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[Ikrik]

My Wii has been collecting dust for over a month, my DS has been collecting it for longer.  I made the decision that I would stop playing video games a long time ago when I said that the DS would be my final console (handheld...whatever)  Then I got a Wii and that too was going to be my last console.  Then recently I got a PSP and I've been playing that for quite some time and I really, really enjoy it.  Now the major difficulty comes when I decide whether or not I want a 360 or a PS3.  I've tried searching on the internet for reasons to buy either of them and mostly all I get is specs or opinions from 2-3 years ago.  I have used the search button on this wonderful forums for some opinions as well but again they're from a couple years ago and I want a more recent opinion. 

So I'd love some advice as to which system I'll be saving up for, where I am (Canada) I can get a 360 for 399 or I can get a PS3 for 499 so saving up another 200-300 bucks isn't a huge issue.  Here are some things that I'd like you to keep in mind as you give me your opinions.

-I hate racing games
-Halo bores me and I'm not interested in Rock Band
-I enjoy FPS's but not all the time
-I hate sports games
-I don't care about online play, I enjoy playing with myself more (pun intended)

So any advice you can give me concerning my choice of PS3 or 360 would be greatly appreciated.

[clockworkjames]

The only reason I got a 360 over a ps3 is because all my friends were playing CoD4 on the xbox and they said it was more awesome than on the pc (we are all LAN gamers on PC) so it was a bit of a no-brainer for which one to choose. I only really play online most of the time, I love beating people. I have halo3 (hate it, bores me too) CoD4, Burnout revenge and paradise and GTA4.

From your point of view, Single player games a ps3 might be kickass, I want one for MGS4 and the new final  fantasy games :/

Alot, and I mean ALOT of the selling point of the 360 is XBL and how awesome it is, I never had the first xbox but I had a ps1 and ps2, with the PS2 I loved the online play and got high rankings globally in both SSX3 and burnout takedown until the servers were taken down many moons ago so this drew me to a 360.

But if you like offline single player games, then sonys marketing of "potential" for future releases might be right on the money.

MGS4 and FFXIII look shit hot tbh but if this is for your liking I don't know.

My 360 will tide me over until I can get a ps3, or see what the next run of ps3's is like.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

well, the 360 has a much larger catalog of good games at the moment and probably will for a while. also, alot of great 360 games are now dropping in price so you can pick up several great games for the price of one new game. espescially if you buy used.

however, the PS3 has some exclusives which might be enough to sway some people one way or the other. for instance, i already own a 360 but am planning on buying a PS3 soley (okay, not soley, but mostly) for LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII and a couple others that i can't think of right now.

so if you're not a Sony fanboy i'd probably go with the 360 because you'll probably get more bang for your buck.

[Storm Rider]

How your DS can possibly be gathering dust is beyond me, so I'm not sure how well I can advise you. I own more DS games than I do for any other game system I own at this point, so obviously you and I don't enjoy the same things when it comes to games.

[Ikrik]

How your DS can possibly be gathering dust is beyond me, so I'm not sure how well I can advise you. I own more DS games than I do for any other game system I own at this point, so obviously you and I don't enjoy the same things when it comes to games.

I don't know why it's been collecting dust....just right now there's nothing about it that's made me go "hey, let's play DS again."  I have some sweet games for it like Advance Wars, Apollo Justice, Phantom Hourglass.....but honestly I just haven't cared enough to play it.

[McTaggart]

Don't bother. I'm sure you can do without either console, you certainly don't seem to really want either anyway.

[Melodic]

Yup, sounds like you just aren't a gamer.

[Silverfire56]

personally i find most of the xbox 360 games are released on the pc, so i would suggest u just get a pc over a 360 or a ps3 at least with the pc its worth the 1k monies
CoD4 is on pc same with the battlefield series and TF2 and you can have mods and heaps of other games

[Spluff]

PC - It's worth the monies.

[Ikrik]

Don't bother. I'm sure you can do without either console, you certainly don't seem to really want either anyway.

No, what I am not is a relentless Sony or Microsoft fanboy who goes batshit whenever someone mentions the other console.  I've heard so much crap about the PS3 and honestly I don't really know what to believe.  By no means am I a "hardcore" gamer who spends hours and hours becoming amazing at whatever FPS I've picked up. I like playing video games but I have other hobbies as well.  I'd rather make an informed decision rather than buying a 360 or PS3 and then regretting my decision later.

[0bsessions]

No, what I am not is a relentless Sony or Microsoft fanboy who goes batshit whenever someone mentions the other console.  I've heard so much crap about the PS3 and honestly I don't really know what to believe.  By no means am I a "hardcore" gamer who spends hours and hours becoming amazing at whatever FPS I've picked up. I like playing video games but I have other hobbies as well.  I'd rather make an informed decision rather than buying a 360 or PS3 and then regretting my decision later.

You can take the hostility down a notch. McTaggart made an entirely fair point. Bluntly speaking, by the sounds of your gaming habits, either one would be a waste of money.

If you can't be arsed to pick up your Wii OR your DS considering some of the excellent titles available for both, I have little doubt that if you buy either a PS3 OR 360, you're going to love it for a couple months and then you'll have yet another multi-hundred dollar paper weight to contend with.

