[AceLuby]

Ok, so I wanted to post this because I feel that I now have an objective eye towards the whole PS3 vs 360 debate seeing as that I have both. I know this has been posted before, but I don't think any time it has been objectively. I also want to point out that I'm doing this from a user's standpoint and everything is my own personal opinion.

When I buy a next gen console I judge it on a few characteristics; game playing, other media, and price.

Game Playing

Ok, I'm hooking both systems up to an LCD via HDMI cables at 1080i. I have to say that both systems look great, controls are pretty much identical except PS3 has the sixAxis controls which don't really work that well. It is pretty unnecessary IMO and programming for them is weak at best. Sports games look and play better on the 360, but pretty much every other game I've played on both are as close to identical as two systems can get.

The thing that the 360 has right now is more games. Most importantly it has Halo 3, which is incredible. However, when looking at the best reviewed games for the 360 80% of the games were either racing games or FPS. Not a very wide variety IMO, but graphically they are all great, especially in HD. PS3's counter to this is Resistance, which is a good game, but due to lack of a good campaign and not a whole lot of maps, Halo 3 is much better. Not saying the game is bad, because it's a lot of fun, especially in 40 people deathmatches (unavailable in Halo).

Non-sports games that are on both systems feel and play pretty much the same. My main frame of reference is Oblivion. All things being equal it's hard to tell the difference, even side by side. 360 has the expansion pack, but other than that it's the same game and when we are playing the game we shouldn't care what system it's on, it should just be fun and both versions satisfy that.

The biggest thing for each is the exclusives and IMO, exclusivity is going to go down as time goes on. 360 will never let go of Halo, but IMO I think a lot of games that were once exclusive to one system will be on both. Main reason: they want to make as much $$$ as possible, so why not have it available to the maximum amount of players.

All in all, both systems are great for gaming, though XBOX has at least one must-have game (Halo), which is more than the PS3 can say. I say must have because I haven't seen a single game that is a 'wow' game that will sell the system like Halo. All the other games are good, but nothing that I'm going to wastea lot of hours on.

Other Media

In short PS3 has built in blue ray, the option to load linux, built in wi-fi, and has built in flash readers.

The 360 has an add on HD-DVD player, add on wi-fi, and has the ability to be part of a windows network.

In all honesty I haven't played around too much w/ the other media on either console, so I don't know the full capabilities, but I have to give this up to the PS3 because everything is included while M$ makes you pay extra for all of that. If this is at all important to you the cost of your system could go up dramatically.

Price

The price for both is pretty steep and IMHO, is pretty much the same for each system. If all you want to do is play games on it locally the 360 is the obvious choice. However, if what you want is an all encompassing entertainment console there are a lot of costs associated w/ the 360 as compared to the PS3. If you want everything for either system you are looking at spending close to $1k w/ a couple games and 4 controllers.

Overall

For all the fanboys of each system, and I'm not going to say I wasn't one at any point, they are pretty much the same. Both play games and both have very few games that are going to sell the system. However, if you're favorite games are FPS, racing games, or even sports the 360 is the obvious choice (which could be said about the original XBOX vs PS2). One turn off of the 360 is the problems w/ overheating that aren't associated w/ the PS3. This is a big deal to some as there are people out there on their 6, 7, even 8th 360.

All in all if I had to choose only one system now it would be the 360 because of Halo, but besides that I'd say the systems are pretty much equivalent. Now I know I'll be flamed from 360 and PS3 fanboys alike, but this is what I've found. In all reality, I'm fairly disappointed in the first 2 yrs of next gen systems.