Choosing a gaming platform

So, you've decided to replace that box made of wood and bits of plastic your grandmother got at a flea market when she was still a young whippersnapper. But, upon seeing the utterly breathtakingly huge selection of THREE SYSTEMS, you wish humanity's greatest creation since the mayo turkey sandwich, thingy was there to guide you (did you know that the spell check recognizes thing y but not thingy?). Well, fear not, for thingy has some time off his busy schedule of being awesome and doing that massive crowd of young busty attractive women that gather outside his house every day, and has decided to help you!

The biggest issue when buying a gaming system tends to be money. Most people have to stay on a budget, one set by your parents or yourself if you have a job. If you don't have alot of available money, or just don't want to spend much on gaming and only have little interest in the hobby, you're definitely going to want a console. The price is manageable and it's incredibly easy to use. Just plug it into the TV, set up the console, register with whatever online service used with the system, insert the disc and you're good to go. Unlike the PC, there's no lenghty installation or any of that stuff. One CD used to play the thing, a minute or two of updating and a very short installation, and the game is fully playable, and other than the occasional in game bug, completely problem free. Consoles are perfect for you if you're only looking for an hour or two of fun every once in a while, something to do with your friends when they're over, or something for the party.

Choosing a console isn't particularly difficult either, it basically comes down to what kind of games you like, and what features you want. There aren't as many exclusives as the last few console generations, but there are still a few big exclusives on both systems, most notably, Halo on the Xbox and Uncharted on the PS3.

The game part of the choice basicly comes down to wether you like action games or adventure games. The Xbox 360 has a few worthy non twitch based games and the PS3 has some good shooters, but the few exclusives the consoles have can be summed up that way.

The features aren't that different between the consoles, but one big thing is the PS3's Blu Ray capability. It'll save you a pretty penny if you haven't bought a Blu Ray player already. But that's not where the PS3's media superiority ends, it's got a built in web browser (not as good as FF or IE though), Vidzone (a free music streaming service with over 1.5 million titles), life with playstation (a news and weather service). The PS3 is also superior when it comes to hardware, and should last for long long time. However, this all comes at a price. A 250 gb PS3 slim costs 299.99 quid on Amazon, while an Xbox 360 Slim with the same memory capacity costs 199.99.

In conclusion, the PS3 has superior features, an adventure/RPG oriented catalog and superior hardware, but costs 100£ more than the Xbox 360. The 360 is inferior when it comes to features and hardware, but has a more Action oriented catalog and costs a lot less than the PS3. If you're looking for a media centre and prefer adventure/RPG games, the PS3 is for you (Though there's plenty of big action games on the PS3 too). If you want a cheaper console and prefer action (there's non twitch based games on the 360 too), the 360 is for you. I recommend you have a look at your local store or an online game catalog before you decide what console to buy, though.

Next episode: The PC.

Edit: I didn't include this when i first made this guide because the Xbox360 slim had recently been released, and i had heard that most of the big design flaws with the system had been fixed, but apparently that's not the case. So bear in mind that the 360 has some massive design flaws, such as

- Due to the DVD drive having a massive RPM to compensate for the fact that it doesn't use an install system to play game data like the PS3 (Data is installed (which takes a few minutes, but not nearly as long as most current generation games for the PC), and then used by the system when you start the game. The disc is only used to ''Unlock'' the game for you, and a little more for some specific data i believe). Therefore, the older models (pre slim) will scratch your disc pretty badly and the slim will utterly destroy them (i heard that from first hand accounts, but it hasn't been officially confirmed) when moved, either due to you moving it for some reason or by accident, such as falls. I haven't heard anything about the same thing happening on the PS3, which means the problem is very uncommon or non existant.

- The older models have a simply incredible failure rate, with 2-3 malfunctioning units per consumer not being uncommon, and some people have even gone through SIX units. The warranty was made to deal with this, however, and the standard is 3 years from purchase for Red Rings Of Death (RROD's)(The warranty doesn't cover ruined game discs however). The slim models might have reduced the failure rate, but if you were to judge it from the many videos and first hand accounts on the internet, it's still common, and has only been replaced by a red dot. The red dot is supposed to indicate that the system has overheated and needs to cool down, but for some people it never stops flashing. Also, this hasn't been confirmed, but apparently, this isn't covered by the extended 3 year warranty because it's technically a self protective measure. This is however to be taken with a grain of salt, as it's only a rumor. The standard PS3 has a 2 year failure rate of 10% (don't know about the PS3Slim's failure rate, but i believe it's alot less). It also has it's own version of the RROD, the yellow light of death, it's only happened in less than 1% of all PS3's however. Also, another thing to note is that the X360's warranty is void if you open the console, meaning you're going to have to buy a new one if it gets an RROD.


-Acces to Xbox live (the 360's online service and multiplayer provider) costs 60 dollars A MONTH. That's the cost of preordering a game, buying a newly released one, or several older games! The PS3's online service is free. This is enough reason for me to recommend the PS3, but if you add in the massive failure rate of the 360(caused by lazy design, another reason for me to recommend the PS3, as it has a much better design), you've got a strong recommendation.

that's actually a very nice guide. it's pretty unbiased too which is nice. you state your preference and why, but still offer reasons why the competitor would be useful. very well done, i look forward to the PC edition.

It appears that the red ring of death hasn't been fixed in the X360S. It's just been changed so it's now a red dot of death. Hopefully, the death rate for the new version of the console has been reduced significantly, but i can't really be sure. It also appears that it will completely chew up your discs if it is moved, accidentally or not, while working. So, when buying a console, bear in mind that the 360 has a much bigger failure rate and more technical flaws than the PS3 S. If you're unfortunate enough, it could cost you a game or two, or more if you have really shitty luck/don't take proper care of it, and if you somehow void the warranty, you'll end up paying for 2 360's and only getting one. This is especially true for the old versions of the 360. This might however be fixed/improved with a firmware update in the future.

Link to the source here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.226641-XBOX-360-Slim-Dying-scamming-and-enraging-customers-already

By the way, the dot means the console is overheated, and needs to cool down. But apparantly, for some people, it never actually cools down. That means it's basicly a slightly better version of the RROD, as the RROD meant the console had overheated, and was broken for good.

Nowhere have you mentioned the $60 a month you have to pay in order to even play a game online for the xbox.

Just something else to consider.

Also, unlike the older models, which tended to only scratch the disc, the new one utterly destroys them.

Hoo boy... Some people are saying it isn't covered by warranty, as it's technically just protecting itself. This is however word of mouth, so take it with a grain of salt. Also, it appears the warranty has been changed to 1 year only, instead of the old 3 years if it RROD's on you.

@ABM Woopsie, i have no idea how i managed to forget to say that... Actually, i'm going to recommend you get a PS3 if you're looking for a console. It might be more expensive in the short run, but it's probably a shitload less hassle and money in the long run, the latter especially if you're planning on playing multiplayer (which is a must to get the most out of 70-80% of the games out there, seeing as split screen is becoming more and more rare). It also has a lot more features.

I'm going to try to put together all the stuff i missed in one post before writing the PC section.

Edit - Actually, i'm going to redo the entire first section. I'm going to need someone with a Wii though, so if anyone's got one and is willing to write a little, PM me.

Edit 2 - Meh, screw it, just added three more points. A Wii section is still needed, though.