The majority of the posts here have been incredibly biased. Since I own both systems, and play on both regularly, I'll give you a comparison of what I've experienced from my consoles. Price PS3 Fairly expensive, although you can get set up straight away and start to play, everything you need is included. Xbox Console is considerably cheaper than the PS3, but, there are other costs that may need to be added to the equation. Xbox Live Subscription. Wireless Network Adapter. You may not need a wireless network adapter, as you can still hook it up if needed via wires, but you would need one of these to set it up wirelessly, and they're not particularly cheap. Features PS3 Current Features: Blu-ray (the standard in home entertainment format that is taking over from DVD) player. Web Browser (With Flash 9 for watching Youtube videos ect.) Controllers are charged directly via PS3. Life with Playstation (feature similar to the Weather and News channels on the Wii) DVD player Free access to the Playstation Network and all it's features Connect multiple blu-tooth devices, such as the controller, or the headset (any blu-tooth headset can be used) USB ports Wireless Controllers All necessary connections to connect to internet and TV Hard Drive. Trophies. Xbox DVD Player Free Silver Membership to Xbox Live (cannot play games online) HDTV cable Interchangeable faceplate All necessary connections to connect to internet (wired only) and TV Wired controller with Arcade (cheapest) model. Wireless with Premium and Elite models. USB ports Memory card with Arcade model. Hard Drive with Premium or Elite models. Achievements and Gamerscore. Play old Xbox games. Mentionable Faults/bugs with Console PS3 Small failure rate. (IE freezing, ect.) Xbox RRoD (console freezes and dies completely) MS fixes for free as long as within warranty. The rate of RRoD has dropped from around 60% at launch, to around 30%, which is still considerable numbers. Generates a lot of heat. Very noisy. Updates from creators PS3 Firmware updates every two weeks or so. New features are added every time and bugs are fixed. Individual game updates. Store updates. Xbox No regular console updates. Store updates. Individual game updates. Design PS3 Large, but outer design is sleek and smooth. XMB (main menu basically) is clean and easily interchangeable, you can choose from a wide range of set colours or download other themes from the store. Text inputs are incredibly easy to use, includes predictive text. Xbox Large. Block like. Faceplate can be changed. Current dashboard (main menu) is fairly busy. It uses a wide range of colours, and can be hard to find things. Online PS3 Can do all the basic things. (Send messages, voice chat). Free. Online experience is pretty much identical. Updates to keep service running. Xbox Can sign into MSN messenger. Can do all the basic things. (Send messages, voice chat). Online experience is pretty much identical. Costs money. Updates to keep service running. Updates that will change current things PS3 Home:- Create your own character (similar to Sims style of character), designed to improve the online experience and turn it into the community which both systems lack. Release date: 19th November (not 100% confirmed) Xbox New Xbox Experience:- New dashboard design, avatars (similar to miis), games shows (not included at launch of NXE) Release date: 19th November Other PS3 Hard drive used is a standard notebook, which means it can cheaply be upgraded to a bigger size fairly cheaply. (500GB is the largest I've found) Store uses standard money. Xbox Hard drive is specifically designed, only available made by Microsoft. More expensive and sizes are limited. Need to buy Microsoft Points to use on the store. Games Multiplatform Current Highlights Bioshock The Orange Box Call of Duty 4 Star Wars: Forced Unleashed Far Cry 2 Dead Space GTA IV Saints Row 2 Rock Band 1&2 Guitar Hero Assassin's Creed Grid Multiplatform Up and Coming Highlights Call of Duty 5 Mirror's Edge Fallout 3 Final Fantasy XIII Tekken 6 Prince of Persia Resident Evil 5 PS3 Exclusives Current Highlights Metal Gear Solid 4 Resistance: Fall of Man Warhawk Uncharted Gran Turismo 5 Prologue SOCOM: Confrontation Motorstorm 1&2 Wipeout HD (PS store game) PS3 Exclusives Up and Coming Highlights (est. 08/09 release) Little Big Planet Resistance 2 Final Fantasy XIII Versus God of War 3 Killzone 2 White Knight Chronicles Heavy Rain Quantum Theory MAG Gran Turismo 5 Demon Souls inFamous Eyepet Xbox exclusive current highlights Halo 3 Mass Effect Fable 2 Forza Motorsport 2 Vivia PiƱata 2: Trouble in Paradise Gears of War Geometry Wars 2 (Xbox Arcade game) Ninja Gaiden 2 Xbox exclusive up and coming highlights (est. 08/09 release) Gears of War 2 Left 4 Dead Halo Wars Alan Wake Velvet Assassin Star Ocean 4 Banjo and Kazzooie Well, I tried to keep that us un-biased as I could. I think I failed pretty miserably :/ Personally, I recommend the PS3. I think it's up and coming games list is much better than the 360s. Also, don't base your opinion on the online services. There is honestly nothing in it, it's mostly just biased opinions that say XBL is better. A year ago, I'd be recommending the 360, but now we've seen what the PS3 has too offer, and what it has delivered, it is definitely the console to go for. For me at least. Sony's plan with the PS3 is to make it a 10 year console like the PS2, you can buy it, and your guaranteed to get new releases for at least another five years, with the 360, the future isn't as certain.
I was actually saying that they will fix any problems with Live, and if you're under warranty you can get it all fixed for a small fee. As for the "unbiased" description of the two systems, I would have to disagree on a lot of items posted... But I won't go there, it's all up to you.
Go with the 360, the new chipsets really helped out a lot, far less noise, RROD is nonexistent practically, and there's just so much more you get with LIVE. Live is worth the purchase.
Well there are alot of these topics around here but I will say to get the PS3. The system itself is overall better and its free online play. Im sorry but I refuse to pay 60 dollars for a game then pay more money to play it online. And the online is just as good as the Xbox. The only doffernce is that achivement thing and the PS3 has started to bring trophy's into it. Ive got quite a few trophy's in Bioshock, Rock Band 2 and Drakes Fortune. The PS3 is Bluetooth so the wireless works much better. Ontop of that its a Bluray player. Yes Microsoft is working on a Bluray addon but wouldnt you much rather have it already built in to your far superior Xbox360? Oh yea and the PS3 doesnt red ring. In fact there is no nick names for a defective PS3 because it just doesnt happen that often. Good job on keepin the Xbox cool Microsoft :-D. The PS3 is better by far.
And how does that differ from any of the other posts people have made? Makes no difference in finding games what so ever. There's more people on XBL, but still plenty on PSN.
Your up and coming highlights feature a lot of crap games. Aside from that. It's a pointless question, every thread is going to be littered with fan-boys and unbiased (regardless of how hard they try) opinions. Your best bet is to go with whatever your mates have got.