I'm thinking about getting an Xbox 360. I originally wanted a Playstation 3 and I was hoping that the price of it would drop before Christmas, but seeing as how all resources say that it won't, and it still being $400, I'm looking at the Xbox 360. I see that there are three different versions of the system:

Xbox 360 Arcade for $200
Xbox 360 Premium (Pro) for $300
Xbox 360 Elite for $400

I'm just wondering what version people own here. Is the Arcade version good enough to get, or is the Premium version worth the extra hundred bucks? As far as the Elite goes, if I was gonna spend $400, I'd get the Playstation 3.

I have the 20gb Xbox 360 and I really like it; that amount works for me. I have always been a pretty faithful PS person (in fact, we are lucky enough to have both), but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the system. As for which you want it also depends on how much you plan to play; if I were you, I would probably take the middle of the road Premium (Pro) which I think is either 60 or 80gb if you plan on playing a lot of games. I also enjoy the achievements available on the 360. If we decide on the 360, I would recommend getting the XBox Live year membership...it comes out cheaper.

I have both consoles as well, a PS3 and a 360 with 20GB hard drive and after thinking about it for all of three seconds, I much prefer the PS3.

In my mind, Sony's console is far superior from a hardware standpoint. It is quieter, runs cooler, it can do BluRay and serve as entertainment center. It came standard with a wireless controller and wireless adapter, meaning I didn't have to spend an additional $60-$100 on each as I had to on the 360, before I could connect it to my wireless home network. Plus, the online service is free.

All the above being said, what you really ought to do is this: Look at the game libraries available for each console, and go with the one that has the types of games you like to play. If you want like action RPGs, get a PS3. If you like sports games, get the 360. If you like shooters, get either one.

Or if you like traditional RPGs, just upgrade your PC.

I do like how on the PS3 you don't have to buy extra items to run dvds and it does run so much quieter. You might want to check on backwards capabilities if you have PS2 games; since you may have to buy additional items to use your older games or memory.

Check which version PS3 it is. The $400 one is without backwards compatibility, I think.

Mine is the 60GB earlier version, so it has backwards compatibility, USB ports, card slots, and the whole shebang.

That's the same as our too. My husband was whining at first, when he saw the new 80gb one, but he's not so much anymore.

No need to whine. Buy a 2.5-inch hard drive, install it, hook up the PS3, wait for a few hours for all firmware to reload, and then restore the backup you made to a 8GB SDHC-card before removing the old hard drive. Presto. Upgraded PS3.

Another reason it's superior to the 360, if you ask me.

Oh no! he's spoiled enough as it is, luckily he doesn't really need the bigger one.

Well, technically, none of us needs a gaming console... we need food, shelter, and companionship. But it's nice to have all the same.

After doing more research, I may just say "f" it and get a PS3. Here's an article I found on the net that compares both systems., however the article was written in 2006.:

Being a video game developer (I develop for both, Playstation 3 and XBOX 360) people ask me almost daily which platform I think is better. These are my personal feelings, in no way does this reflect my employer.

Short answer: XBOX 360.

Long answer: Price, performance, visual quality, game selection and online support. I think the XBOX 360 wins in every category.

Price: This is obvious; the XBOX 360 core is only $299. The PS3 is around $499 for the 20GB version. It comes with a hard drive, but you don’t need a hard drive to enjoy a lot of great games on the 360 so I think it’s fair to compare both core systems.

Performance: On paper, the PS3 is more powerful. In reality, it’s quite inferior to the 360. Without getting into too many details, the three general-purpose CPU’s the xbox360 has are currently FAR easier to take advantage of than the SPU’s on the PS3. I suspect a few years down the road some high budget, first party PS3 exclusive titles will come out that really take advantage of the SPU’s and do things the XBOX 360 can’t, but I don’t think the console is worth buying based on this speculation (for some it will be though, we'll have to wait and see how these games turn out).

Graphics: The XBOX 360 is a clear winner. The GPU is more powerful. It has more powerful fillrate, and far more pixel and vertex processing horsepower. Part of the reason is their choice of memory, and architecture of pixel and vertex procesing. I can’t get into details but the same vertex shader will run much slower on the PS3 than the XBOX 360. The 360 also has a clever new way rendering high definition anti aliased back buffers. To accomplish the same effect on PS3 is prohibitively expensive. For this reason I think many games will have no choice but to run in non-HD resolutions on the PS3 version, use a lower quality anti aliasing technique, or do back buffer upscaling. The end result in all cases is going to be noticeably worse image quality.

Game Selection: The XBOX 360 has a huge head start here. 1 year is an eternity in gaming. Almost all multi-platform developers have made the XBOX 360 their primary platform due to timing of release-to-market, this means the games will look and perform better on the 360. The PS3 versions will be ports of the 360 versions. (The opposite was true for XBOX 1 vs. PS2). The XBOX 360 is also far faster to develop for due to better development tools (massively popular Visual Studio .NET vs. proprietary, buggy PS3 compiler and debugger), better documentation, and easier architecture (3 general purpose CPU’s vs. 8 specialized processors that require DMA). Timing has also caused all next-gen middleware developers to make XBOX 360 their primary platform, and they will ‘add ps3 support’ as needed. This support will probably be inferior to the XBOX 360’s due to manpower and more importantly, demand. It’s this catch-22 now that will continue to drive the 360 forward and hold PS3 back.

