Edits:
13 sept 09 – added a little extra text to the “Ps3 getting around…” because of vers. 3 software. Added opinion about community and game goals too.
Note! If you just wanna read my comparison/experience, please scroll down…
Admitted. The day I heard Sony had the Ps3 on it’s way, I was tempted to pre-order one. One thing stopped me – the price. Not that I didn’t understand the price – the machine was the cutting edge technology, topping the Xbox360 by miles, if you compared the hardware – counting in the Blu Ray player, that at the time beeing, did cost about the same as the Ps3 itself. Compared to that, the Ps3 was actually cheap, and Sony lost money at each sold console.
Then, GTA IV was released and I had to figure out a solution because I had waited so long for it after San Andreas. A friend of mine had won the console in a giveaway, but she wasn’t a gamer. She needed a new cell phone, so I gave her my old phone, and I got the Xbox. We both knew it was an oblique deal, bot we both got what we wished for. Deal sealed. Purchased the GTA IV game and a few games more.
One and a half year after getting the box, I finally got the money to buy a Ps3 – and for a price I really wanted to use on it. For about one year I’ve had put 200 DKKR (use a currency site of your choice to know how much it is) aside each month, and it occured to me quite suddenly that there were money enough! (Next; 37″-47″ Flatscreen TV) I started the hunting for a cheap Ps3 console – because I knew the price did (and do) vary a bit, even in a little country as denmark. After comparing prices on well-known sites, I decided to give an online auction a chance. I ended up saving about 200 DKKR compared to the cheapest price I could digg up – the hardest part was actually the waiting – I was almost in agony. When receiving my console, it confirmed my theory of the seller’s little deal. Sell a bunch of consoles with long time delivery, when you have money for about 10 Ps3, 50 Nintendo DS’s (and further more), you’ll make a deal with a big website, who sells this stuff, and you end up earning money by beeing middleman/seller!
It’s always fun and pleasurable to unpack things like this – and exciting! Unpacking the Box was neat, and the machine’s black and matte finish is beautiful. The box it arrived in was grey and with the known xbox-green rings on the side. The curves of the machine is like a well-propertioned body.
The Ps3 is a bit more mind blowing to unpack than the X360, the machine has much more glamour about it – the piano black finish and the round curves with the silverband is beautyful too look at. Turning on the Ps3 was more exciting, because of the glamour, I mentioned before. The on-button is pressure-sensitive, and beeps when the machine turns on.
Reading about the hardware was actually a bit confusing, as it sounded like there were possibility to connect to af modem wireless, to get online. I slowly found out, that even buying an Elite still call for purchasing the wireless adapter for about 500 DKKR, which I’m not ready to pay for. Oh well, cable solved that problem. It’s easy to connect the wireless controller to the machine, and it was rather easy to connect via the network, to my PC.
Connecting the wireless controller demanded to plug it to the Ps3 with USB cable first, so that was bit more technical to get through, but not for nerds. Seems like the connection is better to the controller than on the X360. When going wireless on my modem, the Ps3 automaticly found my PC, after confirming the connection on the PC. I haven’t figured out how to connect the PSP yet, it seems they found eachother, but can’t connect.
Before XNE, the Box had tab-like menu’s. Quite easy to understand. XNE had a bit more to it, but with a totally different look. The Box got mature and the possibility of making an avatar was made. User friendly menu’s, icons and colorful easy-to-change theme is the keywords. Loading times appear at certain points, but never more than 5 seconds.
The original theme is one of the most boring I’ve ever seen – it’s stylish, but boring, and the colors, you can choose between is limited and also boring – good thing that I can download themes and install them – still looking for some nice one’s though. It’s easy to get around in the menu, and almost no loading-time experience – about 1-2 seconds, when the machine loads the submenu, that you choose to enter.
Edit 13. sept. 2009; With version 3.0 the background got a lot more interesting, and ten times more classy – better colors, and small stars falling from the well-known wave. I won’t be putting in my own theme now.
