Toms Article

Just written the first draft of my article. Feedback welcome.

Ever since man learnt to speak there have been disagreements. Some important, some not so important. In this particular disagreement there is a fine drawn down the middle, you’re either on one side or the other and there is no fence to sit on. Anyone that chooses both can be seen as a spoilt, snotty rich kid with a joint bank account with their entrepreneur father. Or and adult with a full time job. But since not many of us can boast these attributes, we can only settle for one. If you’re not fortunate to own one of these already or simply cannot make up your mind, read on and you can decide which is suited to you best. What's more with the summer holidays imminent, and judging by the Great British summer you’ll be spending a lot of time indoors avoiding the torrential weather, so its best to join the ‘I own a 7^th generation console’ club ASAP.

First things first. How much can you rely on your console to cure your boredom? Well not much has been said about the PS3’s ability to turn itself on and well…work, which, in a way is a good thing as no news is good news. In contrast, much news has been covered about the 360s infamous ‘Red Ring of Death’. This is when the four green arcs around the 360s power button turns in to only three arcs and is replaced by the dreaded colour of red. And in short, this means you have to get a new one. Even the latest 360s rolling off the Microsoft manufacturing table still have the possibility of the Red Ring of Death and no fix to this problem has yet been found. But having said that, the chances of a new 360 breaking down are really slim and with a 3 year warranty. There isn’t too much to be worried about.

We now move on to the main reasons for buying the consoles, the games it has to offer. With most game released now opting to avoid confrontation and going multi- platform we can only really judge this by the exclusive titles each console boasts.

A year back, the 360 would have won this fight with its arms tied behind its back, so to speak. It offered you superb exclusives such as Gears of War, BioShock, Mass Effect, Dead Rising, Project Gotham Racing 4 to name but a few. Oh wait. I forgot one. Halo 3. In response the PS3 line up having just launched, was weak and feeble in comparison with only Resistance: Fall of Man the only noteworthy title. But it seems they’ve slowly found their feet after getting knocked down with titles slowly emerging such as Devil May Cry 4, Gran Turismo 5 and Haze. Along with some mouth watering titles waiting in the wings such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 13 and Killzone 2, the future is looking bright for the PS3.

Graphics is a common argument amongst most owners. Most argument can be settled by the phrase ‘Yeah, but the graphics are better’. In all honesty both console’s graphical quality is pretty much out of this world and you wouldn’t find anything to complain about. However if we knit pick, and that’s what were here to do, then the 360 is, on paper, the more graphically powerful. It has a more powerful Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) compared to the PS3. If you look at multi-platform games and compare the graphics between the consoles, the 360 almost always looks slightly better. However in the PS3’s defence they do have a more powerful processing unit. The only problem is that at this moment in time it is not being used to its maximum potential and its power is going to waste. This is because 360 games are simply easier to develop for and that’s why we see multi-platform titles are usually released earlier for the 360. But as time goes, we’ll see developers slowly integrating the PS3s processing power into games and doing things in which the 360 can’t which gives it a significant edge in being able to process truly huge scale games (Crysis, anyone?).

It’s no longer considered ‘politically correct’ to call a PS3 or a 360 a ‘gaming console’. This is because they have the ability to do so much more. They should be renamed ‘computerised multimedia machines’. They no longer take you automatically into the games you insert into the drive no more. That’s a thing of the past. Instead, you find yourself on a PS3 Cross Media Bar (XMB) or the 360s X-Blades. They basically are the interface that sections off its media capabilities into categories for easier navigation. So not only does it have the ability to play games, both can also have the ability to listen to music, play videos, and buy merchandise from their respective stores via an internet connection and credit card. The only notable difference between the two is that the PS3 also allows you to surf the ‘actual’ internet i.e. visit websites. Whereas the 360 can’t and restricts you only to the X-Blades.

Another aspect to consider is the online experience. This is a major point as it seems now most gamers are involved in some sort of online gaming where they can join up with friends to play as teams or go up against each other to earn bragging rights in school. Whichever has the better online could sway you to buy their console. The Xbox Live for a start costs money. Roughly £40 a year at the cheapest. However the PlayStation Network is free so obviously the PS3 would be the obvious choice, no? Sadly it’s not that simple. The 360 gives you a headset included in its package deals which makes communicating with people online straightforward. With the PS3, if you want to talk to the people you’re playing with you will have to go a buy a headset separately which will set you back around £20 for a basic, average type.

One huge annoyance of PSN is the fact that you cannot send messages to your friend from within a game. In order send messages, you need to quit out of the game you are playing, and then go to your friends list. Rumours of an in game XMB have surfaced with firmware updates, but at the moment it’s just speculation. Contrastingly, with Xbox Live you can hit one button and be able to contact your friends straight away. You can send them a voice message, or text message, or invite them to the game that you’re playing. Another feature of the 360 is that you can add your MSN/Live Messenger list to the 360, and talk to your contacts anytime you want.

The thing that can supposedly counter the 360s superiority is the still in development ‘Playstation Home’. This is basically like The Sims where you get your own little character and can interact with other PS3 users in a virtual environment that stems from a park to a bar where you can play mini games such as snooker and bowling against friends. Kind of like social networking taken to another level. You can chat with people, meet up and jump into games together and even invite people round to your ‘Home’ and show them the trophies that you have won whilst playing games or share your photos and videos. All this does sound impressive but it has all been kept relatively under wraps and no new information has been released in a long while.

With the 360 being available a whole year before the PS3, the 360 will always have and edge on pricing. The average price for a 20GB PS3 will set you back around £230 where the 20GB 360 is around £220. Both have the ability to change its hard drives to a bigger memory, whether you risk totally failing and breaking your system, is up to you. There isn’t much else to say just to bear in mind the release date compared to its price.

So the final verdict. It’s not possible to scientifically say which system is better as it’s only a matter of opinion. So in a sense, this article can be seen as pointless. But that’s only opinion =P. We can only use the facts to argue our points across to one another. I can only say that whichever one you choose, you won’t be disappointed with it. But if you don’t want an annoying, uncontroversial, generic answer, then I shall break the mould. In a nutshell, if you want performance right away with everything fully functional a wide selection of great games already out and at pretty much the peak of its technological ability, choose the 360. If you are willing to wait a little and look to forward to the anticipation of new features being released then look to the PS3 as in the long run the PS3 looks to win the war.