Choose Me a New Console

Me and an old college buddy try to meetup every now and then online to play some video games. Up until recently, we've used the old-school Xbox to do so, but the games we were playing have been discontinued online (Tiger Woods 2007 being kicked off was the last straw).

I've discontinued my Xbox Live subscription and am now considering getting a new console:

1) PS3

2) Xbox 360

3?)Maybe the Wii

He's leaning more towards the PS3 with its BluRay drive. He already has the Wii, but wasn't impressed at all with its multiplayer service. Also, there's no freaking voice comm on the Wii! The WiiSpeak is debuting in mid November, but I don't know if it's worth waiting for.

The 360. Not too big on paying for Xbox live again (we only play maybe once a month). The arcade version is cheap, but isn't having a HDD preferable? There's the downloable oldschool games, but I have given my original Xbox the capability of playing DVDs full of roms.

I hear the Wii is fun to play with a other people in the room, but I live alone and rarely have company over. I'm in this thing for the online ability and little else. I might buy a couple of stand alone games if they're really awesome, but that's about it. BluRay for me isn't a big deal as there's x.264 but he'd want it for that capability so it's back on the table.

Guess I was all over the place on this one but you console gamers are smart enough to figure it out. In the mean time, I'm going to go back to play some more Counter-Strike.

Vote in the poll or I kill you!

PC isn't an option? Multiplayer there is the best.
In terms of consoles from what you say the Wii is not a good option.
360 and PS3 are both good options, honestly I would just look up a list of games you would likely play and see which console has more of them.
I'm not sure about this so you'd have to look into it but I think that some 360 games require the hard drive for playing online.

Definitely agree about PC being best for multiplayer. But to be honest, I hardly play any games at all except for the occasional Counter-Strike session nowadays. My friend isn't that big into computers and we're both pretty comfortable with the arrangement we had until now.

Tex has a PS3 and Resistance.

Seriously, if you're only going to play about once a month, there is no sense paying $5 or $10 a month or whatever for online if you can get it for free. My friends play online all the time, and they have no complaints so far. They have the whole headphones and voice thing set up too.

If you have a HDTV and are going to rent/buy Bluray DVDs, the PS3 is probably the best option. You're able to browse the internet and stream videos/music/pictures to your PS3 as well. Also if you have a PSP, you can play certain games and watch movies through that somehow.

If you don't have an HDTV (or if you do have one and don't give a crap about Bluray), and you want a slightly better online service (Xbox live is probably a lot better than PSN), go for the 360. Keep in mind that something like 20% of 360s red ring still.

They basically have the same games, except for a few platform specific games (Halo, MGS4, MGSO, Gears of War, etc.)

I think the 360 Elite with a 120 GB hard drive goes for the same price as a PS3 with a 80 GB hard drive ($400).

For me, the deciding factor was Bluray in the PS3, and I haven't regretted it.

PS3 has the bluray player, most bang for your buck. So I'd go with that. Although I think the thing gets hot so not if your planning on watching like alot of movies.

However the Wii probably is more fun with friends. I just think think the Wii would be really sad to play alone Like having a birthday party noone came to.

360 for online play.

I've left my PS3 on for hours at a time and it barely got warm. It has a remarkable cooling system and it surprised me. But yeah, a PS3 is the same price as any other Blu-Ray player out there, plus it plays video games, browses the internet, and all that other stuff.

Before I write anything else I'd like to emphasise that I don't want to start a fanboy riot in here. I own both systems, used to use my 360 a lot more, but am tending towards the PS3 at the moment. By what you mentioned, I think the PS3 is your best bet. Free online gaming (which despite what many will tell you is not 'more lagged' than the 360 equivalent - depends on the game and its netcode) is a lot more sense than paying monthly for something you've said you're barely going to use. It'll be a really nice excuse to start an HD movie/tv collection (my newest foible) but of course as Bailey said... just check out the exclusives (basically first party games) and see which games you're more interested in playing.

I beg to differ. To a newcomer to a system, the PS3's XMB is a lot more intuitive and certainly quicker than the 360 equivalent.

Why? They are exactly the same system, just branded differently and using an actual numerical value for achievements as opposed to the 'level' system on the PS3. They both 'mean nothing'. If anything, the PS3 system is better, because the levels can have an effect in future products. Can't talk any more about this at this stage.

Trophies are becoming manadatory from Jan I believe, to give devs enough time to ensure their products are up to date. Plenty of games are being patched however. Still, that doesn't get past the fact that gamerscore means 'nothing'... it doesn't give you extras in any games or services, whereas current plans are to make the PS3 'levels' mean something.

You do realise that the PS3 has a video marketplace too, right? And a larger standard HD. Personally however, I'd prefer the disc. My internet connection won't handle streaming (or even downloading fast enough) an HD movie, so I'd rather stick to a much higher quality Blu-Ray - isn't that the point of HD... quality?

I'm not denying it's addictive... just as addictive as being a trophy whore in fact. I should know, I just downloaded Mainichi Issho.

* eVOLVE is secretly very proud of his gamerscore too
[edit] Also, how would it meaning something make it worse? Surely then it means that all of the effort you go to getting that elusive platinum trophy isn't just so that you can show your friends (that probably never even look at your profile) that you have 'finished the endless setlist on expert'?

lol, that's pretty much the situation. I'm finding home a really good tool actually though.

Very much looking forward to the 360's fall update. Can't wait to be able to install games on my HD... no more Disc Read Errors. Ironic really that when there's a game that demands we install it on the PS3 we all groan, and I'm begging to be able to have that feature on the 360 so I don't have to pay for a repair

I don't mind having the disc in the system. I just want it to be loading everything off my hard drive so that once the game is detected I won't have any disc read errors.

Was on the final song of an 18 song setlist on expert difficulty Rock Band when it happened and lost me all my progress... needless to say, I'm not gonna try the 58 song endless setlist until I have this feature Personally I think it's ridiculous that Microsoft are trying to charge me $150 to replace the disc drive, when new consoles cost $200, so that's why I'm not gonna repair it

I really don't care about speed of loading... just fed up with games crashing out because the disc drive is having problems.

I've heard rumours that there are good ones around I've had 3 RROD and now of course this drive problem... Still works, but just often stops being able to read discs and kicks me out of the game with an error occassionally. More regularly during streaming games when the disc is pretty much constantly reading, such as GTA 4 or Test Drive Unlimited.

Another thing to consider with the PS3:

If you want a bigger hard drive, it takes typical computer hard drives. I don't think this is the case with Xbox. Some of my friends swapped out their 80GB drives for monster 200GB ones with no problems.

Don't get me started on 360 hard drives... Scorponok, you're right... they're also crazy expensive, because you have to use the specific Xbox make :/

It's an easy choice. Get a PS3. Especially if paying for it isn't much of a problem for you. The Xbox 360 has better online play, but it isn't worth paying for. And Blu-Ray is better than HD. But do not get a Wii. I think you and your college buddy are a little too old for it.

Get a PS3 if it has games you want.

Get a 360 if it has games you want.

Christ, that's the important part. Or at least it's supposed to be.

PS3 or xbox so you can play fallout and elder scrolls game.

Kyle is absolutely wrong.

System Warz is the important part.