The Alchemist on 18/12/2008 at 07:12
I've owned both a PS3 and a 360 and they're both are great consoles. (Although admittedly both of my 360's RROD's, which is why I eventually switched).
Neither the PS3 nor the 360 have any particular exclusives that make them a clearcut winner, it's all about preference.
The 360 gets Mass Effect which was brilliant, Halo which is a great all around shooter if not a bit bland, Gears of War which definitely has its niche, that sort of thing.
The PS3 gets Uncharted (a really great new IPO if you haven't tried it, one of the most cinematic games I've ever played, and part 2 looks amazing), Metal Gear Solid which is a classic, you either love it or hate it, God of War, which I personally never got into, Little Big Planet which is probably one of the best sandbox games ever, although the community needs to pick up the pace with content, and stuff of that nature.
But declaring that either console is a failure is an outright lie. My biggest hiccup are with cross-console games, some have advantages on one console, some have advantages on the other. Assassins Creed, for example, has better AA on the PS3, and better lighting, but the colors are more washed out. Mirrors Edge on the other hand, has better AA on the 360. Go figure. All in all, usually they play fine on both systems, but I'll agree that the 360 has the upper hand with its online play because it's more intuative in how you set up parties etc.
That's not to say that the PS3 doesn't do the same thing, but it isn't nearly as complete, for example it lacks the party only voice chat mode (I think), and a lot of the multiplayer features themselves are game specific rather than unified such as the 360 has. But then again, the 360 is a paid online service and the PS3 is free, you get what you paid for. In the PS3's defense though, the system gets updated often and is quickly shaping up into something nice. I can't comment much on the new XBLE, I've seen it at my friends house and I didn't find it all that much better than the blades, in fact it kind of seemed over complicated. I quite like the PS3's UI, it's simple but gets the job done quickly and efficiently. Again, a matter of preference.
Then there are other things to consider, such as XBLA, which is really awesome. Games such as Doom and Duke Nukem make it a clear winner over the PS3's own mini-game system which doesn't have many gems, other than SSF2HD which is available on both systems but works way better on the PS3's controller.
Which brings me to another point of interest, the controllers. Initially, I had thought the 360 controller was vastly superior, it's big and it's comfy, the triggers feel great for shooters. But after having played CoD4 on the 360 for a good while then switching over to a PS3, I actually found the PS3 controller to be more comfortable and responsive, it feels good to use the R1 and L1 buttons on the PS3 controller for FPS control, more exact than the analog triggers, despite not being triggers and not getting that side of the fun. I find the PS3 to be more robust in its controls as both the triggers and the L1/R1 buttons are very usable, where as on the 360 the L1/R1 buttons are small and seem fit only for very specific tasks.
Again, this is purely a subjective matter of preference so feel free to sling flaming piles of shit, but I think people should be more practical about how they judge things. I know the internet isn't exactly the most reasonable demographic, but the zealous nature that people apply to criticism doesn't seem very rational.
For me, the PS3 controller is superior for fighting games due to a better D pad and more accessible face buttons, the 360 had the upper hand for shooting games until I decided I was more comfortable on the PS3's controller using R1/L1. This is highly subjective. Also, I though the 360 won over in racing games due to the analog nature of the triggers allowing for precise control of breaking/acceleration, but I'm happy to say that the DualShock 3 controllers have really good trigger buttons that do the job quite well.
The PS3 has a convenient video store where you can get movies in HD or standard def for cheap, and you can stream the movies as you watch them, but the 360 won that camp now with its Netflix addition, although I've read that you can watch Netflix's online streaming option on the PS3's browser, but I've yet to try that.
You're kidding yourself if you think either system has a greater set of exclusives. Both have a very impressive amount of great exclusives, and the non exclusives run great on both systems typically with a slight difference in one way or another but not commonly anything showstopping for a particular console.
The PS3 is far more expensive but you have to consider the fact that you're getting a blu-ray player, and that's basically the added cost. Blu-ray movies look pretty great, and I heard that the PS3 might be able to support the new huge blu-ray cd's with a firmware update, but that's not confirmed yet.
So which system is better? Man it's all the same, it really only comes down to the minutiae and finally, the exclusives. And I can't say I don't sometimes lament the fact that X or Y game won't come out on my system, but I'm quite happy with my PS3.
Anywho one last note, if you haven't tried Uncharted I suggest you do, it's a really great game. The characters are likable and the cut scenes are extremely high production value, it feels very cinematic, like a movie. The gameplay is your standard hide behind cover and fire type, and it works pretty well. Mix in some geographical puzzles a la Tomb Raider and that's basically what you get, a new age Tomb Raider, minus the boobs and with a penis. Drake is a really likable character, though.
Also I'd like to add that Killzone 2 seems to be a pretty killer game, Penny-Arcade (who's opinion I tend to trust) among many other people who have played the beta say it feels a lot like CoD4, but a bit meatier, which is a great thing.
And although I suspect there has been some postprocessing done to these screenshots, I still suggest you take a look at these photos of Uncharted 2, which I'm highly anticipating: (
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/56390)
Personally, I had originally put my money on the PS3 because at the time, I had a PS2 (when the 360 came out) and I was still getting stellar games for it. I had hoped that the PS3 would have the same zealous support from Japanese developers and thus have a lot of longevity but this hasn't really been the case so far. Maybe a bit later on? One thing to look out for though, is that they're definitely making a new game of the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus series, and I'm sure it will be spectacular.
Now if only I could get a Zone of Enders 3....
Anywho, this post was most definitely heavily slanted towards the PS3, but I think both consoles are great. I just don't want people to continue to convince themselves that the PS3 isn't equally worthwhile, it really is.
