Should I get a PS3?

The Game Room
1

I’ve got a fair amount of money tied up in Amazon.com gift certificates. One from a Coinstar machine, one from my Amazon.com Visa, and another one left over from my last Coinstar one that only has like $5.

Point being, I have over $150 total in giftcards to Amazon, meaning I could get a PS3 for basically half the price (though obviously I’d need a game, so another $40-$60.)

I’ve been mulling over a PS3 for a while, and weighing it against a 360. The pros of a 360 are cheaper, and better online experience. But the PS3 has a lot more exclusive games I want (3-D Dot Game Heroes, Infamous, Uncharted,) plus, it’s a Blu-Ray player, which will compliment my HDTV so nicely, espeically since it hasn’t really had a chance to do much HD.

So, those of you with PS3s…worth the price?

2

I don’t have a PS3, but you’re already on the right track here.

Make a list of which exclusives you want to play and which ever one has the better games, go for that system.

Oh, and I don’t know how much you care about this, but I despise the PS3 controller. While it wasn’t a factor when I bought my 360 (the PS3 wasn’t out yet at that point), this might be something to consider.

3

XBoxes break so easily. A friend took his XBox in to get exchanged, and the friend was describing to the UPS guy how it needs to be sent. The UPS guy said “Yeah, I know, I do about 5 of these a day.” Friend: “You mean a week?” UPS: “No, this is my third one this morning.” And the games don’t hold up much better. If you bump the console while the game is spinning, it ruins the disc.

I love my PS3. The load times are pretty quick and the game selection is big enough for me. The Blu-Ray is a nice feature too.

4

I assume the PS3 controller is pretty similar to the PS2 one? I never had any real problem with that, so it shouldn’t be an issue. The only controllers I never really liked were the orinigal X-Box (I don’t have large bear-paw hands,) and the Dreamcast…which is weird, cause everyone else I know loves the Dreamcast one…I hated it because it was a little too large, and unnecesarily so. The slot for that little memory card/LCD screen thingy was too big, and no game I ever played even used that screen, so a regular memory card, which could be smaller and cheaper, would have been just fine.

Question for those who know: Is there a hi-def cable included, or does it just come with the shitty composite video? Not that it’s a big deal, since I know the PS3 can use any old HDMI cable, and in the end, abother $5 isn’t that big a deal, but I’d like to know beforehand so I have it when I have the PS3.

5

360s do not break easily. The RROD problem was fixed years ago.

It’s almost exactly the same. I didn’t much care for the PS2 controller either.

And no, the PS3 doesn’t come with a hi-def cable. You’ll have to be sure to get one.

6

Agree with that, I’ve had 2 360s and they’ve both died painful hardware related deaths - the first one RROD’thed straight away, the second motored along quite well for about 2 years before getting another crippling hardware error out of nowhere.

This is anecdotal of course, but the failure rate of 360 hardware should be factored in. This isn’t to say that PS3s are immune - recently the ‘PS3 RROD’, the ominous-sounding ‘Code 8001050F’ has been crippling older PS3s. On this generation most games worth having are on both, take a look at the exclusives and see if there’s anything you fancy:
For the 360, exclusives in green.
PS3 games, ditto.

The bigger 360 exclusives are the series of Fable, Crackdown, Gears of War, Forza, Halo.
For PS3 you have God of War, Gran Turismo, inFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance: Fall of Man, Uncharted.

7

I had a 360 before I turned it in for a PS3. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about either console, just that I greatly prefer the PS3, for most of the reasons you mentioned. I simply don’t give any credence to the “the 360 breaks all the time!” argument - it’s really not all that relevant.

Online Play
When I had the 360, I was never all that interested in spending $35-50/year for the privilege to play online. I didn’t know anyone online (there’s a solid SDMB group that solves that problem), and I’m just not all that interested in the competitive atmosphere, or spending quite a bit more money to stay on top of the currently-popular new online games (I’m honestly not sure how much of an issue that is). However, since I got the PS3, I’ve played online quite a bit more. LittleBIGPlanet is a fantastic game, with an amazing online experience. And since online play on the PS3 is free, that was a huge plus. I’m cheap, so I give the edge to the PS3 - but understand that the 360 experience is better if you have a group to play with.

