Sure, the argument has been going on for what seems like centuries, and nothing has been solved, but I would like to give my input nonetheless. The PS3/360 war is a nasty one, with threads turning intelligent posters into mindless trolls trying to prove their point (luckily for me I am on an obscure assignment blog). Even so, it is a topic that I am casually passionate about, so I will write, and hopefully persuade a few of you to my point of view.
First, I'll start with some background. I have lived the past three or so years with a wii, and just recently decided to upgrade to the PS3. Now before anyone starts to complain about bias and all that, let me say this: all of my friends had Xbox 360s, and I knew of only one person with a PS3. So why did I go the opposite way of everyone I knew? Well, I hope to show you.
The decision seems hard at first, both have similar stats when viewed casually, but take a closer look and the PS3 pulls ahead. For example, let's take optical drives. 360's feature a DVD drive, whereas PS3s feature a Blu-Ray drive. Sure, you may not have an HDTV, so you won't be watching that many Blu-Ray movies, but the difference lies in the games. DVDs can hold up to 8.5 GB, whereas the Blu-Ray discs hold up to 50 GB of data. This can mean a whole lot to games with heavy graphics or extensive features, allowing them to pack all the data into one disk instead of 5 or 6 that are installed (meaning slower loading times).
Another example of the PS3's superiority is in its failure rate. No Xbox fanatic likes the words Red Ring of Death, and if mentioned in a debate will leave most stuttering feeble excuses about some fan thingy that fixes it or something. Seeing as it was only fixed quite recently, it is still a major problem for anyone considering Xbox. Also, according to a study done quite recently by NoFussReviews, Failure rates among Xbox users numbered 42%, whereas PS3 failure rate was only 8%. Just to put that into perspective, about half of Xboxes broke or failed, whereas only 1 in 12 PS3s would fail. PS3 is the clear winner here.
Finally, a topic worth a quick mention is the Online Play. Microsoft currently charges users $50 per year to use online play in games, and you have to pay extra for most DLC (downloadable content). PSN, or Playstation Network, is and always will be free to play on, with DLC the only thing to pay for. Some may argue that the price for Xbox Live (Xbox's online play) gives it better speed and stuff, but from what I've noticed, it isn't true. Most of what speed is dependent upon is the internet connection speed, which has nothing to do with the console. Again, PS3 is a clear victor.
PS3 is a clear winner in all the categories I mentioned, and it stands true in other categories too. Blu-Ray is way ahead of its time and is just being tapped into for its potential, whereas DVDs are becoming obsolete. Failure rates are over 5x as much in Xboxes than in PS3s, which makes a HUGE difference in which to choose. And finally, online play on the PS3 is completely cost-free. I hope this will make a difference to someone, but as I will never know, I just hope that my point was proven.
Very well thought out and argued.
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