Still can't decide what HD console to buy? This buyers guide could help you make up your mind as gamezplay compare the specifications for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video games consoles.
What you get included...
PlayStation 3 Slim
Wireless Controller
Composite A/V Cable
Power Cable
USB Cable to charge wireless controller
Xbox 360 Elite
Wireless Controller
Power Cable
Composite A/V Cable
Features and more after the break...
Console features
PlayStation 3 Slim
Blu-ray HD video Support
DVD Support
CD support
DVD-Video: DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
120gb or 250gb Hard Drive
Wi-Fi Support Built-in
HDMI Out x 2
BlueTooth Support Built-in (2.0)
Built in Ethernet Port
Plays PlayStation 1 games(No PlayStation 2 support)
Play Online
Internet via Wi-Fi
Web Browser included
Downloadable Games
Game Update Download support
Movie downloads
Music Download
USB Drive Support 4 Front 2 Rear (USB 2.0)
Easy Hard Drive Upgrade (Will Effect Warranty)
PSP Connection and Game Downloads
Memory Stick, SD memory card, and CompactFlash
Fireware Update Downloads
- No HDMI Cable Included
Xbox 360 Elite
120gb Hard Drive
DVD Disc Drive
Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD
Some Xbox 1 Titles Supported
Online Gaming Charged ($50 dollars annual)
Movie Downloads
Games at 16:9, 720p & 1080i anti-aliasing
Standard Definition & High Definition Video Output Supported
Multichannel Surround Sound Output
Built in Ethernet Port
3 USB 2.0 Ports
Supports Up To 4 Wireless Game Controllers
2 Memory Slots
- No Internet browser.
- No Wi-Fi Support (Adapter $100)
- No HDMI Cable Included
- No BlueTooth (headset included for online voice functions)
PlayStation 3 Slim
With Blu-ray Drive to play HD movies on Blu-ray disc. Average price per Blu-ray movie approx $18.49. Stream movies via Netflix on PlayStation 3 Download or watch from USB drive or memory stick.
Download and stream numerous movies, Television shows and video from the PlayStation Store. Netfix cost $4.50 on average and only some video is High Definition (HD). Xbox 360 you can only rent video. PS3 also supports standard DVD video Disks.
Xbox 360
Xbox 360 has a DVD drive. You can find a lot of movies and Television shows and other media on DVD. Xbox 360 cannot play Blu-ray discs. You can also stream movies with Netflix for Xbox 360. Costing $9 per month and does not require a disc to stream.
Download video including movies and Television shows from the Xbox Live or Zune Marketplace. Movies bought cost on average of $6. Unlike the PlayStation 3, you can’t keep movies you download, only rent them.
Video games
PlayStation 3 Slim
Top-rated exclusive games for the PlayStation 3 including Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet and Killzone 2. Top 25 exclusive PlayStation 3 games include: MLB 09 The Show, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, Demon’s Souls, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Ninja Gaiden: Sigma. Top 25 exclusive PlayStation 3 games include: Gears of War 2, Mass Effect, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Grand Theft Auto 4: The Lost & Damned, Portal: Still Alive, Geometry Wars 2, Forza 2, REZ HD and Left 4 Dead.
Upcoming exclusive games for PS3 include Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Gran Turismo 5, God of War 3, Final Fantasy XIII and MAG.
Xbox 360 Elite
Existing games for the Xbox 360 include Gears of War 1 & 2 and Halo 3. a lot of PC get ported to the Xbox 360 earlier than PlayStation 3.
Recent and upcoming exclusive games for Xbox 360 include: Halo 3: ODST, Forza 3, Left 4 Dead 2, Mass Effect 2 and Grand Theft Auto 4: The Ballad of Gay Tony.
Before you buy take a look at the system most of your friends have if you are planning on doing a lot of online gaming then pick the system that will allow you to play online with your friends. Remember the Xbox charge an annual fee where the PS3 online gaming is FREE! Both systems have great online content with lots of exclusive downloadable games.
The Xbox 360 Avatar system allows users to design their own online person or 'Avatar'. Plus exclusive online interactive services like 1 v 100 a live virtual game show where you can compete for real-life prizes. The Xbox 360 doesn’t have a web-browser but it does support Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm built in.
The PlayStation 3 meanwhile offers you PlayStation Home, an interactive social-focused online world again, you can create and customise your own character 'Avatar' You can gather with your friends. Already own a PSP? the PlayStation 3 and the PSP can link together and share content and you can download games for PSP and use it as an extra controller.
Both PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 offers ranking trophies and achievements. You unlock them when you play games, shared and compared with friends.
Performance
On paper, the PlayStation 3’s Cell engine is more capable than XBOX 360’s triple-core Xenon CPU. However the XBOX 360 is much easier to develop for therefore a lot of the Cell’s power is going to waste. Another indication that the PS3 is harder to develop for is the fact that almost all multiplatform games arrive weeks – if not months – after their 360 versions.
Graphics
I've looked at the figures, the Xenos GPU on the Xbox 360 is superior the RSX on the PlayStation 3 and I don't want to argue about it! Xenos simply has more power – higher fill rate, higher pixel processing power, higher vertex processing power, and better memory architecture. If you look at multi-platform games and contrast the graphics on the two consoles, Xbox 360 almost always leads. Whether they use a higher resolution or higher quality anti aliasing, games often look better and/or play smoother on the 360.