Just save your money.

[Surgoshan]

Both the Wii and the DS are much more gimmicky.  Yes, they both have excellent games, but they have a greater tendency toward the counterintuitive (particularly the Wii) than you'll find in more mainstream consoles.  For the casual gamer, other consoles are more likely to hold attention and derive greater enjoyment.

Given the wealth of titles available, I'd recommend the 360.  It's better implemented and has greater support.

[Ozymandias]

I would like to jump in and say, given that you don't sound like a particularly hardcore gamer, you might want to look into some of the more ancillary characteristics of the two consoles:

Both the 360 and PS3 allow streaming of video content from your PC. This is arguably easier to do with the PS3, but they both do it well.

The PS3 is a Blu-ray player. If you have an HDTV, this is awesome. If you don't, this is useless.

Between the two, the 360 has more casual games on XBox Live Arcade, ranging from classic things like Pac-Man to modern awesomeness like Puzzle Quest or Penny Arcade Adventures.

PS3 is wireless enabled out of the box. It's $100 more for the 360. You don't care about online gaming, but if you want to network it, it's a thing you have to think about.

[Storm Rider]

Additionally, online service is free on the PS3, and 50 dollars per year for the 360, but the 360 service is almost universally agreed to be more functional and better implemented. If you don't care about online play, that's irrelevant, but I figure it's worth a mention.

[Ikrik]

I apologize for being a bit of a dick with an earlier post but I was offended by two of the posts. I am a gamer, I've been playing video games since I was eight, there has never been a time in my life where I have gone without a console.  However gaming is not my life, I read, write, draw, and do a lot of photography.  And while I'm not a "hardcore" gamer video games are still one of the most entertaining forms of media that I know.  so when someone says "don't bother, you don't seem to want either" and someone else says "yeah, you don't sound like a gamer" it offends me because they're basing that off of like 3 paragraphs.  So let me phrase myself a little better when it comes to my video game habits.

For the past couple of months my Wii has been collecting dust, the same with my DS.  I am currently in grade 12, the hardest and most stressful year of highschool.  Now in a couple weeks when school is over I'll probably be playing with my Wii a lot.  I have been insanely stressed out this entire year because of this wonderful thing implemented by the British Columbia Education System called "Graduation Transitions."  The thing in question has kept me up at night for a long time because they keep making changes to the thing and we didn't learn until this year what exactly we needed to graduate.  And I love my DS too, but again it hasn't been getting too much love because I need to do well in all my classes and have to study a lot because chemistry, math, and physics are not easy courses to pass. 

And I love the Wii, it's a great console.  But it doesn't scratch my itch.  Games like Super Mario Galaxies, SSBB, and Zelda are amazing but they just don't quench my thirst.  My friend bought a Wii when it first came out and he went through a very similar thought process to mine.  In his own words "The Wii is not a standalone console." And so four months later he went out a purchased a 360.  And now I'm going through a similar thought-process.  So what I wanted was people's opinions on which console is worth getting for whatever reasons, not people telling me that I'm not "gamer" enough to warrant getting either.

[Melodic]

On a forum, we are forced to base our answers to your questions on what you've already said about yourself. What you've already said has created an image that you probably aren't well-off with ANY current-generation console. Please don't act like any of us have insulted your long-standing gaming heritage.
I still stand by what I said. You don't care about online, so the 360 won't be put to full value. You're not a hardcore gamer, so the PS3 is probably both too expensive and too limited in its appeal to warrant a purchase. You already said you weren't using the DS or Wii, so I say that you'd probably not be best-informed to lay down upwards of $300 on a system you might not fully enjoy.

Also also, dammit I am angry on these forums again. Sorry, forum. I am sorry.

[Eris]

From the information you have given it is obvious you need to suck the next six dicks you see

[DonInKansas]

I am a gamer, I've been playing video games since I was eight, there has never been a time in my life where I have gone without a console.

This is the rub.  You can enjoy video games and playing them.  However, the term "gamer" is usually associated with the hardcore, Mountain Dew mainlining, 20 hour a day players. Just a thought.

[Surgoshan]

Oh for the love of Bigsby.

So he's not hardcore.  He's a casual gamer.  He still wants a console.

The PS3 has a lot of promise, but that promise will be a while in being fulfilled and it's more expensive.  Just snag the 360 and have done.

[Jimmy the Squid]

Dude, we are basically in the same boat, except I realised the Wii wasn't for me before I bought it and just went for the 360. Even if you don't care for the online play (I don't), it's still a good console with a huge amount of games. It can be a little tough trying to find good local multiplayer games (so for that the Wii or the PS3 might be a bit better if that's your bent, and times being what they are) on the 360 but they are available if you look. Anyway, I suggest the 360, both because of price, quality and immediacy of good games. Seriously, unless you particularly care about the PS3 exclusives I can't see a reason to get it.

