THE OFFICIAL PS3 vs. XBOX360 vs. Wii thread

[bigsaucybob]

Do you really think it's worth the time, money and effort for such a minimal upgrade? Just go to your local B&Q or whatever and buy a 300ml can of black spray paint. Job done

Then figure out a way to add HDMI to your Xbox 360 Premium and spend $180 for the 120GB HDD. Then it's "job done".

 

[12-Gauge]

Then figure out a way to add HDMI to your Xbox 360 Premium

HDMI is useless on a 360 anyway. Unless you have a 60" HDTV the difference in picture quality will be minimal.

spend $180 for the 120GB HDD

I can't imagine why anyone would need 120GB.

As you can tell, i'm not a huge fan of the 'Elite'
Read these articles if your thinking of getting an Elite, they might make you think twice:

http://360.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=10072

http://www.trustedreviews.com/editorial/2007/04/08/Not-So-Elite/p1

 

[Pck21]

HDMI is useless on a 360 anyway. Unless you have a 60" HDTV the difference in picture quality will be minimal.



I can't imagine why anyone would need 120GB.

As you can tell, i'm not a huge fan of the 'Elite'
Read these articles if your thinking of getting an Elite, they might make you think twice:

http://360.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=10072

http://www.trustedreviews.com/editorial/2007/04/08/Not-So-Elite/p1

Wow thank you 12-gauge for those eye opening articles. After reading them just now, which I encourage anyone and everyone considering an Elite to read, it made me sick to see what the "Elite" really is and now I;m glad I didn't buy one. I have been pissed off since it was released and now I could care less. I'm liking my PS3 more and more now actually...

 

[12-Gauge]

Wow thank you 12-gauge for those eye opening articles.

No need to thank me. I'm just happy that you came to your own conclusion about the so-called 'Elite'.

P.S. For those who can't be bothered to read the articles (they are a bit wordy and there is a lot of waffle) the main points brought up were:

- "This new version is nothing more than necessary changes being price-gouged from those who would like these features. Black casing and accessories, a bigger hard drive, and the inclusion of an HDMI port and cable do not justify a $479 price tag"

- "Upon doing a little bit of searching, I found a 120GB notebook drive (the same kind used in the Xbox 360) for $79. You’ll notice that the price is literally less than half of what Microsoft is charging for basically the same thing."

-"They still haven’t implemented a new 65nm chipset that would almost certainly make the hardware more reliable and less prone to failure."

-“Who is Microsoft trying to appeal to with the Xbox 360 Elite?” Did you figure it out? The answer is “idiots” [His words, not mine]

-"It’s a standard Xbox 360 that’s had a lick of rather ugly paint, a bigger drive and an HDMI port hacked onto it.Not to mention the fact that the HDMI port is not 1.3 compliant"

 

[bigsaucybob]

I am not defending the Elite. But if I was a PS3 fan boy and I had a website to complain on, it would look the same as those articles.

And you would be surprised how many people could use a 120GB HDD, and I will say what I have said again:

Coming out soon is Xbox's IPTV, which allows users to stream live television through the internet and use their 360 as a DVR basically. So filling up the 120GB with TV shows, demos, movies, games, pictures, music, and files wont be that hard.

 

[striker]

I still like the white look for the 360 better than the black. And I won't be getting an Elite, and it's not because of the articles. I have no need for a 120 GB, and I don't have a HDTV yet. I heard that the ps3 is doing something similar, but I'm not for sure.

 

[12-Gauge]

I am not defending the Elite. But if I was a PS3 fan boy and I had a website to complain on, it would look the same as those articles.

If you are skeptical of their neutrality, it is worth remembering that the first one was from a site called "Xbox 360 Advanced Media Network" which would seem to suggest that they are unlikely to be Sony fanboys. As for the other one, well, i've always found trustedreviews.com to be very informative and certainly not biased.

 

[bigsaucybob]

If you are skeptical of their neutrality, it is worth remembering that the first one was from a site called "Xbox 360 Advanced Media Network" which would seem to suggest that they are unlikely to be Sony fanboys. As for the other one, well, i've always found trustedreviews.com to be very informative and certainly not biased.

Ha, I didn't even see that. Well trust me, I am no fan of the Elite YET. I think that with a few new updates, and some new features, such as IPTV, it will be a system worthy of its upgraded price.

 

[12-Gauge]

I think that with a few new updates, and some new features, such as IPTV, it will be a system worthy of its upgraded price.

Agreed. Although I would much prefer if Microsoft simply created a whole new console rather than continously changing the original in small increments. They need to think about adding something that is really worthwhile like a built-in HD-DVD player rather than just little things.

 

[bigsaucybob]

Agreed. Although I would much prefer if Microsoft simply created a whole new console rather than continously changing the original in small increments. They need to think about adding something that is really worthwhile like a built-in HD-DVD player rather than just little things.

