Buying my next-gen console: Xbox 360 Slim vs PS3 Slim

[gino_76ph]

Hi. i'm planning on buying my next proper next-gen console next month (after my old PS2 and my Wii) and i want some expert guidance and advice as to what console is best and i have a few questions in mind and some ideas i have on both consoles:

1. which console seems to be be the quietest one and one that has the quietest fan?

2. which console has the upper hand in game controllers regradless if its wired or wireless? (in terms of feel and battery life) does both uses AA batteries? how far can you place them in front of the console? ease of use and "compatibility with games" e.g. a PS3 controller might be better with fighting games whereas the Xbox360 it might be better with shooters.

3. when it comes to downloading a game with the Xbox 360 you can play it straight away whereas with the PS3 you need to install it then restart the game/console which i think is pointless. is this true?

4.. which one comes out with firmware or software updates to their consoles more often? and which console lets you install updates quicker and not needing to restart the console everytime? and do you need to be a "member" in order to download firmware updates?

5.. in general terms which console loads a game much faster than the other one?

6. i'm not fuzzy when it comes to graphics that much when it comes to graphical strenghth (both in numbers/theory and in real-time) which one is better? in this apsect i have heard the PS3's own 1st-party games have better graphics than 360's own. is this true?

7.. would having an "N" standard built-in wi-fi (like the 360) be an advantage with just being a "B" and a "G"?

8. would also having bluetooth be an advantage? like pairing with another device, etc. and which console have it?

9. when it comes to video and audio format support which console supports Divx, Xvid, AVI and MKV (for video) & Flac (for audio) respectively?

10. which console offers movies and the ability to download apps like say Facebook or an online radio, etc.? or catch-up TV services?

11. which console has the most user-friendly interface? the XMB or the NXE? (one with less clutter, simplier to surf/scan files without going back to a menu, etc.)

12. why does Xbox 360 uses "Microsoft Points" and not real-life money unlike the PS3? don't you think that's odd? or expensive?

13. which console can you offer you the widest variety of back catalogue from not just it's predecessor but also from old consoles such as the Dreamcast, Sega saturn, etc.

14. can you surf the internet with the PS3 is this true? and does it support Flash? or websites such as Youtube? is Google Chrome incoming?

15. with the number of connections (standard + HDMI's) and having optical (and/or coaxial) outputs plus the usual USB's which one has the advantage?
* i had to ask this one as i have a 5.1 surround sound that can churn out Dolby via optical and coaxial inputs.

18. which console (and company) in your opinion offers a better customer and technical support for its loyal consumers and fans?


On my recent research this is the way i see it so far:

What i like about the 360:

1. it's cheaper than the PS3 Slim

2. External glossy body colour/finish is superb

3. apparently games loads faster when loaded from hard drive

4. NXE more friendlier/simplier/better menu system (than the PS3's XMB)

5. interchangeable hard drive(?)

6. cross party game chat

7. Divx and AVI compatibilty(?)

8. Better online experience than the PS3 (with cross party chat)

9. backward compatibilty with most original Xbox & 360 games.



what i like about PS3:

1. second-to none/excellent in-built BLU-ray player

2. outputs "true" Dolby Digital surround sound and true 1080p picture

3. less fan noise than the 360(?)

4. no RROD (unlike the 360)

5. Bluetooth capability (unlike 360)

6. Better 1st-party games IMHO (like Killzone, God of war, Gran Turismo, Uncharted, etc.)

7. totally free online experience

8. uses real-world currency in purchasing items (unlike 360's MS points)

9. Divx and AVI compatibilty (?)

10. Controller is "friendlier" to any type of hand and lasts a lot longer compared to 360
* charges for 30 minutes and lasts almost the whole day i heard.
downside: you need to charge it whilst the console is on.

11. has a multi-card reader (?)

12. 3D-ready!!!!! (but only if you have a 3D-capable TV which i don't)

13. more catch-up TV services like 4OD and ITV player

14. an internet browser (although far from being excellent i have heard of a rumour that they are bringing in Google Chrome and in turn might and could potentially pave the way for an Android market-style app store. that might be the final nail in the coffin for the 360 Slim).



what do you think guys?

can anyone else add to these lists please?

and am i correct in my assessments so far?



Thanks.

[Ferral]

You've pretty much summed it up there with your research, I have both consoles and prefer the PS3 for the lightweight controller and the media capability. You can actually charge the controller via the USB on your PC which is handy and you get longer out of the charge.

