Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

Quote:
Quoting NewEnglander:

Quote:
Reasons to buy a PS3....

1) Blu-ray movie playback.
2) Hey, it also plays games.
3) It streams media from your PC without any additional software if you have WMP installed (Images, videos, music)
4) You can surf the web and play youtube videos, if that's your thing.
5) Online gaming is 100% free, just added the Trophy system, although the f/w wwas temp. pulled.
6) Exclusives include: Resistance 1 & 2, MGS4, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword among others, inclusing but not limited to a new franchise that Rockstar is going to launch late this year early 2009. (Details are top secret, Sony is not even allowed to talk about it)
7) Every system has a HDD, so developers can use that to help with load times and what not.
8) WiFi out of the box, don't need wires running around the room.
9) Will one day see an update to make it a DVR like they did in Europe).. Oh, wait, you're in Europe
10) You can replace the HDD with any laptop HD without voiding the warantee.

I'll let others add and subtract.

11) It can be used as a print server
12) You can attach a printer to it (currently only Epson and Canon)
13) Can be used as a fully functional Linux machine
14) Stream Sirus or XM music
15) Lossless audio (yes, for gaming too)
16) Media card reader (80GB only)
17) Backwards compatible with the largest game library on the planet
18) Video/audio conference with up to 5 other people (PS Eye required for video)
19) A host of remote play features (PSP required)
20) SACD playback (80GB only)
21) Better DVD upscaling with accurate colors

1) Blu-ray movie playback.

Thats the only reason to buy a PS3. Every other item listed there is either incorrect in the UK, or totally meaningless ("you can attach an Epson or Canon printer to it" - thats getting pretty pathetic A_S).

Do not buy it for games, in the two years since its launch there have been two exclusive good games for the system, MGS4 and Uncharted. And Sony have removed PS2 BC in Europe with the last 60GB models last year (I guess they forgot how many PS2 games they sold in europe). The 360 library is far larger, has far better exclusives, far better timed exclusives (such as Rock Band and the GTA 4 DLC), has much better MP support (whether it is free or not is irrelevant, if you like playing online, you want a good service and you are willing to pay for something if its good.)

The media streaming on PS3 is only slightly better than the Xbox (in that you can play h264/AC3 mkv files after a quick conversion). Otherwise they are almost the same in terms of features and codec support.

The new 40GB PS3 is also quieter than an Xbox during media playback.

But definitely not worth coughing up another £300 for if you already have a 360, unless you definitely want to get into Blu Ray (and arent interested in Multi Region Blu Ray).

That makes sense although that is somewhat annoying of MS to do that. Just because it's second hand doesn't mean it's not shoddy build quality that caused the problem.

What it comes down to is do you want lots of games to play? If you do stick to the 360, if you want to go hi-def get the PS3. The one caveat on that is the cost of UK discs and the fact there is still a relatively small library when compared to DVD.

Personally I do believe there is an improvement in picture quality over DVD (at least on newer films) but can't comment on the audio improvement as I don't have a compatible surround sysytem. I will say the better picture isn't enough to make me upgrade titles I already own though.

Quoting stefc:

Quote:
Do not buy it for games, in the two years since its launch there have been two exclusive good games for the system, MGS4 and Uncharted. And Sony have removed PS2 BC in Europe with the last 60GB models last year (I guess they forgot how many PS2 games they sold in europe). The 360 library is far larger, has far better exclusives, far better timed exclusives (such as Rock Band and the GTA 4 DLC), has much better MP support (whether it is free or not is irrelevant, if you like playing online, you want a good service and you are willing to pay for something if its good.)

This is a matter of opinion. I agree the start for the PS3's game library wasn't that impressive (But recalling the 360 release wasn't that impressive either). But saying the PS3 only has 2 good exclusives is something i can't agree with.

I can wholeheartedly recommend: Warhawk, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, Resistance: Fall of Men (Resistance 2 is coming soon), Gran Truismo 5 Prologue (I know technically it's not a complete game, merely a preview of things to come, but what a preview it is!), Heavenly Sword.

Also there are a lot of good games coming for both systems. The quality of recently released games on both consoles is that good you don't see a difference, plus more and more developers are starting to use the PS3 as the console they develop for before porting, and sometimes downgrading, it for the 360, Fifa 09 for example will have exclusive content on the PS3.

Obviously the 360 has more games, it's been out longer! I surely wouldn't advise against the 360 because it has a lot of (some exclusive) games. So i can't really answer you question, owning and enjoying both but the very negative stance some people have towards the PS3 is, in my humble opinion, wrong.

