PS3 Vs Xbox 360: Just A Matter Of Taste
In 2006, the question of Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 would have received a very different answer. Back then, most reviewers agreed that the Xbox 360 was the clear winner on all fronts. Now, three years later, things have changed and the Playstation 3 is a true competitor.
Both units have their positives and negatives,
but what may be a `positive` for one consumer is a `negative` for another. Because both systems provide a high-quality gaming experience, it just comes down to personal preference in order for each user to decide which one is better.
While a true video game fan may not see price as the biggest deciding factor, in today's economy it has become quite important. Playstation 3 sells for $399 for the 80 GB version and $499 for the 160 GB version. The extra $100 for the additional space is hardly worth it, as if you really and truly need all that room, you can buy an even larger external drive and install it for less than $100. The Xbox 360 is significantly cheaper at $299 for 60 GB and $399 for 120 GB. The differences in gigabytes are slight enough to not really matter.
While price is obviously an objective criteria and the Xbox comes out cheaper, performance is a bit more subjective. On the technical side, the Xbox 360's GPU has more power than that of the Playstation 3. But, if you prefer the look of the graphics on the Playstation 3, then it does not matter which one is more powerful. What some experts are saying is that the Playstation 3 actually has more potential. The Xbox may have hit its limit in terms of its graphics and design but the Playstation 3 still has room to grow. Again, the technical details may not matter as much as personal preference.
In 2007, games developed by third-party customers worked much better on the Xbox 360 than on the Playstation 3. The graphics were of noticeably lower quality, even objectively speaking, on the Playstation 3. Over the past couple of years, this pattern has improved slightly. Some games look almost identical on both platforms by this point, but the greater power of the Xbox 360 does give it an advantage, especially when it comes to games that are developed specifically for use on multi-platforms.
While no new games are ever guaranteed to be free from bugs, Playstation 3 games tend to be shipped with more bugs than Xbox 360 games. Patches are generally available, but it may be annoying to some users to have purchased a game that does not work quite right and then to have to wait for the patch to be available and installed.
It can be argued that a game console is really only as good as the games that you can play on it. In the past, Xbox 360 consistently had more and better games available for its users. Part of the reason behind that may have been that it was introduced earlier so there was more time for games to be developed. Now, Playstation 3 is catching up.
Both consoles provide the user with the option to play online against others. General consensus is that the online experience using the Xbox 360 is superior to that of the Playstation 3. A reason for this, or possibly a consequence, is that fewer people buy Playstation 3 games so there are fewer people playing online at any given time. There is a much larger and more active online community of Xbox 360 gamers.
Depending on your own personal preferences, you really cannot go wrong with either the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360. Either is sure to give you a fun way to pass many a rainy afternoon.
