Topic: Console Acquisition Time?

[D_Average]

So, now that E3 is said and done, and we have seen each console's line up and price for many months to come, is anyone who is currently a single or double console owner thinking of acquiring another?

Personally, I just own a Wii and DS, and I'm really considering getting a PS3.  I fully understand the online gaming component isn't fully there yet, but out of all the 360/PS3 exclusives, Little Big Planet is the killer app for me.  Additionally, I recently purchased an HDTV and its just begging for some Blue Ray. 

[DAaaMan64]

No, I'd wait till Christmas. In case Sony gets desperate or Microsoft does something. But thats me.  Just depends on how bad you want it...

[bustin98]

Well, if you are serious about getting a PS3, get the Metal Gear 4 Pack. Even if you do not like the game, the PS3 has the 80 GB HDD and limited backwards compatibility. In the future, the 80GB model is going to lose the backwards compatibility and other features.

If you don't care about that stuff, then wait till LBP comes out. Its not like there are any killer BluRay titles out now.

Personally, the 360 has a better gaming library than the PS3. And most multi-console games are better on the 360. And the HD drive was only $50 when I got it and most places are selling hd movies at a loss. Great deals.

[Bill Aurion]

If you had to choose between 360 and PS3 this year, I'd say go for 360...Too Human, Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery, and Fable II all come out right after each other while PS3 is mostly just getting a bunch of sequels to games that didn't get you to buy a PS3 in the first place (Little Big Planet being the exception, but come on, it's a PSN game...A console purchase shouldn't be based off a single downloadable game...)

[Flames_of_chaos]

If your into disgaea, disgaea 3 comes out next month for PS3. But it really depends what types of games your into.

If you want a 360 Blockbuster has a deal of a 20GB 360 with blue dragon, 3 months of Xbox Live, a extra controller and 4 weeks of free 360 rentals for 349.99.

If your going for a PS3 - Sony is drying up on 40GB PS3s so only MGS4 PS3s are shipping to retail. I think Valkyria Chronicles is going to be a nice sleeper hit. SEGA's Behind doors E3 gameplay of Valkyria
 
Also Little Big Planet is  a retail release Bill.

[Caliban]

I have all current systems except the PSP. I would recommend the 360, but I would also recommend that you get a system that has or will have games that you are interested in.

[shammack]

I've been trying to convince myself to buy a 360 for months, but I just can't think of enough games that I actually give half a **** about to make it worth the ridiculous cost.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I've been trying to convince myself to buy a 360 for months, but I just can't think of enough games that I actually give half a **** about to make it worth the ridiculous cost.

You can leave the thread in peace now.

[blackfootsteps]

I've currently got a Wii and 360, with a PS3 on the way, courtesy of Sony. We got a new Bravia and it came with a free PS3, which is probably the only way I would have got one.

And Bill, Little Big Planet is, as far as I'm aware, a blue ray release. LBP is just about the only game I see as a must buy now that I'm (almost) a PS3 owner.

[Bill Aurion]

Also Little Big Planet is  a retail release Bill.

Oh really?  I guess they realized that for all the time and effort going into it that a PSN-only release is stupid...Will it have single-player levels now or is it still multiplayer-only? (Yes, I haven't really paid much attention to it this year...)

[D_Average]

Well, if you are serious about getting a PS3, get the Metal Gear 4 Pack. Even if you do not like the game, the PS3 has the 80 GB HDD and limited backwards compatibility. In the future, the 80GB model is going to lose the backwards compatibility and other features.

This is a great tip, I actually did not know the MGS pack had any sort of backwards compatibility!

[Flames_of_chaos]

Also Little Big Planet is  a retail release Bill.

Oh really?  I guess they realized that for all the time and effort going into it that a PSN-only release is stupid...Will it have single-player levels now or is it still multiplayer-only? (Yes, I haven't really paid much attention to it this year...)

LBP has a single player adventure and a co-op adventure, co-op is local or online.

[Maverick]

Its not like there are any killer BluRay titles out now.

What?

[NWR_Lindy]

PS3 online is now really similar to 360.  As of firmware 2.41, you can bring up the Cross Media Bar in-game, and there are also trophies just like Xbox Live Achievements.  There are smaller things that the PS3 lacks (e.g. you can't leave voicemail for people on your friends list), but going forward they're going to be very similar.  All of the best games have already been patched for rumble, and all games going forward will have achievements.

However, Xbox Live is the slickest thing out there.  It's perfect integrated into every game and has an amazing feature set.  I don't have anything bad to say about it, and it'll only get better when they revamp it in the fall.

Downloadable games (meaning non-retail) from each service are pretty equal, but the 360 has a cooler lineup IMHO (Ikaruga and Rez HD beat out Super Stardust HD, despite my intense love for SSHD):

360 - Ikaruga, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions, Rez HD, Geometry Wars 1 & 2, Soulcalibur, Undertow
PS3 - Super Stardust HD, Echochrome, Tekken 5, Calling all Cars, Everyday Shooter

In terms of downloadable video content, I think that Sony now has the slight edge here.  You can rent HD/SD movies/TV shows on Xbox Live and stream them (and those with a Netflix account can stream movies from their streaming queue), but you can't purchase them (some 360's don't have a hard drive to save them to).  On the PS3 you can rent HD/SD movies/TV shows, or purchase them and keep them on your hard drive.  And of course, you can also rent/purchase them on Blu-Ray disc as well.