I feel the same way, if they had added HD-DVD and Wi-Fi plus all the other new features and made it even $550, I would have considered purchasing one.

 

[DCIScouts]

Microsoft's ridiculously high price on it's accessories for the XBox 360 is going to kill it in the long run. The PS3 has it beat on many fronts, an already included next-gen drive, more reliable hardware (at least to this point), what you'd think to be a common add-on these days in built-in Wi-Fi (which the Wii has also...) and others. Like the one article stated, $180 for a 120GB hard drive is what you should have been paying 2 years ago, not today. Furthermore, $100 for a Wi-Fi card ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Now MS is trying to charge people for PC gaming on-line (read June's Game Informer). This just sounds like symptoms of a company that knows it's day are numbered. Not being innovative and not coming up with any ideas yourself will eventually catch up with you...

 

[tlarkin]

Microsoft's ridiculously high price on it's accessories for the XBox 360 is going to kill it in the long run. The PS3 has it beat on many fronts, an already included next-gen drive, more reliable hardware (at least to this point), what you'd think to be a common add-on these days in built-in Wi-Fi (which the Wii has also...) and others. Like the one article stated, $180 for a 120GB hard drive is what you should have been paying 2 years ago, not today. Furthermore, $100 for a Wi-Fi card ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Now MS is trying to charge people for PC gaming on-line (read June's Game Informer). This just sounds like symptoms of a company that knows it's day are numbered. Not being innovative and not coming up with any ideas yourself will eventually catch up with you...

actually the wifi card is a wireless bridge, which arguably $100 is about standard what you will pay for one if you were to buy the same piece of hardware for a computer. I don't think its over priced. You have to bridge the connection because all that is available is an ethernet port. Look up wifi ethernet bridges, I have installed them before for clients and cheapest I ever found was usually around $70.00, which those actually work with xbox and xbox360 as well. You don't have to buy the xbox version.

The funny thing is, at my local gamestop their PS3 demo was dead after a day or so of usage on display. Fitting a server product into a shoe box is not my idea of a great product. Also, forcing this onto the consumer when it is not needed by using high specs just shows me how dumb consumers really are.

I went to nebraska furniture mart the other day and looked at all the high spec, high def equipment. I saw LCD HD, DLP, Blu Ray, HD DVD, HDMI, High end projectors, etc. None of them had a regular old DVD player up and running to compare. In all honesty the only time I could tell the difference in picture quality is probably with true black. When comparing blu ray to HD DVD there is absolutely no difference anyone can tell by the naked eye.

I am almost certain that xbox will charge more fees for online play when they release WoW and other type MMO games which require a monthly subscription fee anyways. xbox live is still the most robust online console network I have ever played on.

The wifi thing should have been thought of, and they should have built in a cheap 802.11G card into the 360's logic board I agree. however, the 360 has been out for some time now, and wireless is more of the standard now than it was then.

 

[12-Gauge]

The wifi thing should have been thought of, and they should have built in a cheap 802.11G card into the 360's logic board I agree. however, the 360 has been out for some time now, and wireless is more of the standard now than it was then.

I totally agree. But to make the mistake twice (not have wifi in the premium 360 and then to leave it out again in the elite) is unforgivable from a company like Microsoft.

 

[DCIScouts]

Hmm..., good point about the Wi-Fi bridge cost, but I will say that the 360 was released a year and a half ago, at which point, built-in Wi-Fi had been a standard for approximately 6 months on any price of laptop, and was an option for a good period of time before that (don't remember exactly how long). While I understand that this is a console and not a laptop, the principal and technology is pretty much the same. Plus, I still say that the price for the extra hard drives is ridiculous.

On a separate note, XBox Live is a great network and has been a great feature of the XBox, however I have 2 concerns with that as well. First, Microsoft allows next to no free content on Live, in fact, many developers have wanted to offer free map packs and other content on Live, but MS has told them that they have to charge a minimum of $5 per download. Additionally, this is more related to PC, but I'm really hoping that MS is not able to go through with their plans to charge people for online PC gaming. It has been free for about 15-20 years, and there should be no reason why it should change now, just because MS wants to charge people for it.

 

[bigsaucybob]

On a separate note, XBox Live is a great network and has been a great feature of the XBox, however I have 2 concerns with that as well. First, Microsoft allows next to no free content on Live, in fact, many developers have wanted to offer free map packs and other content on Live, but MS has told them that they have to charge a minimum of $5 per download.

You obviously don't subscribe to Xbox Live, there is PLENTY of free content. There are free themes, free gamer pictures, free videos, and free maps. While probably the majority is not free, I have gotten at least 15 free themes on Xbox Live. A few weeks ago (maybe even a few months) some maps for Gears of War were released for free, Halo 2 maps are usually released for a fee but if you wait a little while they are free. All demos are free, there is plenty of free content.

