Xbox 360 Console (20 GB Hard Drive)

It's no wonder that people still brand video-gaming as a childish hobby. This reviews section seems to have generated into a pathetic "mines-better-yours" PS3 v Xbox 360 ranting forum for a lot of people.It's reasonable to expect that some of you looking at this might actually be trying to make your mind up between one of these two consoles and are hoping for some impartial views to help you decide. I don't claim to be an expert, but at 38 and as an owner of both consoles with better things to do than post biased nonsense rants about what are essentially 'toys' after all (it's hardly life and death is it!), I'll try to give some honest and objective advice based on my impressions of each:NOTE: My comments re the 360 apply to the Premium and Elite console in general - see the end of my comments for thoughts on the avaliable versions.GamingCurrently (although this might change over time) the 360 wins hands down for me. Significantly longer on the market has given it time to build up a substantial library of games and for developers to really get to grips with the hardware and produce some stunning looking games. Bear in mind also that some of the best early games now appear in a budget range, there are more second hand games on the market, and the library of downloadable games via Xbox Live Arcade has significantly more, and arguably better, titles than are currently available for download on the PS3 Network. As I said, this could change over time. The PS3 is said by some to be a more powerful machine graphically, but that remains to be seen - I've yet to see the evidence. In fact, most graphical comparisons so far by websites such Gamespot have shown that, in the majority of cases, it's the Xbox 360 versions of games that also appear on the PS3 which have slightly better graphics. However, developers may well start to coax better performance out of the PS3 in the next year or so. In terms of big name games the PS3 really needs something to rival the likes of Bioshock and franchises like Halo. Games like Killzone 2 and MGS4 might fill the void but we'll have to wait and see.Online FunctionalityAgain, it's early days for the PS3, but the 360 wins for me at the present time. Xbox Live and Live Arcade etc seem to offer a more robust and user-friendly experience than the Playstation Network. To exemplify this, I've owned both PS3 and 360 versions of Fight Night Round 3. Getting into a match on Xbox Live was always much quicker and easier, and the whole experience was a lot less prone to disconnection and glitches; I have none on Live but plenty on PS3, so much so that I eventually gave up playing the game altogether. Fair enough, you could perhaps blame the game software or EA servers rather than the network itself, but I also find downloads and console updates much easier and quicker on the 360. Unsurprisingly, the sheer amount of content available online for the 360 is much greater than the PS3 - you could argue that this is just due to the extra time the 360 has been on the market, but that doesn't make it any less relevant when considering which one to buy at this time.DVDHere, I'd say the PS3 wins easily. I can't say I've seen the 360 running an HD DVD but quite apart from not having to clutter up the place with the extra HD DVD add-on for the 360, the fact that independent reviews have said that the PS3s Blu Ray playback is on a par with a £1,000 standalone player and the fact that firmware updates have added highly impressive up-scaling of standard definition DVDs to the PS3, the PS3 seems the better choice to me. Consider also that the PS3 is a much quieter console, which makes a lot of difference if you're watching a quiet scene in a film. Finally, while most people would say that it's too early to call whether Blu-Ray or HD-DVD will become the dominant format, articles I've read recently seem to indicate that Blu-Ray is slowly pulling ahead. For example, in the UK Blockbuster have stopped stocking HD DVDs but are continuing to stock Blu-Ray. Frankly, at the present time the selection of films of both formats leaves a lot to be desired.Other Media - Music, Digital Photos etc.Both consoles offer a lot of functionality in this area, which I suspect for most people is one of the less important ones. All I'd say on this is that the presentation of media is for me smoother and more impressive on the PS3. Digital photos in particular can be displayed in a variety of ways with much more flexibility than on the 360.ReliabilityAfter a lot of prevaricating, Microsoft finally seem to have admitted that they sent the 360 to market with some serious reliability issues - mainly potential overheating of one of the main processors leading to critical failure of the console (Red Ring of Death syndrome, as it's become know). With my previous Premium 360 system I was lucky enough to not experience this problem, but an awful lot of people have. People with a lot more technical knowledge than me have apparently determined that the Elite consoles on sale at the moment do not contain the newer chip which addresses this problem, but it's too early to say whether the Elite will suffer the same problems as other changes may have been made to improve reliability. Although the PS3 is relatively new to the market, it certainly doesn't seem to have anything like the failure rate of early Xbox 360s. I've also read quite a lot of comment that Sony has a more prompt, efficient and helpful technical support system if things do go wrong. The reality is if your console breaks under warranty you'll get a new one whether it's a PS3 or a 360 but that doesn't alter the fact that if you have to send it back and wait for a replacement it's a depressing and frustrating experience. Overall, I think the PS3 is still ahead on reliability until we have proof that the Elite won't suffer the same failure rate as its forerunners.SummaryAs my primary interest is in games, if I was faced with buying only one of these machines now I'd go for a 360 Elite, for the reasons set out above. (I'll never understand why MS released the Core system and I know of virtually nobody who bought one instead of the Premium version). It seems pretty much a no-brainer that the Elite will be the choice for new Xbox customers, largely due to the vastly bigger hard drive. It also offers HDMI connection, although I cant' say I see any real difference between it and my former Premium console, which ran at 1080p via the component input on a 40inch Samsung M87 LCD TV.If your primary focus is DVDs etc then you'd be better off with the PS3.Incidentally, I haven't mentioned price because I've made the assumption that if you can afford one of these machines and their respective add-ons etc, you can probably afford the difference between them. A lot of people seem to go to great lengths to show that a 360 with all the add-ons is two pence more than a PS3 with the same features out-of-the-box but the truth is if you have to worry about a few quid here or there you probably shouldn't be blowing hundreds of pounds on consumer electronics anyway!Well those are my views. Like I said, I'm not an expert but I'm also not a teenage fanboy with an axe to grind so these comments were as un-baised as possible. Enjoy whichever machine you buy!

