87 replies to this topic

[Gazjs]

Thanks for all the help.
I think i will start saving for the PS3
Is it best to go with the biggest hard drive?

[DanGull]

Yes - and if you're saving save longer and get both

[thesilverfox]

You can bridge your Xbox connection to a PC to avoid having to buy a wireless adaptor. I do this and it's perfect Saves the rip-off adaptor.

As for the online services, try them both out. Allegedly, the Xbox Live service is meant to be better, but I have not yet used PSN. You'd hope paying for it made the service what it is. Mine has been fine so far Anyone on XBL here?

[Paul D]

You can bridge your Xbox connection to a PC to avoid having to buy a wireless adaptor. I do this and it's perfect Saves the rip-off adaptor.

As for the online services, try them both out. Allegedly, the Xbox Live service is meant to be better, but I have not yet used PSN. You'd hope paying for it made the service what it is. Mine has been fine so far Anyone on XBL here?

ok had a read of all comments,

Xbox will take you roughly 30 mins to 50 mins to set up with all updates. PS3 took me 10 mins to set up

Also, Xbox will charge for the online Experinece. PS3 you buy the game, away you go!

Xbox is using a HD drive, of which only Xbox support whereas PS3 is future proofed with a Recognised Blueray format drive.

If you want wireless, Xbox will pump you for 45 quid for a dongle that they rebranded and made for probably 5 quid
PS3 its built in.

Xbox allows Sky content, for a price, PS3 BBC Iplayer is there, for free.

Ohh and if someone can confrim this last comment, PS3 you can stream your films etc from Server to PS3 to watch (I know this is correct), Xbox, cant?

i get my 2nd PS3 on Friday, and will be set up in bedroom where the other is used more as a player in livingroom from Streaming.

PS3 winS!

[thesilverfox]

ok had a read of all comments,

Xbox will take you roughly 30 mins to 50 mins to set up with all updates. PS3 took me 10 mins to set up

Also, Xbox will charge for the online Experinece. PS3 you buy the game, away you go!

Xbox is using a HD drive, of which only Xbox support whereas PS3 is future proofed with a Recognised Blueray format drive.

If you want wireless, Xbox will pump you for 45 quid for a dongle that they rebranded and made for probably 5 quid
PS3 its built in.

Xbox allows Sky content, for a price, PS3 BBC Iplayer is there, for free.

Ohh and if someone can confrim this last comment, PS3 you can stream your films etc from Server to PS3 to watch (I know this is correct), Xbox, cant?

i get my 2nd PS3 on Friday, and will be set up in bedroom where the other is used more as a player in livingroom from Streaming.

PS3 winS!

Certainly some extremely valid points. May I respond?

1. Updates never took me long - about the 10 minutes or so you mentioned for the PS3 was the same in my experience for the 360.

2. The XBL service is indeed £26 a year, but as some have mentioned, it still has very high subscription rates which would suggest it's a good service. No doubt PSN is good too - not really heard anything bad, other than whiney kids (they're everywhere)

3. The Xbox doesn't use an HD DVD drive - it's a DVD-ROM drive. The HD-DVD drive was an optional extra, which I won't hesitate to say - sucked donkey bits. The 360 plays DVDs and music/data CDs just fine though.

4. Built-in wireless was a naughty one to miss off - totally 100% agree with you there! I however, have never had an issue, as I game via ethernet or at worst, an ethernet bridge - wireless gaming is not ideal on any system, as it increases latency and ping times to the point games like COD are noticeably lagging. Connection dependent, but the times don't lie. Home plug is a good alternative too for all consoles, as latencies are practically nil and no cables around the house - all done via the electrical system!

5. iPlayer would certainly be nice on the 360, but that's been put back again. I don't use it much on my PC anyway, because a lot of stuff is only available for a limited time period, which I always seem to miss! Pretty sure this is a loss for the 360 though, as the Sky player is rubbish!

6. Xbox 360 works as a media centre extender much like the PS3. Reports now too that with the Divx 7 updated, streaming 1080p content (even mkv files I hear), is more or less perfect. The PS3 still can't deal with mkv files without splitting them I think - it has some problems, but is on the whole rather decent too.

That said, if you are thinking of playing your music back over HDMI into your TV/amp, it sucks. Music over HDMI from a console is awful compared to my modified X-Fi, which I use in a spare PC.

7. The Blu Ray player was a very smart move from Sony. Regardless of the fact it's not in the 360, Microsoft were never going to bend over to Sony and use their technology in their consoles. Not to mention Sony would never permit it - it's their game winner! Much how Microsoft never used the HD DVD drive as standard - they probably knew full well it would be the lesser technology at the end of the day.


So while both have their merits, I too would choose the PS3 if I didn't already have a Blu Ray player and a WDTV player. I have 4TB of mkv files now, and the Blu Ray player rarely gets used sadly - should probably give it to my parents. So with that in mind, I'd buy the cheaper format, which coincidentally, is the format multi-platform developers choose to develop games on (apparently because the Sony cell processor is hard to get on with and the 360 is a glorified PC).

What is interesting though, is that the 360 has sold more units to date - I suspect because of a) earlier release and b ) the PS3 was more expensive for a long time.

[Paul D]

Certainly some extremely valid points. May I respond?

1. Updates never took me long - about the 10 minutes or so you mentioned for the PS3 was the same in my experience for the 360.

2. The XBL service is indeed £26 a year, but as some have mentioned, it still has very high subscription rates which would suggest it's a good service. No doubt PSN is good too - not really heard anything bad, other than whiney kids (they're everywhere)

3. The Xbox doesn't use an HD DVD drive - it's a DVD-ROM drive. The HD-DVD drive was an optional extra, which I won't hesitate to say - sucked donkey bits. The 360 plays DVDs and music/data CDs just fine though.

