Preliminaries: XBox 360 vs. PlayStation 3

[The God of Haiku]

True, the PS3 isn't out yet, and won't be out for quite some time, but that doesn't mean we can't have some friendly (yeah, right.) discussion and debate over which console is/will be better.

This thread is devoted entirely to the question on many minds right now: Which is better - the 360 or the PS3? We have experience with one and a lot of questions on the other, with some eye-witness reports.

Let's try to keep posts on-topic and don't insult each other - only companies and consoles. And pop stars and countries. Look around, do your research, and have fun. Or something.

[Latios XT]

PS3... for a number of "stupid" reasons people don't seem to like me for.

1. PS3 has support for "future standard" HD formats, including 1080p, HDMI and Blu-Ray (BD is questionable, as usual). XBox 360 only has support for RGB Component cables (as of now). XBox 360 also doesn't support HD-DVD right out of the box, and will not be used for games.
2. PS3 has "complete" backwards compatibility for PS1 and PS2 games, while the XBox 360 has limited backwards compatibility for the XBox, and it requires the hard drive.
3. PS3 is featuring more future products, including the Cell, a BD-ROM drive, and XDR-DRAM.
4. PS3 has more support for game development, while the XBox 360 has limited support for game development (XBox's primary companies are American, and although the 360 has snagged some Japanese support, it's not enough).

[Anti-Sheepskin]

PS3 is the better product. I get all my information from Hideo Kojima. Who called it "an exquisite meal."

Dude.. he's a consolarian.

[Renown]

Here goes, I believe comparing the XBox 360 to the PS3 is for lack of a better word, pointless. The PS3 is more of a workstation console -PC- than a gaming one, for those of you who're Sony fanboys...you especially should listen (assuming you even know what a workstation PC is). The PS3 has a significant power advantage over the 360, but what difference does it truly make? The PS3 has power that doesn't really benefit games in this current age, I mean c'mon very (very) few games benefit from SLI and CrossFire, Quad-SLI even moreso.

The PS3 is a working man console, there I said it, and I don't mean the conventional working man...I mean the working stiff who designs complicated graphics, etc. The PS3 claims to have 2TFLOPS of optimal performance, what does this mean? Nothing. In a nutshell, for both the 360 and PS3 to be considered supercomputers says it all...supercomputers are used for complicated research and/or to see how that amount of power can be reinvested into the industry.

Look at the PS3. Almost every feature is open-sourced (Linux anyone?) and that's another story, but that's my two sense about the topic, and I do believe (according to my own hypothesis) that the XBox 360 has the current potential for smarter AI due to it's tri-core CPU compared to the PS3's single-core. Oh, but the PS3 has eight (seven) SPEs that're only capable of a single integer when sending data to and recieving it from the core. The 360 has a more potent design that uses three cores, meaning data is distributed more evenly between the three of them, there's a loss of data on both of their parts, but I believe the PS3 is at a greater risk than the 360 is.

There's my take on "360 vs. PS3". And to use an old cliche "And that's the way to cookie crumbles."

[Bulk]

I personally think the PS3 is better than the 360 in terms of power and the games coming out for it. Assassin’s Creed and MGS4 look brilliant. It can play all my DVDs, CDs etc and can do pretty much anything a PC can do. The graphics are VERY nice and I'm use to the controller, even if they did remove feedback for a crappy Wii rip off.

However, if I were to actually buy one of these machines, I'd go for the 360. Most my mates have a 360 so I could play online against people I know. It wouldn't rip a hole in my pocket unlike the PS3 and it too has a heap of nice games. The online is far superior to anything I've played before and the graphics are sweet. When I do get one, it'll be pretty cheap and should have some better games other than racing, shooting and RPGing.

So, for me, it's the 360 mainly because it's cheaper and I can live without Blu-Ray. I believe the PS3 is a "better" machine as in it's more powerful and has better graphics but the 360's graphics are good enough for me and it's cheaper.