Playstation 3 vs Xbox 360 - my take on it

[Scotracer]

There has been many takes on the PS3 vs Xbox 360 “war”, so I’ll try and not just fall into the same theme as they all have done and actually let you know what’s better in the things that matter for each system.
I am writing this in an unbiased as possible way (despite what Grind may tell you) so don’t just assume it’s not a good indicator of the performance of each console but even so, this is written by me so it has my opinion in it.

Playstation 3 versus Xbox 360



Standard Equipment

This is where the Xbox 360 has the edge. Whilst the PS3 comes standard with Wifi and a 60Gb HDD (which is upgradable), it still lacks some key pieces of hardware; namely a online headset and HD cables. Yes, that’s right, my £425 PS3 came with DAMN COMPOSITE CABLES. Is this 1999?!
With the PS3 you get:

• Playstation 3 60Gb
• Power cable (the power supply is built in, unlike 360)
• 1x Composite cable with SCART block
• 1x SIXAXIS Wireless controller
• 1x USB charging cable for SIXAXIS
• Instruction manuals
• Ethernet cable


It comes with everything you need to start gaming but I am a little annoyed that I cannot play it in HD yet as my HDMI cable has been delayed in the post. Real shame.
Everything is easy to setup and overall to start gaming it took me a similar time to what the Xbox 360 did (minus the Firmware 1.6 update which took an age to download!).

Aesthetics

When I received my PS3, I first was shocked by the sheer size of its box. It overall dimensions, it’s roughly twice the size of the Xbox 360 one, in terms of area.

[Insert pic here]

So it was some relief to see that when I opened the box the consoles are pretty much the same size, with the PS3 being fatter and significantly heavier. The look of the console in my opinion is much better than the Xbox 360. To me, the Xbox 360 looks like an expensive toy and lacks any real style that would secure its place in anyone’s A/V setup in their living room. The PS3 on the other hand is very sleek to look at and would sit nicely next to a big HDTV without looking out of place.

Now, on to the actual build quality of the two consoles; as you all know, the Xbox 360 isn’t renowned for its quality as a console. It is sturdy enough but by the feel of the power button and the sound of the disk tray, it seems like it was build to a price. My only main gripe with the Xbox 360 is the loudness of the fans and the disk drive. Whilst on the dashboard you get the repetitive and droning hum which can drown out most of the other noises in the room and is audible from across almost any size of room. This is then increased when the console actually starts to play a disk-based game. It’s an almost comical volume.

This is where the PS3 has the advantage. When you first go to turn your PS3 on, you notice that there’s actually no buttons on the machine. But if you have a go at just pressing points below its disk-drive (or by reading the manual but only n00bs do that), you’ll notice that there are two heat-sensors for turning the machine on/off and for ejecting a disk from the slot of the disk drive - very classy.

As I’ve said before, there’s no disk tray but just a slot for inserting the plethora of media types that the PS3 supports (CD, DVD, BD-ROM, SACD). With the “press” of the Disk eject “button”, you hear a Beep telling you that there’s no disk inserted so you can put in your favourite game without fear of mashing the internals of the PS3 resulting from trying to put two games in at once. Useful.
When you actually decide to play a game instead of drooling on the glossy finish of the console, you’ll hear…nothing. The PS3 is virtually silent. The Blu-ray drive is very well built too (it should do for the reported $200 each one cost for the PS3!).

Controllers

Now, onto what is arguably the most important part of a gaming system, the controller.
Everyone knows and loves the Xbox 360’s ergonomic design that has noticeably been designed by gamers themselves. The PS3’s SIXAXIS is basically the same old Dual Shock 2 from the Playstation 2 but with a few tweaks. The most noticeable one is the lack of Rumble. This puts you off for the first stint whilst playing a game since we know expect rumble and it’s almost second nature but after about an hour I was completely at home playing once more with the game-pad. The R2 and L2 buttons have also been turned into triggers and to me they have a slightly better feel (if a little too sensitive) than the ones on the Xbox 360.

Whilst it's not perfect (and the motion sensing feels like an add-on), at least it doesn't look like this:

Graphics

This is the biggie for most people but for me, graphics are just an extra in a game. Either way, I better give my word on them. Now please note that I’m still playing in glorious (!) 480i so this isn’t my final word on the comparison.
The PS3 games that I have played so far are Gran Turismo HD, Formula One Championship Edition, Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm.

F1 Championship Edition


Resistance: Fall of Man

From what I’ve been able to see from my lovely SD resolutions on my HDTV, is that Motorstorm, GT:HD and F1 have the edge on Xbox 360 games (maybe apart from the wonderful Gears of War) but Resistance really lets down the launch line up. In SD it looks comparible to a late-generation PS2 game and isn’t that far off of Black but again, this is in SD and will change dramatically.
It’s hard to describe how the PS3 games look better, it’s not so much to do with the sharpness or the Uber-high resolution textures, it’s more to do with Lighting and Shadows. Gran Turismo is the most Photo-realistic game I’ve ever seen as the lighting just looks right (something I’m still to see in a Xbox 360 game) but there’s no big jump in graphics (well, that I can see in SD).

Gran Turismo HD

Also, there is more going on per screen on the PS3 games. Take Resistance or Motorstorm for instance; they both have incredible amounts of NPC’s, particle effects and physics happening at once. This does not make the game look better, per se but it makes it much more exciting. I think this is where the Cell processor is actually helping out.

Games

The Xbox 360s big advantage this generation is the sheer volume and variety of games you can buy for it (from mindless killing of Zombies in a shopping mall to making Pinatas come to your garden). This is where most people would go for the Xbox over the PS3 (apart from the price difference) but you have to look at this logically. The PS3 has only been out for a few days in the biggest gaming market in the world and only for a few months in the rest of the world. Give it time.