 

[Hillsdale]

so, have they fixed the glitchy graphics and overheating problems yet.... or was that national manufacturer recall on hundreds of thousands of units just for fun....

Glitchy graphics? ahaha, you must know what your talking about!


i pick the 360

 

[tlarkin]

You obviously don't subscribe to Xbox Live, there is PLENTY of free content. There are free themes, free gamer pictures, free videos, and free maps. While probably the majority is not free, I have gotten at least 15 free themes on Xbox Live. A few weeks ago (maybe even a few months) some maps for Gears of War were released for free, Halo 2 maps are usually released for a fee but if you wait a little while they are free. All demos are free, there is plenty of free content.

I am new to xbox 360 and xbox live and I just got my 360 recently. The only game I own is Rainbow 6 vegas (which totally rules the earth btw) and when I went to download some of the extra content for the game, anything worth while was pay for content.

I have to agree with DCI that my initial experience after forking over a yearly fee for a pay for service of xbox live left some things to be desired. I am sure some game developers will be more generous, and I was lent crack down so I can download the Halo 3 beta, and I will try to do that this weekend probably, but I think things like extra maps and what not should be free. I also would love to see an open source type community where players can make and upload their own content and other users can download that content. custom skins, maps, etc for all games.

Don't get me wrong, I think the overall experience of xbox live is awesome. Little kids cursing like sailors and the most ghetto or red neck people online telling me how to virtually kill terrorists is priceless, but I think it lacks some content and since I am paying for a service I do expect more.

 

[DCIScouts]

There are free themes, free gamer pictures, free videos, and free maps. While probably the majority is not free, I have gotten at least 15 free themes on Xbox Live. All demos are free, there is plenty of free content.

The only game I own is Rainbow 6 vegas (which totally rules the earth btw) and when I went to download some of the extra content for the game, anything worth while was pay for content.

I have to agree with DCI that my initial experience after forking over a yearly fee for a pay for service of xbox live left some things to be desired. I am sure some game developers will be more generous

Don't get me wrong, I think the overall experience of xbox live is awesome. Little kids cursing like sailors and the most ghetto or red neck people online telling me how to virtually kill terrorists is priceless, but I think it lacks some content and since I am paying for a service I do expect more.

Those are exactly the things I was trying to say, tlarkin. I would expect that if you are paying for access to a community like that, that there would be certain things like maps and such that would be a free download. But, I guess that's to be expected from MS, the day that they just give away stuff that isn't in their interest we should really be worried...

I also agree that the experience for playing with the unique characters that you find online is also just plain amusing.

 

[jjsevdt]

On that, there's an article in Game informer that said game developers wanted to off er maps and add-ons for free, but MS told the company the had to charge for it. It's not on the developers, they're trying. Go to DADDY MS himself.

 

[TJGoSurf]

Here is the entire article I am going to pull some quotes from.

It's not unusual for a new game console to sell out during its pre-Christmas introduction, only to see sales dwindle come January. But six months after the Wii's launch, sales are accelerating. Nintendo sold 360,000 boxes in the U.S. in April, 100,000 more than in March. That's two Wiis for every Xbox 360 and four for every PlayStation3.

This may not seem important yet, but it shows there are selling lots of consoles.

While Sony (Charts) and Microsoft (Charts, Fortune 500) lose money on hardware in hopes of seeding the market with their consoles, analysts say Nintendo makes about $50 on every unit.

He's got a good pitch: Because the Wii isn't high-def, a game can cost as little as $5 million to develop, compared with up to $20 million for the PS3.

That is quite a difference. And in 5 years there will be an upgrade to HD when the parts become cheap and available. The current Wii uses a 786mhz processor. I have had countless people over who ask how much this thing costs? And they look at me like I am insane when I say $250.

Please don't look at me like I want Nintendo to be the only video game system, that would be far worse than having to play Superman 64 again. I like healthy competition.

My problems with the current consoles are:

Wii
-Competitive online play, I want to strangle someone online in Manhunt 2, or spin out a friend in Ukraine with Excite Truck, or smite Miyamoto in Smash Bros. Brawl all from the comfort of my couch.
-Currently lack of games

PS3
-High price
-No vibration? Just pay the lawsuit and move on Sony
-I am placing alot of blame on Sony for their other stubbornness, memory sticks anyone?
-Seems to copy Nintendo on every innovative idea, I understand everyone copies each other, but just come out and say, "hey those nintendo dudes had a good idea, it will work well for us." But it will never happen.
-Can we get something besides black?
-Need better online support

360
-Charging for everything on Xbox live? Come on now.
-Needs better games. I think of the 360 and the only thing that comes to mind is Halo 3. After a few minutes Forza pops into mind, but after that I have no idea what games they have.

I will be buying either a PS3 or 360 in the fall, depending on the price cuts and which one I can buy more HD pr0n for.