As for the games, Digital Foundry regularly do face off articles which tend to sway towards the 360 usually. However, you dont notice any differences when playing cross platform games at all. You would have to scrutinise frame by frame to spot anything.

The browser is ok but nothing special I must admit, it is functional though.

You have iplayer, 4od and itv player catch up services which are free, you also have vidzone which has a HUGE catalogue of music videos where you can set up playlists etc and its also free. There is also Lovefilm on there which costs a tenner a month and you can watch as many movies as you want streamed to the PS3, granted no HD stuff but it is still pretty darn good and the catalogue is big.

For media itself, you can stream your movies and music from your PC directly, you get a white box with the windows logo in it under the photos, movies and music tabs. You just have to share your libraries which is dead easy to do on 7 and Vista, but there is also a free program called PS3 Media Server which re encodes stuff before streaming to getter a better flat rate level of data so you dont get stuttering whilst watching.

By the way, the PS3 no longer has multicard reader, hasnt for a while now as my previous shiny 80Gb didnt have one also. It does have 2 USB ports on the front though which is ideal for pen drives.

Also with the charging of the pads, I own 2, one on charge so it is ready and the other to play with and just swap over when needed. The charge does last a good while on them must admit.

[roorooroo]

Yep, pretty well summed up..it's a case of you pay your money and take your choice really..i have both too and probably use the PS3 more.

[Terbinator]

what i like about PS3:

1. second-to none/excellent in-built BLU-ray player

2. outputs "true" Dolby Digital surround sound and true 1080p picture (What do you mean by this, as unles you have a very expensive DolbyTrueHD/DTS-MA this is a null point.)

3. less fan noise than the 360(?) (Apparently the Slim's aren't loud, more so when you install to the HDD.)

4. no RROD (unlike the 360) (Slims don't suffer from this, they don't even have a red light.)

5. Bluetooth capability (unlike 360)

6. Better 1st-party games IMHO (like Killzone, God of war, Gran Turismo, Uncharted, etc.) (Better than what, as for me I'd take Halo, Gears and Forza over the PS3 equivalents any day.)

7. totally free online experience (Live is around £4 a month, which you acknowledge is 'better')

8. uses real-world currency in purchasing items (unlike 360's MS points) (You still have to buy a set amount of 'credit' AFAIK).

9. Divx and AVI compatibilty (?)

10. Controller is "friendlier" to any type of hand and lasts a lot longer compared to 360
* charges for 30 minutes and lasts almost the whole day i heard.
downside: you need to charge it whilst the console is on. (Oddest thing I've heard tbh. PS3 charge wire is tiny as well.)

11. has a multi-card reader (?) (AFAIK, only the original 'phat' 60GB ones did.)

12. 3D-ready!!!!! (but only if you have a 3D-capable TV which i don't) (360 is 3D ready in games which support it)

13. more catch-up TV services like 4OD and ITV player

14. an internet browser (although far from being excellent i have heard of a rumour that they are bringing in Google Chrome and in turn might and could potentially pave the way for an Android market-style app store. that might be the final nail in the coffin for the 360 Slim).



what do you think guys?

can anyone else add to these lists please?

and am i correct in my assessments so far?



Thanks.

My spin on things.

[Spud1]

Depends on what games you want to play..but regardless, I own both an Xbox 360 and PS3 (both the "phat" versions), and I NEVER play on my Xbox anymore.

It gets used purely as a HD-DVD player, wheras my PS3 is used for media playback, blu-ray, dvd, iPlayer, games, photo viewing..it gets a lot of use.

I wouldn't bother with the 360 unless there is a platform specific game that you really want to play (and Halo [insert new version here] doesn't count, it's really not that good!).

[gtech]

PS3 it is then....

[gino_76ph]

I got more questions:


1. can i connect a portable hard drive (like my Seagate) to the PS3 and 360 off the USB to view my files such as photos or even my AVI movies?

2. do i need a bluetooth dongle for the PS3 before i can send a photo taken from my say for instance mobile phone via bluetooth? i thought PS3's are b/t enabled already?

3. would you think after all these system updates the PS3 is a much secured console from hacking or viruses, etc.

4. would you say the error rates of PS3 is better than that of the 360?

5. is it true that the PS3 often "lags" and suffer from slowdowns and disconnections on it's online bit?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you want to play Crysis 2 the XBox 360 version is much better!

My take on both consoles is that the XBox360 is probably a more powerful machine for gaming whereas the PS3 is a better all-rounder.

