so im finally breaking down... but i cant decide...

[CRTGAMER]

Look at the game library for both consoles (PS3 & 360), that's where you decide.

Your very first reply, the best advice. That is unless you want everyone else to tell you how to spend your money.

[Gamerforlife]

Look at the game library for both consoles (PS3 & 360), that's where you decide.

Your very first reply, the best advice. That is unless you want everyone else to tell you how to spend your money.

Both consoles have great games, and there is a lot of cross over with third party titles and downloadable titles

So it comes down to which console is just plain better, and that is easily the PS3. It is less likely to break down, blue ray is harder to damage, it just plain looks better, the little things that the 360 doesn't have like the video/music you get on the disc selection screen with a lot of PS 3 games(it's a minor thing, but I appreciate the little things).

And when you get right down to it, PS 3 has better developers. Firt party companies like Sucker Punch, Insomniac, The God of War team, Team Ico. You've also got Hideo Kojima on Sony's side(I hope to god he makes a Zone of the Enders 3). Microsoft has what? Bungie and Rare. Rare is great, but so rarely ever puts anything out and Bungie sucks.

[dgamemuster]

listen to me, Get a 360.

[the7k]

I went with the PS3 (after a Wii, which was quickly abandoned and later sold after squeezing all the fun out of Smash Bros Brawl), and for these reasons - in order of importance to me.

1) Exclusives. At the time, those exclusives were Metal Gear Solid 4, Valkyria Chronicles, Disgaea 3, Siren: Blood Curse, PixelJunk Monsters, Echochrome, Everyday Shooter and a few others. Truth be told, the PSN games were the biggest reasons, as I just saw more original, retro-styled games there than X360 and Wii. These days, you can add games like 3D Dot Game Heroes, ModNation Racers, Demon's Souls, Uncharted 2, Critter Crunch, Flower, PixelJunk Eden and PixelJunk Shooter to the list of games that would make me want a PS3 if I didn't already have one.

2) Reliability. I've personally witnessed many friends have their Xbox 360 die on them while hanging out with them. I had a friend's copy of Dead Rising get scratched while in the 360 while I was borrowing it from him, meaning I had to buy him a new copy - all because Microsoft wanted to save $0.25 on a small piece of rubber that would have protected against this. Hell, even my Wii had to get sent in to Nintendo because the eject system wouldn't work and Smash Bros Melee for GCN got stuck in it. I hate dealing with this kind of bullshit.

3) Region Free. I have more imports on my PS2 than I can shake a stick at. A fair amount on the PS1 as well. Hell, my Saturn import collection dwarfs my Saturn domestic collection by about 3 to 1. This is very important to me. While I've only imported one game thus far (Record of Agarest War: Collector's Edition from Europe), I like that the option is there. I might actually import Hokuto no Ken on account of there being no recent news about a US release, and I'll do the same for Sengoku Basara 3 if it takes a similarly long time to get here.

4) Free Online. Seriously, I'm not going to pay-to-play online. I hate monthly subscription fees, and I'll avoid them when possible. I've still yet to figure out where the hell the money goes - from what I understand, XBL multiplayer is Peer-to-Peer. PSN is the one with dedicated servers, and it's free! What kinda sense does that make?

5) All my friends have Xbox 360s. Why should I buy one, too? If I want to play Alan Wake, I just go over to a friend's house and play it. When I wanted to play Dead Rising, I borrowed the 360 and game from a friend for about a week. Simple as that.

These are just my reasons. Your results may vary. In the end, it's a very personal decision.

[Jrecee]

These are just my reasons. Your results may vary. In the end, it's a very personal decision.

Based on tv, very personal decisions should always be made while talking to your mom in the bathroom, or while guiding horses through a field with your mom.

[arion]

Neither

[Gamerforlife]

I went with the PS3 (after a Wii, which was quickly abandoned and later sold after squeezing all the fun out of Smash Bros Brawl), and for these reasons - in order of importance to me.

1) Exclusives. At the time, those exclusives were Metal Gear Solid 4, Valkyria Chronicles, Disgaea 3, Siren: Blood Curse, PixelJunk Monsters, Echochrome, Everyday Shooter and a few others. Truth be told, the PSN games were the biggest reasons, as I just saw more original, retro-styled games there than X360 and Wii. These days, you can add games like 3D Dot Game Heroes, ModNation Racers, Demon's Souls, Uncharted 2, Critter Crunch, Flower, PixelJunk Eden and PixelJunk Shooter to the list of games that would make me want a PS3 if I didn't already have one.

2) Reliability. I've personally witnessed many friends have their Xbox 360 die on them while hanging out with them. I had a friend's copy of Dead Rising get scratched while in the 360 while I was borrowing it from him, meaning I had to buy him a new copy - all because Microsoft wanted to save $0.25 on a small piece of rubber that would have protected against this. Hell, even my Wii had to get sent in to Nintendo because the eject system wouldn't work and Smash Bros Melee for GCN got stuck in it. I hate dealing with this kind of bullshit.