4. Built-in wireless was a naughty one to miss off - totally 100% agree with you there! I however, have never had an issue, as I game via ethernet or at worst, an ethernet bridge - wireless gaming is not ideal on any system, as it increases latency and ping times to the point games like COD are noticeably lagging. Connection dependent, but the times don't lie. Home plug is a good alternative too for all consoles, as latencies are practically nil and no cables around the house - all done via the electrical system!

5. iPlayer would certainly be nice on the 360, but that's been put back again. I don't use it much on my PC anyway, because a lot of stuff is only available for a limited time period, which I always seem to miss! Pretty sure this is a loss for the 360 though, as the Sky player is rubbish!

6. Xbox 360 works as a media centre extender much like the PS3. Reports now too that with the Divx 7 updated, streaming 1080p content (even mkv files I hear), is more or less perfect. The PS3 still can't deal with mkv files without splitting them I think - it has some problems, but is on the whole rather decent too.

That said, if you are thinking of playing your music back over HDMI into your TV/amp, it sucks. Music over HDMI from a console is awful compared to my modified X-Fi, which I use in a spare PC.

7. The Blu Ray player was a very smart move from Sony. Regardless of the fact it's not in the 360, Microsoft were never going to bend over to Sony and use their technology in their consoles. Not to mention Sony would never permit it - it's their game winner! Much how Microsoft never used the HD DVD drive as standard - they probably knew full well it would be the lesser technology at the end of the day.


So while both have their merits, I too would choose the PS3 if I didn't already have a Blu Ray player and a WDTV player. I have 4TB of mkv files now, and the Blu Ray player rarely gets used sadly - should probably give it to my parents. So with that in mind, I'd buy the cheaper format, which coincidentally, is the format multi-platform developers choose to develop games on (apparently because the Sony cell processor is hard to get on with and the 360 is a glorified PC).

What is interesting though, is that the 360 has sold more units to date - I suspect because of a) earlier release and b ) the PS3 was more expensive for a long time.

If i was being ultra honest, i would say if you;re going to play games online, get a decent PC, much better overall.

But i agree with your points, i think its like PC vs Mac everyone has their preference, and will bring good points to the table, its purely down the user and their needs and what their friends have too

[thesilverfox]

If i was being ultra honest, i would say if you;re going to play games online, get a decent PC, much better overall.

But i agree with your points, i think its like PC vs Mac everyone has their preference, and will bring good points to the table, its purely down the user and their needs and what their friends have too

I actually converted from PC gaming, as I was fed-up of frequently needing to update GPUs in order to play new games as intended. It became an expensive hobby and there were far easier ways for PC gamers to cheat than consoles (which do have their issues too).

FPS games are still a bone of contention, but otherwise, I know games will work right away and not need hardware patches and work-arounds or new GPU drivers to fix bugs half-way through a game unprompted (consoles tend to update instantly).

Sure, a PC is more versatile, but everyone's got a PC to work on. Consoles are just convenient and fairly low cost Suits me!

But the biggest thing to forget is that most people play PC games at a desk, and play console games on a sofa (or equivalent). I know where I would rather be!

[vinnyvangough]

I have streamed 1080p films from my external hard drive, through usb to my laptop, wireless to the router, and ethernet to the PS3. It struggled but did it on one film, the other 2 i tried no joy. But streaming normal films its just so DAMN GOOD

[thesilverfox]

I have streamed 1080p films from my external hard drive, through usb to my laptop, wireless to the router, and ethernet to the PS3. It struggled but did it on one film, the other 2 i tried no joy. But streaming normal films its just so DAMN GOOD

Yeah, there are kinks to iron out on both consoles to be fair and unbiased.

Most of my mkv files are between 10GB and 15GB with non-scene bitrates, so it can get slow at the best of times from a USB 2.0 hard disk being software decoded. Thankfully, the WDTV uses a Sigma processing chip that is used in a number of Blu Ray players, and it's perfect with USB devices. There is unofficial wireless support too for streaming, but I digress

[vinnyvangough]

To be honest, a lot of it is just peoples preferances from years ago.

IE, I had the PS1, PS2 etc etc Just a bit of company loyalty

Both got advantages. Both got disadvantages.

I see what you say though

[thesilverfox]

To be honest, a lot of it is just peoples preferances from years ago.

IE, I had the PS1, PS2 etc etc Just a bit of company loyalty

Both got advantages. Both got disadvantages.

I see what you say though

Yikes, well my loyalty sucks! I've had a Sega Game Gear, Nintendo 64, PS1, Wii, DS and Xbox 360. Seems like I love the big N

[SteveThePirate]

IMO after playing on both consoles this week i find them to be pretty much the same.
Played Modern Warfare 2 on both, Graphics wise they were nearly the same, ps3 was slightly better though. But we didn't have the xbox running on HD.
Online play, xbox is better but at a cost, so thats up to you.
But to me the Ps3 controls just feel better, more natural to use and I found myself doing alot better with the Ps3 version.

Also Xbox has media center is thats any interest to you, but Windows 7 can stream music to Ps3

[Gazjs]

I think i have manages to persuade a PS3 as a birthday present.
Just a pity its a few months away

[Max_Headroom]

I have never played an xbox but have a PS3 what i have done is add a larger hard disc -




Another plus for the PS3 (one to add to the many in the thread) is you can add an operating system and use it as a PC.

Installing Linux on PS3 Pt1 ---

[vinnyvangough]

Is that installing Linux after the update that you need to play online that you can NOT install if you have Linux installed?