Alright so I guess I can't do a blog involving video games without discussing the heated debate between Sony and Microsoft or the "console war" as some people are calling it. I titled this post PS3 vs. Xbox 360 and didn't include the Wii if you might have noticed. As the Wii is all fun with its motion sensing and who ha seriously when's the last time a groundbreaking game has come out for the console? Yeah they announced a few hits like Super Mario Galaxy 2 at E3 this year but c'mon. It's more of a fitness trainer now than anything. We started with Wii Fit now look what direction its gone. Anyway enough of this rant it's my blog so screw you if you want me to talk about the Wii. I don't own one but my best friend, Mitchell, does and he only uses it for Super Smash Brothers Brawl and occasionally Wii Sports. Other than that his parents play it more than he ever will.
Ok Zach shut up explaining why you're not including the Wii just get on with the dang post already.
Calm down calm down I'm going. As most of you know I don't actually own a Xbox 360 just the old school original. However, since nearly everyone and their grandma apparently owns one I feel I've had enough experience to talk about it. If you don't agree go back to T-bagging noobs and waste some time on Social Slayer or Griff Ball I really don't care.
Let's start out with the console that's ahead in this race and has been around the longest of thethree two. That's right I'm talking about the all-mighty Xbox 360!
First let's do a quick rundown of the specs.
Oh for the 360 I'll use the 60 GB Pro version and for PS3 I'm discussing the latest 80 GB model alright? Clear? No? Well screw you we're starting anyway.
Specs for Xbox 360 Pro (60 GB):
Processor Type
3.2 GHz Triple Core IBM PowerPC
Installed RAM
512 MB GDDR3 SDRAM
Storage Capacity
60 GB Hard drive
Graphic Processor
ATI Xbox 360 - 256-bit graphics acceleration
Video Memory
10 MB
Max. Resolution
1920 x 1080
Sound Output
16-bit / Surround Sound
USB
3 USB Ports
Price $299.99
For most of you out that made absolutely no sense and you've probably given up on my blog, moved onto reading a professional, posted nasty comments saying I try to confuse people by speaking Pig Latin, and are now in the fetal position quietly stroking your special edition Halo 3 wireless controller saying "It's gonna be alright he's not going to hurt you anymore."
Basically all that means is that its a pretty powerful machine that has numerous features and is overall pretty freaking sweet.
Before I make this post unbearably long to read (whoops too late) I'll move onto what we're all looking forward to: Xbox Live. Ah yes XBL as most call it. The online gaming community that links all 360 users together in bloody, bloody harmony. XBL is where 360 owners get together to download various content for games as well as beat the crap out of each other in online multiplayer modes. Far superior to Sony's Playstation Network, XBL provides easy access to communicating with one's friends over the internet. The menu screens are helpful and inviting while it is fairly easy to invite a group to a party chat session or a good old rousing game of social slayer. The only problem I have with Xbox Live is that it costs $50 a year for the service. Not that bad, but still worse than PSN which is free.
The games in Microsoft's arsenel are AAA titles that bring variety and insane graphics to the system. Games such as Gears of War II, Halo 3, and Fable II are not only fantastic titles, they are exclusive to the Xbox 360. Microsoft has even been able to get serieses that were originally exclusive to the PS3 to become multiplatform. An obvious example is Final Fantasy 13.
With games such as Splinter Cell: Conviction, Halo: ODST, and a re-release of Perfect Dark on the horizon, the Xbox 360 is shaping up to provide another great year in gaming.
Finally, I'd like to list some pro's and cons for the system. Yeah it's not perfect that's why there's a heated debate over these two consoles. They both each have advantages and disadvantages that make the console unique.
Pros:
Xbox Live- The best online interface out there right now
Games, Games, and more Games- Like I said, lots of titles
$300 price tag- It's not cheap but it's $100 less than the PS3
Population- Nearly everytime I hear of video games the words Xbox 360 are mentioned. There's A LOT of people that own an xbox so you're bound to find some new friends on there.
3 Year Warranty- We need that =P
Cons:
RRoD- Ah yes the dreaded Red Ring of Death. This major fault in Microsoft's console is one of the main reasons people tend to not purchase it. This fatal error that is likely to occur if you leave your xbox on for too long or confine it to a small space (yes I'm saying the xbox 360 is claustrophobic). It's annoying to have to wait for a replacement so...