The other obvious point here is that right now the Xbox360 already has a very impressive line-up of titles on store shelves; the ps3 just launched, and has virtually nothing of interest. Also, many 360 games are already discounted. PS3 games are all full price since it just launched.

Live: Microsoft’s online support with XBOX1 was phenomenal. They built in-house experience, user base, facilities, $$ commitment from executive level (since it proved successful), and most importantly, feedback from 100,000s of XBOX Live subscribers. Playstation 2’s online support sucked. They are now playing catch-up, trying to emulate Xbox’s model. But they had their hands tied just trying to make the PS3 work, it was incredibly ambitious (blu-ray etc.). I haven’t seen it yet, but I seriously doubt the quality will be anywhere to the level of XBOX 360.

HD Content: The PS3 comes with one built in (blu-ray). The XBOX 360 offers HD-DVD as an add-on for $200. You probably don’t care about HD-DVD right now. But you will soon (The quality between DVD and HD is comparable to VHS vs DVD, if you have the right TV) so I suggest paying attention to the war that’s begun. There are two formats: HD-DVD and BLU-RAY. Basically if you rent a BLU-RAY DVD from Bockbuster, it won’t play in your XBOX 360 HD-DVD, and vice versa with the PS3. The implications of this format war would require another article on its own. But as far as the consoles are concerned, the XBOX 360 wins because the DVD player is a separate unit. Playing movies is very taxing on the DVD reader, and let’s face it. In 3 years when your PS3 DVD drive goes out due to playing lots of movies (PS2 was notoriously bad about this) you will have to go buy another PS3. With the 360, you’ll just chuck your HD-DVD player, and go buy another one at the store. In 3 years standalone units wlil probably only cost about $99-150. Another point for the XBOX 360, is that I don’t know who will win the format-war, so I would rather wait with purchase of a HD player. The PS3 doesn’t give you this option.

PS3 controversy: Shootings, Wallmart fights, $15,000 Ebay sales etc. My advice is ignore it. It will pass soon.

Source: http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-348-1.htm

I read that arictle when it was new. It's been two years now, which is a very long time in this industry. Most of what that article has to say about the PS3 is no longer valid, especially the parts about the online service and the 360 having an advantage in being an HD-DVD player. For obvious reasons, that it not quite as big an advantage today.

Seriously, ignore that article and find an actually relevant source of information.

One may wonder why I said I may get a PS3 over an Xbox 360 as I post an article saying the Xbox 360 is the better machine. I've always been a Playstation loyal. I had Playstation 1, and I currently have Playstation 2. Never have I played the original Xbox, or the Xbox 360. That article may glorify the Xbox 360, but a common occurrence I keep hearing about the XBox 360 is, ironically called, The Red Ring Of Death. The article I found on this is way too long to post here, so I'll just post the first paragraph:

The Xbox 360 video game console is subject to a number of technical problems that can render it unusable. Some, but not all, of these problems are identified as "general hardware failures," and are indicated by three flashing red lights around the power button. Since its release in 2005, many articles have appeared in the media portraying the Xbox 360's relatively high failure rates. The three "flashing red lights" have been nicknamed in these articles as the "Red Ring of Death" (or "RRoD").

The full article can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_36...nical_problems

Regarding 360 hardware problems: We bought ours the year they came out, two years ago. We have had to replaced it twice because of hardware failure caused by over-heating. In total, with accessories to get it to connect wireless and with controllers for it, we have spent several hundred dollars on this console. For that money we have gotten two 360s that lasted less than a year, and one that is on the verge of failing.

I don't know anyone who owns a 360, who has not had to have it replaced or repaired under warranty.

That's the main con about the Xbox I've heard about. Even in other forums I frequent, a lot of people say that their 360 got the RRoD and they had to ship it out via mail to get it repaired. Was the original Xbox like that as well, or had the same problems as the 360? Anyway thanks for the info and help Khazandra and LadyV. I do wish the PS3 would come down in price, but the latest I heard is that they are coming out with a more powerful one, or one with more memory, or something that will be the same price as the current one.

My cousin owns a 360 and hasn't had any trouble with it (yet).
I think for games the 360 is better, but when you factor in the PS3's BlueRay Player that's a slight bonus.

If it was me I'd go with a used 360 and hack it to add a cooling fan.

Just my 2 cents.

Agreed, the 360 has a better selection of games right now. Then again, the PS2 still beats them both in that department, so...

And the PS3 can play PS2 games right?
PS2/3 doesn't have Halo 3 though does it :}

Well, no, but I never cared about those games anyway. It can play God of War, the Final Fantasy games, and far more important, it can play Suikoden. That's what I like and play, so that's what I care about.