Bluray Player
It’s simply fantastic, connects online to receive any and all firmware upgrades, and is a central component to my HDTV setup. It alone was the reason I made the switch, and all else being equal, it is absolutely a reason to spend the extra small amount of cash. It’s also nice not to have yet another component in my entertainment center taking up room.

Media Extender
I’ve found that the PS3 was much easier to set up as an extender than the 360. However, it doesn’t have WMC if you want to replace your DVR via your home computer. The third party media extender programs I use have, I believe 360 counterparts, but I haven’t tried them.

Exclusives
This is all a matter of preference. The 360 has a larger library, but the PS3 has made really really strong efforts in the last year to compete. In the last year, I’d give the PS3 a solid edge in exclusives. I’d look at lists for both consoles and see what is going to give you enough to play. Yeah - I never got to play Mass Effect 1 and 2, which I regret. But I did get to play LittleBIGPlanet, Ratchet & Clank, Demon’s Souls and Uncharted (and I really look forward to Mod Nation Racers, 3D Dot Game Heroes, and a chance to play Heavy Rain). Ultimately, both will give you plenty of options to fill up your gaming schedule.

Controllers
I vastly prefer the 360 controller. Something about the analog stick on the PS3 makes playing Tiger Woods nearly impossible for me. The triggers aren’t as good either. If someone were to put out a PS3 controller in the shape/config of a 360, I’d pay good money for it. I don’t hate the PS3 controller, but it’s just not as good.

The Future
I’m not interested in 3D gaming (okay - I am, but I’m just not interested in buying a new TV…). For the moment, I’m not interested in Natal or Move (the movement-based peripherals MS and Sony are planning to cover the marketshare Nintendo has a monopoly on with the Wii). But if I were to place any bets on which is stronger going forward, I’ll stick with the PS3. Even if a 4th gen console (technically the…8th?) were to come out, I think my PS3 has stronger legs to stand on. You can still buy a PS2 at Best Buy - 360 devotees may say that knocks the PS3’s viability, but I think it just says that Sony makes long-lasting products. Either way, I really can’t see myself going back.

8

Neither console can sell itself on it’s technical/reliability merits at this point. (Aside: Why the heck would you ‘bump’ a console while it was running? Mine is across the room from me on a shelf. It’s not even connected to the controller.) PS3 has a smaller install base in the US, which may mean fewer people to play online with - but that’s likely to only be an issue for more obscure titles. Bluray is a plus if you plan to build a bluray library, otherwise something of a nonevent. (Planning for the future, I guess.) You can install your own generic laptop SATA hard drive rather than be beholden to MS for outrageously priced “proprietary” drives. Oh, and it’s region free (games only, not movies) so if you are interested in importing things, it’s a good platform.

But really, when you get down to it, it’s about the exclusives. There’s no clear “simple majority” here either - in spite of what some folks might have you believe. The PS3 simply has a different set of exclusive titles. Which ones you want to play is a matter of personal taste, but I urge you to explore the options before committing your credit.

9

Believe it or not, there is a simple majority. The Wii has more exclusives than either HD console put together. Of course, odds are “Yet Another Collection of Minigames 7” won’t interest most gamers.

Also, if you’re using pure numbers, the 360 has more exclusives than the PS3. But shear numbers really mean jack shit in this discussion. I really, really, REALLY want 3D Dot Game Heroes, but I can’t justify owning a PS3 and Xbox 360 and Wii to myself (or the wife for that matter).

10

I’ve always been curious about this. I know you play a lot of games - at some point why not trade the 360 in for a PS3 to play all the exclusives you haven’t had a chance to play, and after a sufficient amount of time, revert to whichever console fits your needs the best? A trade-in at GameStop can’t be more than $75-100, right?

11

Why would I ever do that? I’d trade in the 360 and get maybe $75-$100 for it. I’d then have to spend $250 on a used PS3. I wouldn’t have any games for it and all my 360 games would be useless.

Beyond that, most of the games available for both systems are the same and I already know I want to play a few PS3 exclusives, but I also want to play a bunch of 360 exclusives. So unless I have both, I’d be disappointed.