Monthly subscription to Xbox Live- As I've said not expensive but still it's not free =[
Wi-Fi Adapter- As I will write in Part II of this post, the PS3 comes with Wi-Fi built in. For the 360 you have to buy an adapter that costs about $100 retail. Yes wired is loads better but still some people prefer, or have to use, a wireless connection.
Power Brick- I just thought I'd mention it but jeez man that power brick is HUGE! You can literally bludgeon someone to death with it.
Ok Zach shut up explaining why you're not including the Wii just get on with the dang post already.
Calm down calm down I'm going. As most of you know I don't actually own a Xbox 360 just the old school original. However, since nearly everyone and their grandma apparently owns one I feel I've had enough experience to talk about it. If you don't agree go back to T-bagging noobs and waste some time on Social Slayer or Griff Ball I really don't care.
Let's start out with the console that's ahead in this race and has been around the longest of the
First let's do a quick rundown of the specs.
Oh for the 360 I'll use the 60 GB Pro version and for PS3 I'm discussing the latest 80 GB model alright? Clear? No? Well screw you we're starting anyway.
Specs for Xbox 360 Pro (60 GB):
Processor Type
3.2 GHz Triple Core IBM PowerPC
Installed RAM
512 MB GDDR3 SDRAM
Storage Capacity
60 GB Hard drive
Graphic Processor
ATI Xbox 360 - 256-bit graphics acceleration
Video Memory
10 MB
Max. Resolution
1920 x 1080
Sound Output
16-bit / Surround Sound
USB
3 USB Ports
Price $299.99
For most of you out that made absolutely no sense and you've probably given up on my blog, moved onto reading a professional, posted nasty comments saying I try to confuse people by speaking Pig Latin, and are now in the fetal position quietly stroking your special edition Halo 3 wireless controller saying "It's gonna be alright he's not going to hurt you anymore."
Basically all that means is that its a pretty powerful machine that has numerous features and is overall pretty freaking sweet.
Before I make this post unbearably long to read (whoops too late) I'll move onto what we're all looking forward to: Xbox Live. Ah yes XBL as most call it. The online gaming community that links all 360 users together in bloody, bloody harmony. XBL is where 360 owners get together to download various content for games as well as beat the crap out of each other in online multiplayer modes. Far superior to Sony's Playstation Network, XBL provides easy access to communicating with one's friends over the internet. The menu screens are helpful and inviting while it is fairly easy to invite a group to a party chat session or a good old rousing game of social slayer. The only problem I have with Xbox Live is that it costs $50 a year for the service. Not that bad, but still worse than PSN which is free.
The games in Microsoft's arsenel are AAA titles that bring variety and insane graphics to the system. Games such as Gears of War II, Halo 3, and Fable II are not only fantastic titles, they are exclusive to the Xbox 360. Microsoft has even been able to get serieses that were originally exclusive to the PS3 to become multiplatform. An obvious example is Final Fantasy 13.
With games such as Splinter Cell: Conviction, Halo: ODST, and a re-release of Perfect Dark on the horizon, the Xbox 360 is shaping up to provide another great year in gaming.
Finally, I'd like to list some pro's and cons for the system. Yeah it's not perfect that's why there's a heated debate over these two consoles. They both each have advantages and disadvantages that make the console unique.
Pros:
Xbox Live- The best online interface out there right now
Games, Games, and more Games- Like I said, lots of titles
$300 price tag- It's not cheap but it's $100 less than the PS3
Population- Nearly everytime I hear of video games the words Xbox 360 are mentioned. There's A LOT of people that own an xbox so you're bound to find some new friends on there.
3 Year Warranty- We need that =P
Cons:
RRoD- Ah yes the dreaded Red Ring of Death. This major fault in Microsoft's console is one of the main reasons people tend to not purchase it. This fatal error that is likely to occur if you leave your xbox on for too long or confine it to a small space (yes I'm saying the xbox 360 is claustrophobic). It's annoying to have to wait for a replacement so...
Monthly subscription to Xbox Live- As I've said not expensive but still it's not free =[
Wi-Fi Adapter- As I will write in Part II of this post, the PS3 comes with Wi-Fi built in. For the 360 you have to buy an adapter that costs about $100 retail. Yes wired is loads better but still some people prefer, or have to use, a wireless connection.
Power Brick- I just thought I'd mention it but jeez man that power brick is HUGE! You can literally bludgeon someone to death with it.
