A common, and somewhat useless debate between gamers I tend to hear often. There is no answer to it, but I’ll quite happily give my opinion on the matter. Fairly, too. Let’s look at pros and cons.

Xbox 360 Pros Against PS3

• Simply put, more games. There are far more (good) exclusives on the Xbox 360 like Gears of War, Crackdown and of course Halo 3.
• Controllers – the PS3 controllers are flimsy and don’t feel too good. Xbox controllers are the perfect weight, don’t break easily and feel good in your hands.
• The Xbox 360 is sleeker than the PS3, and in my view looks better. Especially the elite consoles, which are black.
• Better online. Since we have to pay for Xbox Live Gold, Microsoft pays for dedicated servers for games and thus there is less lag. As developers have to buy servers for PS3 online play, they tend to get crappy ones that are laggy.
• Xbox 360s are far more popular, meaning that it’s more likely your cousin you see once every 4 years in Switzerland can play COD5 with you.
• Xbox 360s tend to be far far cheaper than PS3s, and are usually about half the cost of a new PS3.
• I usually don’t get into comparing graphics of the two as they’re so similar, but technichally the Xbox 360 has a superior GPU to the PS3 meaning that the output is better.

Xbox 360 Cons Against PS3

• No HD disc viewing unless you buy a HD-DVD accessory, however Sony won the HD disc war with the Blu-Ray, which made a huge PS3 selling point.
• Xbox Live Gold costs money, £40 a year in comparison to PSN’s £0 lifetime system.

PS3 Pros Against Xbox 360

• Free online game play. Something that all Xbox 360 owners tend to be envious of.
• Motion sensitive controllers means that the PS3 can pick up hand movements. However the technology here is nothing in comparison to that of the Wii.
• Built-in Blu-Ray means that you can watch all the latest films in HD hassle free, just like a DVD.
• You can use a Bluetooth headset to talk to others online, this definitely beats the tacky things Microsoft gives you.
• Blu-Ray compatibility also means games can be big without needing multiple discs, like they do for DVD versions – it also means textures don’t have to be compressed for one disk, meaning they load faster.

PS3 Cons Against Xbox 360

• It costs more. Much more.

In my opinion, the Xbox 360 is the better console overall. However, it’s really up to personal preference. The Xbox has features some people will love, so does the PS3. It’s the ones thats suit you best that should make your decision.