At the very least, games will look the same on both consoles. At the worst, games on the PS3 will run at half the frame rate of the 360, and at lower resolutions with less filtering and anti aliasing.
Online Support
It’s going to be tough for anyone to beat Xbox Live the interface is excellent, the interaction between players is superb, and extra features like achievements add the small touches that make playing games on the Xbox 360 just a little bit better for certain people.
PlayStation Network
has the sole advantage of being free for the most part (game makers are allowed to charge for online play, such as MMO games). However, to play any game at all on Xbox Live, you must subscribe at $50 per year at its cheapest.
One drastic disadvantage of the PlayStation 3 is the fact that you cannot send messages to your friend from within a game; in order to reach the XMB or ‘main menu’ of the PS3, you need to quit out of the game you are playing, and go to your friends list that way. There is nothing in the way of voice chat (with the exception of Warhawk), and no cross-game invite system. With Xbox Live, hit one button and you can reach your friends right away. Send them a voice message, or text message, or invite them to the server you’re playing on. You can even add your MSN/Live Messenger list to the 360, and talk to your non-gaming friends any time you want.
Other Considerations
(from Hard Core Ware)
There are some other subjective topics to discuss that don’ t necessarily fit into our other categories.
Import Gaming
- The PlayStation 3 excels in this, as all games are currently unlocked and can be played on systems from any region. This makes importing games from other countries a breeze. Furthermore, you are free to create PSN accounts for any country, allowing you to download demos from other regions. You won’t be able to make purchases without a credit card from those countries however.
Xbox 360 has many games that are exclusive to Japan and Europe, but with region encoding, they are only playable on consoles from their respective regions. Going the other way, many titles that get a worldwide release don’t have region encoding at all, so owning a 360 outside of the US isn’t so bad if you still want to play US games. Take it from me: import gaming goes both ways!Piracy - A touchy subject, but one that must be considered. Although PS3 ISO’s are being released, I’m pretty sure that its game copy protection has yet to be cracked. Xbox 360 on the other hand, has a large scene going for it, and that has to be a consideration for many people deciding on which console to buy. Be warned though; Microsoft actively fights piracy, and has been known to ban consoles from connecting to Xbox Live if a mod is detected!
Folding@Home
– This may not be a big deal to you, but perhaps it should be mentioned. If you are interested in joining a worldwide supercomputer cluster capable of 700 teraflops, and want to help find the cure for diseases like cancer, the PS3 may be worthy of consideration. For most though, this function doesn’t make a difference at all.
PSP Connectivity
– With firmware releases, the PlayStation 3 received some excellent features, not the least of which is the ability to stream media to the PSP – anywhere in the world. Once two devices are partnered, you can turn on the PS3 from your PSP and access all the files on it with the PSP – including HD video. This is where Microsoft got things wrong by trying to turn the 360 into a media extender. Sony decided to make the PlayStation 3 a media hub, extending to portable devices like the PSP. A very wise decision, and the features get even better with time.
Reliability
- Here’s a huge one that must be considered – Xbox 360’s made prior to October 2007 are pretty much considered time bombs. It’s not a matter of whether your console will stop working, it’s a matter of when. The 360 has such a high failure rate that Microsoft spent over $1 billion to extend everyone’s warranty by 3 years. While having a long warranty is nice, knowing that it’s only a matter of time before the console dies, nobody wants to have a dead console in the first place. Newer units seem to be okay, so far (knock on wood).
Backwards Compatibility
– This was one of the major advantages of the PlayStation 3 when it first launched last year. Since it had all the necessary hardware from the PlayStation 2, it would be fully compatible with all PS2 games. Additionally, PS2 games would eventually be upsampled, improving their image quality for newer HD displays. PS2 owners could safely pass along their old console, knowing that their game library would still be accessible, and look better than ever. However, as Sony started revising hardware to cut costs, backwards compatibility suffered. First to go was the “Emotion Engine” CPU in the 80GB version. Some games were still supported through software emulation, since the “Graphics Synthesizer” GPU remained intact; reports show 80GB backwards compatibility to be around 50%. With the latest version of the PS3 (40 GB), the GPU was also removed, and as of now there is no way to emulate PS2 games on these systems. Although it’s probably not impossible to emulate the GPU with the PS3’s hardware, nothing has been announced and I wouldn’t get my hopes up of this ever happening.Xbox 360’s backwards compatibility is nothing to brag about either; consider it at about the level of the 80GB PS3. Many Xbox 1 games will work, but often have problems.
Display Connectivity
– The PlayStation 3 wasn’t the only one to get some hardware revisions in the past year. One of the largest criticisms of the Xbox 360 was the fact that it had no digital video output. However, all consoles released after September 2007 (including the low-end Arcade version) include an HDMI 1.2 digital port. Only the Elite comes with a cable in-box.
Open Source Operating Systems
- Again, this may not be something that will sway your buying decision. While both consoles have some form of Linux support, only the PlayStation 3 officially supports it out of the box. Xbox 360 has a project titled Free60 that requires you to hack your system and use vulnerable kernels. If your system has later firmware updates, it may be entirely impossible to do this. On the PlayStation 3, you simply select an option in the console, and from there you can install one of several distributions that support it, including Yellow Dog (the distro officially supported by Sony), Ubuntu, Fedora Core 7, Gentoo, and Debian.
Still can't decide what HD console to buy? This buyers guide could help you make up your mind as gamezplay compare the specifications for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video games consoles.