The future of online experience with the xbox looks really promising (connect to twitter and facebook and avatar games), but as it is, there’s not much to go for here, appart from the multiplayer in the games. Marketplace has really many games, both arcadegames and Xbox Originals. Always someone to play with, except from when you’re playing really old retailgames (can mention Fuzion Frenzy 2 and Saints Row as examples).
Getting online and making an avatar was easy. You can really personalize your avatar (tried to make the avatar look like me) but the selection of clothes and accessories was almost not there – a few shirts, few pants, and few shoes. The selection of furniture to your hotelroom/apartment (can’t decide what is is) is white, classic, and boring. So it’s not possible to personalize your room just yet, but I’m sure it’s on it’s way(the furniture shop’s selection was the same as the room already have added). Wandering around in the square was fine, a few things to discover and watch, but it takes less than 10 minutes to get through, if you don’t play the games. Playstation Home seems unfinished, but with great oppertunities. You can bowl, play pool, small arcadegames and chess. Furthermore, you have a selection of choices of movements to your avatar, and they are really fun to watch.
I think that the Xbox has by far a better community on the internet, purely because it was on the market a whole year before the Ps3. There is several community and tracking websites out there with great established userbases. Which sites I’m thinking of, will be revealed in an article in the future.
Sure, there is some sites out there with userbase in Ps3 users, and there is of course the official Playstation Network website with forums, but the community isn’t too active of what I’ve experienced. But it seems that Sony has picked up some of MS’ small tricks. Not long ago, they opened up the possibility of watching friends’ trophies, which opens up for external community and tracking websites for the Ps3 gamers.
I really prefer this gamepad over the Ps3s’. It’s a bit heavier, and it fits better in the hand, and therefore I think, I have a better feeling with this one – maybe it’s a matter of what you’re used to, I don’t know.
The classic shape from the Ps2 gamepad is re-used (after heavy bashing from users around the internet, after Sony revealed their idea of the banana-shaped gamepad!) but the weight is quite lighter than the Xbox360′s and have a shape, that fits to smaller hands, but not bigger hands – and the triggers (L2 and R2 buttons) should had a shape more like the Xbox one, ’cause it’s easy for your fingers to slip off the buttons, while using them – and that can be a problem in FPS games (not that I play them, but I can see the problem).
Microsoft’s Project Natal has the whole package. It seems easy to connect to the Xbox (just USB plugin) and it has voice- and face recognition, it senses your body’s movements and everybody says it works. I think it can work, but the question is how stabile it is, and how well it senses you, and your voice. It has a camera as well, and it appears that you can use voice commands and movements to get around the menus.
No new here. You get a wireless controller (connecting by bluetooth i believe) and can then be used to let the machine sense your hand’s movement – much as the Nintendo Wii’s remote and nunchuck, but it can sense the motion in 3D, so it gonna be more sensitive and precise than the Nintendo controller.
Again ahead of the Ps3 by miles. At least in my opinion. I like the word achievements, as it sounds more satisfying to get – and the gamerscore counting is also better then Sonys’ answer to this.
I like the level idea, but I like the gamerscore more. Trophies in three levels, and one finish trophy for each game isn’t as satisfying in my opinion – but there’s both achievement whores and trophy whores, so that’s a matter of opinion.
The Xbox360′s 35 points tops the Ps3′s 25 points. Mainly because of the menu’s, gamepads and the futuristic motion controller. Congrats to Microsoft. I still love my Ps3 though, so I’ll keep playing them both.
Take the Ps3 case (with more than one choice of color!) and the hardware as well – put in the Xbox360 software – which avatars is used, I don’t mind, I like them both. All games can be used, so no exclusive titles here. Use the Xbox360′s controller, and motion controller, and I think it would become a lifetime console. Almost… oh ja, the online experience should be a mixture of what we have now – and many more choices of clothes, PLEASE!
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She loves gaming, but not on the serious level, and have been gaming for about 20 years. Pro game reviewer, owner and editor of this site.