No Blu-Ray- Unlike Sony's console, Microsoft believed HD DVD would win the format war. Unfortunately for them they were wrong. No blu-ray adapter has been announced so...for those of you wishing to play your blu-ray movies....a player isn't that expensive anymore =P
So there's my take on the Xbox 360. It's seriously a great console. It isn't always dependable but it's a good pal to have around. Just be sure to give it some air. It's a good all rounder for a wide-ranging demographic that offers high end graphics and Triple-A titles. If you don't already own one, you probably know someone that does. Play it at a friends house before you make a final decision on which console to buy. Oh and keep a lookout for Part II of this post to give you a better idea of the competition. Thanks for reading. Happy Gaming!
Edit:
Another con that I can't believe I missed: Annoying idiots on Xbox Live. Seriously how many 12 year olds are there in the world?!?!? If there's as many as I find on XBL there must be a pedifile training center focusing on all things Microsoft. *yahtzee moment* It seems like everytime I log in and start a match someone's whining to their mommy about how their K/D ratio is lower than 0.5. Okay I don't give a crap about swearing or trash talking as much as those annoying people that make the experience worse for us all. But as Tim told me once, the mute feature is a very useful function that I will most likely use the minute I purchase a 360.
Few points:
ReplyDelete1) I actually understood all your "hard to understand" specs....
2) Specs really don't mean much on a closed system (aka console). The developers can optimize coding so it'll run like a much more powerful machine.
3) I consider the $50 fee a positive thing, odd as it seems. It keeps the (already pretty bad) community in check, and allows Microsoft to keep the service stable. And it's definately not expensive. If you play at least 17 hours (<- lol) a year your getting more bang for your buck than going to the theaters.
4) CRACKDOWN?! I literally almost stopped reading after you called that a good game. That's not even a "decent" game. It's CRAPdown.
5)RRoD is definately a real issue. I'm on my 4th xbox..... and it has plenty of room to breath, too.
I'm totally gonna write a parody of this....
Totally agree with everything you said relating to the system. Here's some things I found interesting:
ReplyDeleteI don't mind paying for an XBL subscription because the money is used to KEEP XBL the best online experience. To get premium service you got to give something; $50/year comes out to less than $5/month if you pay the yearly price. Worth it IMO.
The selection of games is amazing in many categories. Except for Major League Baseball. There are only two games, MLB 2k9 (for realism) and The Bigs 2 (arcade-type). I have MLB 2k9 and it is a beautiful game. Visuals are great, you feel like you're in it. It has an option to update the rosters during the year as all the teams change. But the game is so freakin' glitchy, it's very unpolished, and there are certain parts of the game that seem to be unfinished and 2ksports should be ashamed that they released a game with such great features and left out the basics. I want my MVP Baseball 2005 for the PS2 back.
I got mine for a steal, even though it's a 2006 model. It's been fixed by the original owner, and I give it plenty of ventilation. Plus, being able to install the games to the hard drive is a HUGE plus, you should mention that as well. Increases the life of the xbox substantially.
I think the power brick could power a New York block, geez the thing is huge. Yay for hiding it behind my desk.
Blu-Ray... hasn't caught fire yet. It will, but it still won't be for a couple years yet.
It's nice that Microsoft also has 3 different xboxs out, so if you don't need the bells and whistles it can only cost you $199 for a new system. Or if you need it all, $399. But they need to drop the price of the wireless reciever, seriously. They say it's not that popular. True, I'd rather hard-wire into my router but I CAN'T because it's on the other side of the HOUSE. And I'm NOT running a 100ft Ethernet cable through the house. That's just stupid.
Overall, great article. Especially for somebody who doesn't even own a 360!
Oh, and cooling accessories do more harm than good to a 360. But the RRoD issue has been quite a big thorn in Microsoft's side.
ReplyDeletewoooow i did put crackdown didnt i
ReplyDeletethats a whoopsie that was gonna go in the
"altho there are games such as" pile
my bad trevor lemme fix it up =P
crap i gotta add something too lemme post an edit
Yeah, sure. Like it isn't apparent that you only own a PS3 :P
ReplyDeleteoi wtf who just said
ReplyDelete"Overall, great article. Especially for somebody who doesn't even own a 360!"
At least I'm discussing the 360 and not being a one-sided playstation freak lol. I'm pointing out good parts leave me alone dang it!
Lol, I was talking about Crackdown. Lemme alone, I'm tired. Gonna curl up in the fetal position now...
ReplyDeleteYou would blog about video games and such :)
ReplyDeleteWhat kinda xbox look-alike is that in the power brick picture...?
ReplyDelete