Big 360 Exclusives: Halo 3, Gears of War, Gears of War 2 (holiday), Ninja Gaiden II, Crackdown, Mass Effect, Fable 2 (holiday), Forza Motorsport 2
Big PS3 Exclusives: Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet (holiday), Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Motorstorm 1 & 2, Resistance 1 & 2, MLB 08 The Show, Killzone 2 (February 2009)

Games that are better on 360 than PS3 due to sloppy porting  - Madden 08, Orange Box, Assassin's Creed, Skate, Lost Planet
Games that are good on both: CoD4, Burnout Paradise, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, BioShock
Games that are good on both, but only 360 has downloadable content: Grand Theft Auto IV, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Fallout 3

Others:
- Virtua Fighter 5 - 360 version has online play, PS3 doesn't
- Unreal Tournament III - PS3 version allows you to use user-created maps

A big factor is how many of your friends have each system, too.  That's huge.  There's no point in being the only one in your crew with a PS3 if all of your buddies have 360's.

My thoughts on each platform...

PS3: Super sexy hardware, made for HD home theater, the best games you've never heard of, online is right there
360: All your buddies probably have one, great game selection, excellent online service

I think at this point people buy PS3 for the home theater stuff first, game selection second.  They buy the 360 for the game selection first, the home theater stuff second.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Don't forget that you can upgrade the PS3 Harddrive with any SATA harddrive, obviously for Xbox live while sure its good you have to pay in order to play online.

[NWR_insanolord]

I seem to be on the verge of buying a 360. I recently went through the list of games for it on GameStop.com and found 14 games currently out for the console that I would be interested in (surprising since I have no intention of buying any FPSs, I can't go back to dual analog after playing with Wii controls), and at the top of the list is Mass Effect, a game I've been dying to play and is the game that's really driving my interest in the console. Also, Rock Band 2 looks amazing and I don't want the gimped Wii version. Between Rock Band DLC and Live Arcade I'm going to need a ton of Xbox Live points (I really hate how stupid Microsoft is for valuing the points the way they do. $5=400 points? Ridiculously stupid.).

[Flames_of_chaos]

For all potential 360 buyers and are looking to buy a Live subscription, DO NOT put your credit card and have your credit card set to auto renew. Buy subscription cards you can usually find them cheaper and the 12 month cards also throw in a month for free so you get 13 months for 50 dollars.

[Adrock]

PS3........ because you're going to want to watch The Dark Knight in HD.

[Kairon]

Also, Rock Band 2 looks amazing and I don't want the gimped Wii version.

Don't get Rock Band 2. Get Guitar Hero World Tour.

[NWR_Lindy]

Yes, for Xbox 360 buy the 13-month subscription cards.  Keep your eye on this forum:

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=11

Buy.com usually has them on sale periodically for $36-$38, as opposed to the $49.99 they usually are.  Bear in mind that you also get an Xbox Live subscription card if you buy the Xbox Live Vision (camera) set.  Subscription cards also compound their time on each other; I've bought three 13-month cards over the course of owning my 360, and my Live account is valid through some time in 2010.

If Mass Effect is appealing to you, definitely get a 360.  I know a couple of guys at work that worship that game.  I'm going to sit down and play it one of these days.  ;-)

Rock Band 2 is going to be great, but Guitar Hero World Tour has me seriously looking in its direction.

[Ceric]

If you want a media player that plays games get a PS3.  It's excellent for that.
If you want a straight up game system, get a 360. 

I enjoy my PS3 but I made it a point to get a Hardware backward compatable.  I own more PS2 and PSN games then PS3 but... interesting games are so slow to come out lately...

[NWR_Lindy]

My PS3 library is: Warhawk, MGS4, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, MLB 08: The Show, Unreal Tournament III, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Motorstorm, Resistance, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Folklore, Eye of Judgement, Ratchet & Clank, and Devil May Cry 4.  These are all great games, but if none of these float your boat, you're pretty much SOL because these are best exclusive games on the system.

[Morari]

A few of those aren't even exclusives. Certainly, Unreal Tournament III would be best played on your PC anyway... y'know, with a mouse and keyboard.

[Nick DiMola]

A few of those aren't even exclusives. Certainly, Unreal Tournament III would be best played on your PC anyway... y'know, with a mouse and keyboard.

or the PS3, with a mouse and keyboard ... and user generated content and all of the other good stuff found on the PC version.

[GoldenPhoenix]

My PS3 library is: Warhawk, MGS4, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, MLB 08: The Show, Unreal Tournament III, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Motorstorm, Resistance, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Folklore, Eye of Judgement, Ratchet & Clank, and Devil May Cry 4.  These are all great games, but if none of these float your boat, you're pretty much SOL because these are best exclusive games on the system.

No mention of Heavenly Sword is INSTA FAILURE!