12

Yeah, going over the exclusives, most of the ones that look cool to me are on the PS3. I don’t care for Halo that much. I played Halo 3 a lot last summer at a friend’s house. I just can’t do FPS on a console. Even after lots of hours, enough hours that I should have at least been decent, I’d be lucky to get two or three kills in a game…and usually one of those was a suicide with a grenade or rocket launcher, :wink: And Mass Effect just looks boring. Like a 20 hour version of the first part of Knights of the Old Republic before you got sweet Jedi powers and the game sucked ass-cock.

But like I said, 3-D Dot Game Heroes looks great. I was enamored with it the first time I saw the artwork for it. It’s right up my alley (I cut my teeth on the original Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, etc…) Oh, and I forgot about God of War! I’ve always wanted to play that series…though 1 and 2 are on the PS2, right? Eh, I’m sure I won’t be missing much plot-wise if I just jump right into the third. (let me guess the plot of 1 and 2: Ares kicks everyone’s ass?)

InFamous and Uncharted also look really cool, and I always loved the box-art for Resistance, but that’s an FPS, right?

13

God of War 1 and 2 are available for PS3 - they redid them and packaged them together. If you’re a trophy whore, there are two platinums available for the price of one game. (I only add that because it’s honestly a draw for some people.)

Resistance is an FPS, similarish to Halo - it’s a great game, but probably not up your alley.

Oh - and Media Molecule just released a preview of LittleBIGPlanet 2. WOW! I didn’t think they’d be able to expand into a sequel on a game that allows for infinite expansion, but they did.

14

Linkety-link:

15

We have a PS3, Wii and XBox360.

The PS3 is hands down the best. Yes, you should get one.

16

I caution you against assuming that all games on the 360 are like Halo (Or at least, that any more games on the 360 are like Halo than games on the PS3 are like Halo.); It seems like you have a lot of interested in 3rd Person Shooters? (Infamous, Uncharted) In which case the 360 is fielding titles like Gears of War, Splinter Cell, and the recently released Alan Wake.

There’s no equivalent to 3D Dot Heroes, but I still fail to see why anyone wants to play that one, so clearly I’m out of my depth in that arena. :wink: God of War is another exclusive which I have difficulty categorizing (Button mashing gore fest?) or delivering equivalents to. Anyway, looks like you have a plan in mind. You won’t regret it, but you might at some point want a 360 too. :wink:

17

This is just insulting :wink: Nah, to each their own, but Mass Effect 1 and 2 are both absolutely AMAZING games. Easily some of the best to come out this generation. Those alone make the 360 a more viable system (for me) than the ps3, which only has 2 or 3 exclusives that I’m interested in (Ratchet & Clank series, Valkyria Chronicles, and 3d Dot Heroes). I may eventually end up getting a PS3 for those, but it’d be a used one. otherwise it’s hard to justify the purchase.

Seriously though, Mass Effect is absolutely great. MUCH better than Uncharted, imo. Give it a chance and it’ll impress

ETA: also, about 360 hardware failure. I had an original run xbox for nearly 4 years without a single problem, it only recently just died. So… didn’t see much problems. That and now you can install games to the HDD so the disc doesn’t spin, eliminating the bump and scratch “problem” (seriously though, who touches their console while it’s running? I mean, I’ve plugged controllers in when a battery was dying or whatever and had no problems, so the only way to really scratch a disc was if you actually MOVED the console while it was running, and who does that?)

18

Well I’ll have to wait for a PS3, because Amazon is out of stock…bastards!

19

He’s not wrong, though, at least about it looking like KotOR. Bioware is…single-minded in their game design. Neverwinter Nights looks like KotOR looks like Mass Effect looks like Dragon Age (maybe, haven’t played).

20

I suppose I can grant that they look similar, but if you sit down and play Dragon Age then play Mass Effect the two are utterly and completely different, both in gameplay and in style of presentation. Sure they’re both 3rd person action RPGs that involve a lot of talking, and radial menus, but beyond that they’re not terribly similar. Dragon Age has much more strategic battles and has you constantly pausing to issue commands, whereas Mass Effect is more of a cover-based 3rd person shooter when it comes to its battles