[CamusCanDo]

I was gonna make a thread on whether or not I should buy a PSP, but upon seeing this thread I really didn't think it deserved its own thread when there's already a discussion going on about something the same thing, well sort of anyway. I have a similair problem to Ikirk. I would describe myself as a "casual gamer", right now the only console games I play are PC and DS, with PC being mainly RPGs and TBS games and DS being everything under the sun. I was a pretty hardcore gamer from a kid up until I was 15 and just lost complete interest in games for about four years due to being interested in reading more.

Last year I bought a DS Lite along with an R4DS, which allows you to play downloaded ROMs, and I was hooked back on games. Handhelds are pretty much perfect for me being both affordable and light entertainment. I love my DS just fine, it gets played on a daily basis. It's just lately I've been wanting a little more oomph in my games and the PSP looks like it can deliver on that. The thing is I'm not overly convinced I should buy one or not, I'm happy with what I have now. Should I really go out and buy something else that ultimately will be a waste of money and not all that great of an experience when I can just stick to what I already have?

What are some of the best games on the PSP and how good is the back catalogue?

[Symptom]

I own a 40gb PS3 (I really don't see what's the big fuss about backwards compatibility... if you have PS2 games, you have a PS2, just use it.) and I am very very satisfied by it.

I'd consider myself a very casual gamer, too. I tought I would go for the Wii but the remotes seemed gimmicky and most of the games for it are not my style so I had to choose between a 360 and a PS3
I bought a 360 at first because I wanted to mod it and download/copy games. My 360 died in 2 weeks, I got a refund and bought the PS3 instead. I do miss a couple of titles (Gears of War and other COOP FPS come to mind) but the PS3 has a rapidly growing list of very fun titles to make up for it. The PS3 OS is such a charm, I love it so dearly! I honestly did not think I would enjoy the media center possibilities so much but I find myself using them everyday to watch downloaded episodes of LOST or movies or music. Internet playing is free, which is great because I don't play much  online and I would hate to have to spend money for the 2-3 online games per month I play. The remote controls are rechargeable, which is also a nice detail. The blue-ray reader is really fun, but wasn't a selling point for me..

I don't want to tell you to buy one or the other, that's really up to you... and if you have friends who have either, it's a good idea to get the same console as your friends, in order to trade/borrow games and controllers.

I guess I just wanted to point out that I'm also a quite casual gamer and I never regretted my choice of the PS3. Both consoles do make excellent picks, though. Since I bought mine, 3 of my friends bought PS3 (both had a Wii before and weren't using it much) because they were jealous.



EDIT: Just to clear things up a bit, if I had to make the choice again, I would opt for the PS3 again because of the better reliability, blue-ray player, free online, better OS, upcoming exclusives and because it comes with more stuff bundled (like wireless, HDMI cable, and the controllers dont need batteries, etc.)

[RedLion]

PC - It's worth the monies.

But if I had the money, I'd take the PS3. It's got most of the Grade-A games that the 360 does, aside from a few Xbox exclusives like Bioshock and Dead Rising. It's also going to be around longer, for about 5 years, so Sony says.  Meanwhile, Microsoft, it's said, is already beginning development of a new console.

[Storm Rider]

The 10-year life cycle claim is bullshit, and it always has been. The entire reason that every console generation lasts about 5 years since the original NES is because that's about the time that demand peters out. Sony might be singing that tune now, but 3 years from November (4 max), there will be a Playstation 4 on shelves.

[Ikrik]

Considering that the PS2 lasted eight years saying that the PS3 will last for ten isn't that far of a stretch to say.  The Xbox lasted 4 years before it was replaced by the 360.

I've been looking at the exclusive games for both consoles and that's really been swaying my decision.  Some of the 360 exclusives captivating: Gears of War, Banjo-Kazooie, Fable II, Gears of War.  But overall the PS3 games excite me more than the ones for the 360.  Plus there's the fact that 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is available for both consoles so that doesn't push the favour towards anything (seriously, check the game out, there might be nothing cooler than 50 Cent killing terrorists) 

->CamusCanDo  Getting a PSP was possibly one of the happiest moments of this year.  The games are amazing, sure there's always GTA which most people tend to find extremely fun (I find it repetitive and some parts are just stupidly hard) But they have some other amazing games.  Daxter, God of War, Dead Head Fred (voiced by Dr. Cox from Scrubs, best reason to buy the game), Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, Killzone Liberation.  The whole PSP experience is completely different from that of the DS and while they're "rivals" for the handheld they play completely differently.  The only thing I find annoying about the PSP is a 4 hour battery life.

[Storm Rider]

But Sony isn't supporting the PS2 anymore, and the PS3 isn't doing even as close to as well as the PS2 was. There's no way that the PS3 is going to achieve the same level of market dominance that the past two Playstations did.

[Ozymandias]

Man, ten-year life cycle? What kind of wacky ass idea is that? No console has ever had a ten-year life cycle. The NES is the longest lasting console at roughly 7 years. The PS3 came out after 6 years of PS2, which came out after 5 years of PSX. A 5 year life cycle is average and that's what the 360 is going to hit.

[Melodic]

I'd imagine that console lifespan will start to lengthen now that we're starting to approach the point on the fulcrum where it takes more money creating a game than is made in profits. Blame "high-definition" graphics.