The 360 console was exactly what was needed to help provide a positive and engaging source of entertainment to address a real need of light relief and enjoyment, and a wholesome distraction from general day to day stresses. The seller was available to help me with further set-up information. I was thoroughly satisfied with the purchase, as also with every aspect of the delivery process.

In reply to "A gamer from Edinburgh" about the hard drive being majorly overpriced and that £70 will buy you 100-250GB: The Xbox 360 hard drive is a 2.5" drive that you would normally find in notebook computers and as such is much more expensive while consuming less power and being quieter. It is also proprietary so any old hard drive *will not work*. I've just checked my favourite computer component online store and a 30GB drive retails for around £53 while Amazon is selling the proprietary and much sleeker-looking Xbox 360 drive for £70. Get your facts straight in future.A lot of these reviews seem to be comparing the Xbox 360 to PC gaming. That simply isn't possible to do reliably for so many reasons. PC games don't let you play games with a bunch of your mates sitting in the living room on the sofa. Console games are generally all about that party aspect. Grab a few friends and play games into the night. Not to mention that a lot of games are only coming out on Xbox 360. Try finding Halo 2 or Perfect Dark Zero on PC - try playing with 4 of you with one PC and one copy of the game, too.Consoles are all about the games which was why I didn't consider the Xbox (original) to be a contender in the video games market for so long. For years the only decent game was Halo while the Gamecube had the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, Mario Kart Double Dash and Super Smash Bros and the PS2 had whatever it had. Good games make or break a console and in my opinion the Xbox 360 has the games at launch that are required for this to be a very successful console.

Im very hard to please when it comes to consoles, so when i baught the 360 i had very high expectations, and to my suprise i found that i liked the system, liked it very mutch indeed. Iv heard all the horror storys about ppl's 36o's frying themselves, crashing, and scratching disks...but i have never had any trouble, and when i say never i do mean NEVER, so i dont know maybe my 360 was one of the lucky ones that got put together correct.So why is the xbox 360 so good?Because its so user friendly its fantastic, it has some of the most amazing games i have ever played, xbox live is superb for online gaming, xbox live arcade brings back so many great classics and gives them a breath of life, increasing your gamerscore is very addictive, the graphics get better with every game, there is a game for everyone to enjoy.THE BADWhen i say i have never had a problem with my 360 its because i have always kept my 360 in an open area and not backed up against the wall, or stuffed in an entertainment unit, never tilted the colsole onto its side whilst playing a game, never over-used it ( as in had it running all night downloading then came back to it the next day and just played it without letting it cool first). Alot of people have sufferd crashes and overheating, or have had their games eaten by the 360 even though they have followed what the instructions say.But in all honesty this really is a fantastic console, you dont have to be a hardcore gamer to play the 360, you dont even have to have any previous experience with consoles to pick up the lingo eithere, it offers hardcore gamers a hardcore console, it offers laid back gamer a laid back console, and it offers everything else in between. get one!