The remark abput MP support is also not entirely true, i've been playing online with my PS3 without any probelms although i have to admit the marketplace on the 360 seems to be getting more demos, and earlier demos as well, but with Home coming soon and some very exciting new PS3 exclusives on the horizon getting a PS3 is a very save bet even if you want to play games and of course the BR supprt is very nice as well.

Finally i'd like to emntion the rumors regarding a possible systemupdate which allows you to play PS2 games on your console. Nothing is confirmed yet but i may be on the way.

Paul

If its of any guidance - I have just ordered a PS3 - purely so I can play Blu ray discs. I don't see it as a games machine - I see it as a cheap blu ray player.

Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

Quote:
As far as strong next-gen games, you hear different people say different things.  If you ask a X360 owner about the best games, you'll usually hear Halo3, GeoW, Forza 2, and maybe Bioshock.  If you ask a PS3 owner the same question, you'll usually hear Resistance:FoM, Heavenly Sword, Warhawk, Ratchet & Clank Future, Uncharted, GT5P, MGS4, etc.

Metacritic scores:
360
BioShock - 96
Gears of war - 94
Halo 3 - 94
Rock Band (currently 360 exclusive in the UK) - 92
Mass Effect - 91
Forza 2 - 90
PGR3 - 88
PGR4 - 85

PS3
MGS4 - 94
Ratchet - 89
Uncharted - 88
RFOM - 86
Warhawk - 84
GT5P - 80
Heavenly Sword - 79
Lair - 53 (thought i'd throw that one in after the amount of bs you spewed about how brilliant that game was )

Like I said, much better exclusives.

Quoting NewEnglander:

Quote:

I feel sorry for people that rely on what a stranger thinks is a good game, I really do!

Best PS2 game no one ever heard of was Ico.

People that missed out on that game missed out on art work in a video game!

Grow some, play them yourself, then determine what is good or not. Don't let little wannabe professional reviewers determine what you play!

This, by far, has to be one of the most rediculous statements I have seen posted to date. In other words you're saying don't bother reading reviews of products...just go out and buy them sight unseen, so to speak, and see if you like them yourself. Well, frankly, I'd rather get all the info I can concerning a product, whether it be a video game, console, DVD movie, etc, before I end up wasting my money.

Quoting NewEnglander:

Quote:
No..

I am saying that anyone who ONLY uses reviews to determine what they buy is stupid!

What I like, you may not like. If I write a glowing review, you'll buy it? What if you don't like it? Doesn't the opposite also hold true?

Just because something gets bad scores, does not make it a bad game. How do you know people that score the games actually own them? What I am saying is, don't TRUST everything you read. Especially on the internet.

I use both professional review sites and user reviews to evaluate my prospective purchases. Buying blind usually ends in bitter disappointment. I'll admit that I've gotten lucky on a few purchases where the reviews for films were bad but I ended up enjoying the film. But if a video game receives consistant bad scores from both professional reviewers and gamers alike, I'll avoid it like the plague.

BTW, your original post didn't say "...anyone who ONLY uses reviews...", it said "I feel sorry for people that rely on what a stranger thinks is a good game, I really do!". I don't see the word "only" in your original post.

Quoting NewEnglander:

Quote:
I feel sorry for people that rely on what a stranger thinks is a good game, I really do!

Best PS2 game no one ever heard of was Ico.

People that missed out on that game missed out on art work in a video game!

Grow some, play them yourself, then determine what is good or not. Don't let little wannabe professional reviewers determine what you play!

I have a copy of Ico right here on my shelf, next to Shadow of the Colossus.

I also have MGS4, Uncharted, RFOM, Ratchet and Clank and Heavenly Sword, on the same shelf, and the GT5P Demo was on my hard drive from Day 1 of the Japanese release, and I have played about 5 or 6 hours of Warhawk. My personal opinion is that all of those games bar MGS4 and Uncharted have been hugely disappointing, and way overrated and overhyped but seeing as A-S rubbished this as just personal opinion, i presented composite scores of every major video game journalism reviews for the 360 and PS3 exclusives that we have been talking about.

So yes ive played them myself, and have determined what I think is good or not, and was providing my opinion along with an average of critics scores as food for thought for the OP who asked for help in his purchasing decision.

And again the Sony Defense Force in this forum are humiliated with a tiny dose of coherent thought. 

P.S. NewEnglander you dont seem to understand what metacritic is so go and have a read, these arent "a bunch of wannabe reviewers who dont own the game".