Differences between the PS3 and the 360
So far it's been about a month since I got my PS3 and I feel I have a good understanding of the difference between the PS3 and the Xbox 360. I will break the comparison of the two consoles by single player gaming, online gaming, online community, multimedia capabilities and the little differences. This comparison is based on what features are available in the US. Since Europe and Japan may have different content and features available in their online stores or in system updates I can't address those differences.
On the single player game experience both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 come in fairly evenly. Since the Xbox 360 is the lead platform for most games developed now the majority of third party games will run a little better on the 360 but most developers are striving for a seamless experience. Where you will see the differences is in the 1st or 2nd party games made exclusively for a particular game console. So it really comes down to what games you want to play. This generation the exclusive battle is being won by the Xbox 360 but the PS3 is gradually gaining steam.
For multiplayer games the 360 has the PS3 beat. The Xbox 360 has a much larger install base so on any multiplatform game there will be more people playing on the 360. The 360 has better tools to allow you to play with your friends as well. You can send game invites and see what your friends are doing online. Since the Microsoft hosts all the Xbox Live servers you can also be ensured that you will have a good network connection and have few laggy games with almost no cheating.
It's tough for me to say how good the online community is for the PS3. It's well known the Xbox Live community tends to be rude, aggressive and racist. Those few people that ruin the experience for others are well documented. That might by why the PS3 default is to not allow voice unless you have a headset. Since the PS3 requires a blue tooth headset it's also not very affordable to buy a headset so naturally less people will be talking online.
The media capabilities of both consoles is a vast improvement over last generations consoles. These features are also hit or miss for most consumers since most people just buy a game console to play games. Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 will allow you to connect to your PC and play media off of your TV but the PS3 supports more media formats. The PS3 is a very good BluRay player and runs very quiet so it's ideal for watching movies. The Xbox 360 has an online store for renting movies and buying TV shows to download. The Xbox 360 marketplace is much better than the PSN Store because it has content and is much faster to navigate. When comparing these two consoles on media capabilities it really comes down to user preference. The PS3 supports more media formats but the Xbox 360's store has more content and allows you to do more with your game console than just play games.
When it comes to the overall experience the Xbox 360 does a better job of making your console more than just a gaming box. By adding features like Inside Xbox, Microsoft has brought everything you need to know about the Xbox 360 to you as well as what's going on in the community. It seems Microsoft has it's hardware issues under control now but they may not be able to overcome the stigma of the early hardware failures. The PS3 is an extremely reliable device that Sony is working on to improve. Over time the PS3 may match all the Xbox 360 features but then again Microsoft is also raising the bar with each seasonal update.
On the single player game experience both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 come in fairly evenly. Since the Xbox 360 is the lead platform for most games developed now the majority of third party games will run a little better on the 360 but most developers are striving for a seamless experience. Where you will see the differences is in the 1st or 2nd party games made exclusively for a particular game console. So it really comes down to what games you want to play. This generation the exclusive battle is being won by the Xbox 360 but the PS3 is gradually gaining steam.
For multiplayer games the 360 has the PS3 beat. The Xbox 360 has a much larger install base so on any multiplatform game there will be more people playing on the 360. The 360 has better tools to allow you to play with your friends as well. You can send game invites and see what your friends are doing online. Since the Microsoft hosts all the Xbox Live servers you can also be ensured that you will have a good network connection and have few laggy games with almost no cheating.
It's tough for me to say how good the online community is for the PS3. It's well known the Xbox Live community tends to be rude, aggressive and racist. Those few people that ruin the experience for others are well documented. That might by why the PS3 default is to not allow voice unless you have a headset. Since the PS3 requires a blue tooth headset it's also not very affordable to buy a headset so naturally less people will be talking online.
The media capabilities of both consoles is a vast improvement over last generations consoles. These features are also hit or miss for most consumers since most people just buy a game console to play games. Both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 will allow you to connect to your PC and play media off of your TV but the PS3 supports more media formats. The PS3 is a very good BluRay player and runs very quiet so it's ideal for watching movies. The Xbox 360 has an online store for renting movies and buying TV shows to download. The Xbox 360 marketplace is much better than the PSN Store because it has content and is much faster to navigate. When comparing these two consoles on media capabilities it really comes down to user preference. The PS3 supports more media formats but the Xbox 360's store has more content and allows you to do more with your game console than just play games.
When it comes to the overall experience the Xbox 360 does a better job of making your console more than just a gaming box. By adding features like Inside Xbox, Microsoft has brought everything you need to know about the Xbox 360 to you as well as what's going on in the community. It seems Microsoft has it's hardware issues under control now but they may not be able to overcome the stigma of the early hardware failures. The PS3 is an extremely reliable device that Sony is working on to improve. Over time the PS3 may match all the Xbox 360 features but then again Microsoft is also raising the bar with each seasonal update.
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