Xbox 360 or PS3?

[mrboo123]

I'm planning on finally joining the current gen of consoles, now that I have a monitor that be used for the PC and consoles. The games I plan on playing on the console of choices are sports, racing sim, rockband/guitar hero and adventure/RPGs. If I got any FPS, it would be for the PC. Online is nice, but not extremely important.

What does poly think is right for me?

[Asher]

360 has the biggest and best game selection, and almost always the best version of multiplatform games. But Xbox Live is not free to play online games.

PS3 has less selection with free online games, and usually slightly inferior multiplatform versions of games.

IMHO 360 is the best gaming console, PS3 is behind it.

[DrSpike]

360 exclusives have been better, but PS3 starting to fight back. Sports & Rock Band/GH are multi-platform so no issue there (I'd say most multi-platform games any difference is very minimal so wouldn't base a decision on that) but for racing you have Forza 3 on the 360 compared to GT5 being released in 2010 on the PS3. As Asher says, Live is better for online gaming but will cost around £30 a year, and you don't seem to be that worried about MP.

Only a complete fanboy would fail to mention that the 360 has historically been very unreliable. But reports around the later models are that failure rates are lower, and MS have been really good about replacing consoles.

If I had to choose today, I'd go for the 360 (again).

[Asher]

The 360's historical reliability for consoles that have not been in production for two years, combined with the fact that those failures are covered by a 3-year warranty (vs 1 year on the PS3) makes that point extremely ridiculous. There exist class-action lawsuits pertaining to PS3 failures as well, and they're not as rare as you may think. Quite a few people at Beyond3D have had the "yellow light of death" on their PS3s.

You may as well mention the PS2's notorious unreliability in the same breath, as it's just as relevant.

[Wiglaf]

extremely ridiculous.

[DrSpike]

I think it's a perfectly reasonable point to make in this discussion. And I also mentioned that the later models are more reliable (though still not as reliable as one would hope).

[Asher]

I think it's a perfectly reasonable point to make in this discussion. And I also mentioned that the later models are more reliable (though still not as reliable as one would hope).

I'm curious, just where are you getting these numbers on the latest reliability statistics?

The latest have only been out under a year with the new motherboard, CPU, GPU, and cooling system. There ARE no numbers public.

DrSpike

It's fine to say previous models with completely different motherboards and older, hotter/more power hungry CPUs and GPUs with inferior cooling systems were not reliable. No one disputes this. But to make up bull**** on a brand new design with no reliability numbers public is quite another.

[Asher]

http://www.blasteroids.com/news/news_item.cfm/19165/xbox_360_failure_rate_still_highest_says_squaretrade_study

Perhaps more notably, the report concludes that the new "Jasper" based Xbox 360s, which began shipping in late 2008, have almost completely killed RROD, and SquareTrade expects the failure rate to continue to fall as 2009 continues.

While they didn't start shipping til very late (Nov? 08) they weren't available in widespread retail presence til Feb '09 because all of the '08 Holiday stuff was built long in advance.

[mrboo123]

360 exclusives have been better, but PS3 starting to fight back. Sports & Rock Band/GH are multi-platform so no issue there (I'd say most multi-platform games any difference is very minimal so wouldn't base a decision on that) but for racing you have Forza 3 on the 360 compared to GT5 being released in 2010 on the PS3. As Asher says, Live is better for online gaming but will cost around £30 a year, and you don't seem to be that worried about MP.

Only a complete fanboy would fail to mention that the 360 has historically been very unreliable. But reports around the later models are that failure rates are lower, and MS have been really good about replacing consoles.

If I had to choose today, I'd go for the 360 (again).

I've had experinces with both franchises. GT4 (PS2) was pretty good, but the braindead AI killed it for me. Also the license started to get annoying.

Forza 2 AI seemed to be much better, but I only got a few hours into it. Could be just as braindead as the cars get better.

But basically there isn't much console exclusive games out there (not mention Nintendo).

Also, I know of the red ring of death, also just read on the yellow light of death.

[Asher]

The bottom line is if you buy a PS3 or 360 today, they have virtually identical reliability.

This is why I didn't mention this in the thread, as it's a red herring and completely irrelevant to someone buying a new console in December 09 or later. DrSpike apparently doesn't know what he's talking about, but I, for one, am not surprised.

[DrSpike]

Odd that you can make such an unequivocal statement when as you've said above there are no stats.

In contrast all I said was that there are (obviously informal) reports the newer models are more reliable, but that failures are still occuring. To what degree it's not yet clear. I'm not sure why this is so hard for you to accept. It's like you take any implied criticism of MS personally.

[Asher]

Odd that you can make such an unequivocal statement when as you've said above there are no stats.

There are no real stats. Just estimations.

However, knowing what we do about the cause of the problems and what's changed in the Jasper models, it's very reasonable to assume it's been solved. All anecdotal evidence and third-party estimations all coincide with this.

To claim reliability is still not where we'd like it vs the PS3 is horse****, and if you knew what you were talking about you'd know it.

You're wrong. Man up.

[Asher]

Odd that you can make such an unequivocal statement when as you've said above there are no stats.

There are no real stats. Just estimations.

However, knowing what we do about the cause of the problems and what's changed in the Jasper models, it's very reasonable to assume it's been solved. All anecdotal evidence and third-party estimations all coincide with this.

To claim reliability is still not where we'd like it vs the PS3 is horse****, and if you knew what you were talking about you'd know it.

You're wrong. Man up.

All reasonable reports have shown the RROD issues are, for all intents and purposes, gone. The "informal reports" you are citing are all just going to be random people claiming they've had RRODs. When you're talking about many millions of consoles, having a couple here and there does not constitute a trend or is in any way statistically significant.

Go squirm some more. You know I enjoy it.

[DrSpike]

I haven't made any comparative statements versus the PS3 - I think you need to read more carefully.

I said that the newer 360 models seem more reliable, but there are still failures, even if not RROD. There was a spate of e74 errors earlier this year that go beyond the occasional person out of millions just experiencing standard hardware failure. I've seen claims this is fixed now too - but frankly given the history, and the fact by definition 1 year+ tests cannot have occured, I'm waiting until there's more data before blithely assuming MS are totally on top of the failure issues.

This is called healthy scepticism. Honestly, it's like MS have you on retainer.

[Asher]

I haven't made any comparative statements versus the PS3 - I think you need to read more carefully.

I think you need to read more carefully. Look at the subject of the thread. When you're discussing either console in a thread which is asking for a comparison of the two, the comparison is implicit.

You know, I'm so right that it hurts. You refuse to admit you are wrong. Whatever. It should be clear to everyone reading what just happened, and I was On Top.