that looks likely to change that. IMHO, right now, motion control on the PS3 and 360 are a waste of money. Only on the Wii does motion control seem anything other than "forced". Probably the best thing you can do is spend a few quid on a multi-format games magazine (Games, Edge, etc.) and a few back issues, read through and see what sort of games get you salivating and, most importantly, what system they are on. Hope that helps.
I own all three consoles and all have their merits and weaknesses. Overall I would probably say the 360 edges it with a better controller, online gaming capabilities, indie games and Kinect. 4od, Lovefilm, BBC are coming to the Xbox over the Xmas period so the ps3 will fall further behind although it does have a blu-ray player. Saying that, my BR player has remaimed largely unused as I'm happy with the upscaling both consoles offer.
Not any more, you can do it on xbox.com since the update. And you only had to phone them if you have auto renewal turned on. And he's in the US. As you won't be playing online much or needing a BR drive JJ, the games really should be the key choice. Gears of War, Halo and Forza or Uncharted, Killzone and Gran Turismo?
*runs in* BUY a PC!!! *runs out* Seriously - if you gonna be online with your console - who's been hacked more, Microsoft or Sony? Which one has more of the games you want to play? Thats all you really have to think about. /2cents
The vast majority of blu-rays are region free anyway so its moot point tbh. For the money the PS3 is a great media player and the software updates keep it up to date. BTW you can stream netflix to your PS3.
I agree with Draksis, just with more of a cool swagger then a run. Think more about the games you want. Remember people that the poor lad has never had a console, so has missed out on classics. Renowned games (I can remember); Ico, Leg end of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid, Metroid Prime, Halo, Goldeneye, Supe Mario Bros, GTA3 (I think the funniest of the series), Lego Star Wars
Valid point. There are games from the past which cry out to be played by a new console owner just to experience how awesome they were.
If you will be moving between North America and Europe, then you may run into region incompatibilities with certain XBox games. i.e Some games are region locked to only work on a console from the same region. Whereas on the PS3 all games are region free (with 1 random exception i think).
What games do you want to play? Seems many of your requirements can be met by both the 360 and the PS3 while the unique features of each don't seem to really be deal breakers either so exclusive games could decide it. To help out at all, here are the reason I got a PS3: -Blu-ray player. You've said it's a non-issue but I thought the same at the time, figured I'd just get a BR drive for my PC. Well, two years later I've just been using the PS3. -I like many of the exclusive games. Metal Gear series, Demon's Souls, Little Big Planet, God of War, Gran Turismo, most of the PS3 exclusives appeal to me more than the 360 exclusives. -PSN is free, I like to play online both with friends and with strangers so this is nifty. -Netflix. Not sure if the 360 has this or not. -Plays PS1 games, doesn't seem like an issue for you. -I like the controller better.
tbh, while both PS3 and xbox 360 are awesome machines, they still can't get you into a game as quick as a N64 Sam