[Ferral]

Yes you can connect the portable drive to access your movies etc, works in the same way as a USB flash drive, try and group stuff into relevant folders to make it a bit easier to find stuff. Bear in mind that some movie codecs dont always play correctly on PS3, just a bit of trial and error with that one though, I have found certain audio codecs dont work but Divx and Xvid are fine as are MP4 files.

I havnt tried bluetoothing anything to my PS3 so cant comment on that one, however bluetooth headsets work fine.

PS3 is pretty darned secure in all honesty, never had any probs. But if a hacker wanted to do something no doubt they would do their best. In a way though each PS3 has its own hardware I.D number, to hack into it you need that I.D number so the answer comes down to as long as the I.D is not in the hands of whoever then you are safe.

Error rates are better, on the PS3 it is the YLOD (Yellow Light of Death), but it is nowhere near as high as the failure rate of the 360's. I am onto my 3rd PS3 now in just over 2 years, 1st 80Gb phat had a problem with the hard drive so sound and gameplay was stuttering, got it replaced with a 250Gb slim and that died on me with FFXIII disc in it, no power at all to it, just dead. Guys in Game replaced it no quibbles and also replaced my Final Fantasy game, they did tell me they had only seen that happen 1 other time and it was a busy store in a nearby shopping center. My 3rd one though has been no bother whatsoever and I've had it nearly a year now (Covered by Gamecare warranty).

I have never had any problem with the online games lagging with a wireless connection, home works a treat and never any probs with logging in or the store.

[Emperorzhang66]

get ps3, you seem to like the exclusives more, that is pretty much what it comes down to

I personally only have a 360 and pc, cause i can't use the ps3 controller and not to fond of the games, but that is what its about, the ps3 is a great system for games and all round media (not as good as PC but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Go for ps3, if you want a great single player experience and media opportunities, 360 if you want great online and somewhat good media center.

[Biscuit]

Error rates are better, on the PS3 it is the YLOD (Yellow Light of Death), but it is nowhere near as high as the failure rate of the 360's. I am onto my 3rd PS3 now in just over 2 years, 1st 80Gb phat had a problem with the hard drive so sound and gameplay was stuttering, got it replaced with a 250Gb slim and that died on me with FFXIII disc in it, no power at all to it, just dead. Guys in Game replaced it no quibbles and also replaced my Final Fantasy game, they did tell me they had only seen that happen 1 other time and it was a busy store in a nearby shopping center. My 3rd one though has been no bother whatsoever and I've had it nearly a year now (Covered by Gamecare warranty).

Is this still the case with the slim? Mine has been fine although i dont play it much.

[Ferral]

My 2nd PS3 which was a 250 Gb slim just completely died on me, no power getting into it at all, tried the usual change leads etc but it was just dead, thankfully I have the Gamecare warranty and the store manager just swapped it out for me and replaced my game. The YLOD still happens but it is very few and far between, it wasnt overly common on the phat, slim its virtually non existant.

Mine tends to get hammered for a few weeks then I go back to PC gaming for a few weeks and back and forth between the 2, my 360 now is used for Windows media center and playing HD DVD's

[Biscuit]

wait... was it your PS that broke or your xbox... im confused ^^

I was talkin about the xbox

[Ferral]

It was my 1st PS3 Slim that broke completely, it was weird. Was playing FF13 the evening before and everything working fine, went to turn it on Saturday morning and it was dead much to my dismay (and also why I wont leave a disc in the machine now as there is no way of getting it out).

My XBox is the Falcon chipset, first ones that had the HDMI, its been no bother really. Only ever locked up once whilst playing GRAW2 which is what got me nervous and I bought my PS3. My Xbox has gone on strong and on the 3rd PS3!!!

[gino_76ph]

Dumb questions:

weather i get a PS3 Slim or the 360 Slim is it worth getting a cover/insurance for my console?
* i plan to get mine at Game in Oxford Street.

and as regards online gaming in general the lag rates for the PS3 is..does it all boil down to the system/software or the internet connection speeds or the infrastructure in general itself?
* won't be playing much online. just general offline gaming.

[Ferral]

Yeah, its worthwhile getting the Gamecare warranty, if something goes wrong with things like pads or the machine itself they will just swap it out for you with no questions. Really good customer service from them.

In most cases when it lags I have found that it is down to my internet connection not PSN, other than that PSN is stable and offers good speeds and ping times. They have servers in different locales around the world but you wouldnt connect to somewhere like America or say Germany, you would end up connecting to somewhere closer like Manchester.