I have F1 and Resistance right now (and demos of Ridge Racer 7 and Motorstorm) and have to say they are all very good games but feel slightly rushed and could have done with a little more time to polish up on their online features and interfaces.

Online/Interface

This is the Xbox 360s key feature – its online functionality. The Playstation 3 is struggling to catch up in this area but for a first go it’s not that bad an attempt. On the PS3, as you do for Xbox 360 you set up your own single username and you have a friends list and can send messages etc. Whilst the basic functions are there, there’s integration missing. For example, if you are in a game and you receive a message (a notification comes up in the top right of your screen, similar to the Xbox 360) you can only read this message if you leave the game fully, go back to the XMB (Cross media Bar – the PS3’s dashboard) and read it. This makes the whole online seem as if it was an after-thought to counteract Microsoft’s excellent system on 360. Game invites have the same problem.
What I found also is that’s terribly hard to find someone online if you can only see your friends list on the dashboard so if you try to join their game and they move to another, finding them again is a real pain in the arse. This can hopefully be changed, though.
The Playstation store is similar to the Xbox 360 Marketplace but it does seem to be layed out better but it just lacks content so far. This will come.
The overall XMB is like the PSP interface, where you have several icons (System, Music, Videos, Pictures etc) that you move across left to right and anything that is contained in them is shown vertically. It’s not quite as useful as the Xbox 360’s but it is very intuitive to use. Now, the PS3 does have a web-browser but it's a very useless feature unless you have your PS3 in your living room, miles away from your PC.

Playstation 3 XMB

Overall, I like the actual PS3 console better than the Xbox 360 as it seems to be built far better (and it should be for the price) and looks better. If they can make use of the Home system for online, I think the Xbox 360 has some serious competition on it’s hands for online.

[oli]

a'la ball****

nice review. im gettin one as you know! haha

[Pepper Jack]

Originally Posted by Scotracer

it still lacks some key pieces of hardware; namely a online headset and HD cables. Yes, that’s right, my £425 PS3 came with DAMN COMPOSITE CABLES. Is this 1999?!

your never gonna get over this cable issue are you scot?

[Kearney]

i may get one. if i get a large enough desk to put my 360, HD TV (when i finally get one), and ps3.

until then it can **** off.

[Kona Palangi]

Not another redundant ... PS3 versus 360 comparison ... I am so ****ing tired of this same old argument. Scot has, and always was a closet PS3 loyalist as is demonstrated in this subjective, rather than objective, "review".

[remixFA]

oh, give the ps3 time, oh its go so much potential.. oh lala its so shiney. sounded less like an unbiased review than it did a fanboy post trying to convince people to like the ps3

easy comparison

graphix= about equal, 360 slight edge
physics= about equal, ps3 slight edge
online= no comparison, 360
games= 360, even at the same development time, the 360 had more games.
controllers = so far the 360.. i the sixasis is ever used right, then the ps3 after it regains rumble.
extra options- 360, even out of the box on launch day u could do more w/ the 360.
prettyness- subjective, so who cares
quality build - subjective, ive never had a problem w/ my launchday console, so im not gonna say the 360's quality from my perspective is bad. over all, it SEEMS like the ps3 has a better build, but its only been out for a few months
media use- ps3 w/ bluray built in
storage- ps3 w/ cheap addable HDD
best value- 360 by far. if you have an HD setup then id say its even for the ps3's BR playback.
future- 360's future is bright as the sun. ps3 is still on shakey ground
future game lineup- subjective, but looking much better for 360 ATM.
multitasking- 360.


anything i missed?

Nice review Scott, nice and unbiased ignoring what some tards may say. I only hope the ps3 gets rumble back by the time i get it, funny enough the sound of the console is the best thing the ps3 has at the mo over the 360, i hate a loud console. alot...

[Kona Palangi]

Unbiased? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Don_Rico]

Indeed Malo.

[Pepper Jack]

on the whole i'd say that the review was slightly biased towards to PS3 but it is quite a good review in the sense that it is well written and well laid out and to the point, but i gotta say i do feel there is a hint of bias in there

[Scotracer]

I said at the start of this that it would have my opinion in it. I think the PS3 is a better console, if you can't handle that opinion, you really shouldn't be on a forum.

[Don_Rico]

Or YOU shouldn't be on a 360 forum!!!

*Runs away crying*

[friedkarma]

Reviews ARE opinion pieces by nature. My take away from the review is exactly what I expected: PS3 has better graphics, but nothing else that would justify the price tag. Maybe I'll get one in 3 or 4 years, but I'll buy a Wii and wear that out long before I pick up this overpriced Sony product.

[Kona Palangi]

I apologize Karma but I cannot take your reply seriously since you have admitted you own every Celine Dion album. I just can't do it.

[iFester]

I'll admit, I was stoked on the PS3 when it was miles away from release. I went from Gamecube to PS2 to Xbox 360. What keeps me with 360 are the fun games and experience on live. Xbox this generation seems to have quality and quantity of games so far and that's got me hooked. The only fear is the console's lifespan given the breaking topics I've read.

[Grindstone]

I think remixFA summed it up best. It would appear that the 360 does have the edge over the PS3 as a gaming console, yet Scot chose the PS3 anyway. Unbiased? Whatever. Stupid PS3 fan-troll.

RENOUNCE YOUR MOD POWERS AND GET THE HENCE!

[Pepper Jack]

Originally Posted by MalohiTafataha

I apologize Karma but I cannot take your reply seriously since you have admitted you own every Celine Dion album. I just can't do it.

you own every celine dion album?? i thaught you were cool man, i feel betrayed

[friedkarma]

I couldn't name one Celine Dion song. He's referencing a smart-assed post I made in another thread. I'm positively old school headbanger, with some college era Deadheadism for good measure.