3) Region Free. I have more imports on my PS2 than I can shake a stick at. A fair amount on the PS1 as well. Hell, my Saturn import collection dwarfs my Saturn domestic collection by about 3 to 1. This is very important to me. While I've only imported one game thus far (Record of Agarest War: Collector's Edition from Europe), I like that the option is there. I might actually import Hokuto no Ken on account of there being no recent news about a US release, and I'll do the same for Sengoku Basara 3 if it takes a similarly long time to get here.

4) Free Online. Seriously, I'm not going to pay-to-play online. I hate monthly subscription fees, and I'll avoid them when possible. I've still yet to figure out where the hell the money goes - from what I understand, XBL multiplayer is Peer-to-Peer. PSN is the one with dedicated servers, and it's free! What kinda sense does that make?

5) All my friends have Xbox 360s. Why should I buy one, too? If I want to play Alan Wake, I just go over to a friend's house and play it. When I wanted to play Dead Rising, I borrowed the 360 and game from a friend for about a week. Simple as that.

These are just my reasons. Your results may vary. In the end, it's a very personal decision.

Totally agree. I also like that the PS3 has more to offer japanese rpg fans and the great exclusives that have been mentioned consist of a lot of great single player games, something the 360 isn't big on. Not that there aren't any, but Microsoft is always trying to push that damn multi-player crap in everything that gets put out these days. Even Resident Evil, a once venerable single player series sold out for Microsoft with Resident Evil 5. Sony just seems concerned with putting out quality titiles that will get people buying their system as they aren't making money off the online anyway

I don't like how overly regulated everything is on the 360 is either. You use a cheat code on Marvel Ultimate Alliance for fun and now you can't get achievements EVER on that Gamertag as it will always remember that you used a cheat code once and forever penalizes you for it. You get a dino pinata on Viva Pinata 2 and don't like it, you can't get another one even if you start a new game on a new save file. You Gamer profile will ALWAYS remember that you got one already and will not let you get another one. The way your profile tracks everything really gets annoying as it stifles your freedom as a gamer. I haven't experienced stuff like that so far on the PS3

With things like region free capability, free online, easy console to pc interaction, sturdy blue ray discs and the system's reliability, I feel like the PS3 is a more convenient console made for the more serious, discerning gamer, but it is a personal choice. We all complained about how pricey the PS3 was when it first came out, but you get what you pay for as they say

[Jrecee]

I wouldn't say you got what you paid for at launch for $600. Now that there's a good library of games, a wide selection of blu-rays, and the system only costs $300 is seems like a great deal, but it took 2 years to reach that point. In the last year the ps3 has gone from a system I wouldn't spend a dime on, to something I'll probably buy in the next year. But that's how it always goes with sony for me, I've never had one of their consoles at launch because it's all hype with them, their fans are amazingly dumb. I worked with a kid who waited in line and got 2 preorders. He sold one of his systems on ebay for $1200. That's a $600 profit. He kept the other one because he wanted to play the new Tiger woods game. So he basically spent $600 to play a tiger woods game a few months earlier. Amazing.

[DownSince86]

4) Free Online. Seriously, I'm not going to pay-to-play online. I hate monthly subscription fees, and I'll avoid them when possible. I've still yet to figure out where the hell the money goes - from what I understand, XBL multiplayer is Peer-to-Peer. PSN is the one with dedicated servers, and it's free! What kinda sense does that make?

A lot of games have the option to host them locally but most also offer dedicated servers, and a dedicated server is usually the default option. I imagine it is the same on the PS3.

I actually like the fact that online play is subscription based as it acts like a bit of an idiot filter. It also makes people think twice before they go around acting like a jackass to other players. A few bad reports and your banned for a couple of weeks with no refund.

Gold members also get access to a lot of free content which I imagine costs a pretty penny to host.

It is only $8 or so a month and well worth it if it keeps the servers for my old games up and running. Also because I do pay I have a little room to complain when my online services don't work like they are supposed to.

As first I was turned off by it but I don't even think about it anymore unless my account is up for renewal. I just buy a $60 card once a year, input the code, and forget about it.

Anyway I'm also interested in getting a PS3 now that I've gotten the chance to play a little bit of ModNation. That's what I've been waiting for: A game for the console with great online play that I can get addicted to. Right now I only keep my Xbox around for L4D1 and 2 and if not for those two games I wouldn't even renew my gold service.

Quick question (not to hi-jack the thread): If I were going to buy a PS3 today would you recommend a new slim or a used "fat" one? Can I replace the HDD in the slim as easily as you could in the older models? How is the backwards compatibility on the slim?

[t0yrobo]

Look at the game library for both consoles (PS3 & 360), that's where you decide.

Your very first reply, the best advice. That is unless you want everyone else to tell you how to spend your money.

Seriously. No offense guys, but half the other posts have been a combination of personal opinion and bs. New 360's are pretty darn reliable, and both systems have a solid selection of exclusives. So pick what you like best, they each have pretty distinctive games. I guess the biggest non-subjective factor is multimedia support. PS3 has bluray and supports more formats than 360.