Brakes and tyres are good things to have in good order on a car.
So, finances permitting your ready to cross to the dark side and getting with the console program :-) Do let us know when you do so I can "friend" you for online enjoyment!
Well if I'm totally honest I'm almost glad that this puts off the decision for a while. I'm still not committed either way to XBox or PS3. Both seem to have negative points.
On the one hand ... XBox is Microsoft, and the Red Ring of Doom (XBox's spooky and permanent equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death) appears to be accepted by their users as an inevitable and even somehow trivial eventual outcome (and occasionally even beneficial as it means you get an upgrade to the latest model or something).
On the other hand what's this I hear in the news lately about the PS3 not really having many games that use it to its fullest potential? I mean sure it's nice to have the more powerful system but not so much if all that power is just sitting there.
Developing for the Xbox360 is relatively easy as they supply all sorts of DirectX APIs. Basically it's like developing for a special version of Windows. Sony have always sucked at providing a decent SDK and as a result programming the PlayStation has always been a more bare metal process.
However as developers get more comfortable with the hardware they will be able to get more out of it. Certainly if you look at the experience with the PS2 (and even the original PS) and compare the games from the original line-up to now you can get a good idea. Basically what I'm saying is the PS3 certainly has the potential for growth. The base hardware has a ridiculous amount of power.
That's not to say that the games you can currently get for it are not already pretty damn good. We don't use the PS2 any more and have a reasonable library of PS3 games that we enjoy. CoD4, GTAIV, Burnout Paradise, Drakes Fortune, DiRT, and Lego Indiana Jones are all good console playing fun.
I'd add one additional negative to the Xbox360, to play online you need to become another revenue stream for Microsoft. At least online play is free on every PS3 title I have got.
However the PS3 is more expensive (although the gap is closing all the time) so if your not gagging for it you could wait until 80gb £299 model arrives in August, or the run up to Christmas.
It will be interesting to see what Sony make for the "digital living room" initiative. I'm not buying Blu-Ray but I am now watching all my digital films (divx/mp4) via the USB hard drive plugged into my PS3 instead of the lower res of the DVD player. Sony have surprised me by adding more codec support to their regular software updates. I have no idea what the Xbox360 is like for viewing media.
It's more the jargon 'bullsh!t bingo' nonsense I object to, if we're being honest.
So 'box that has many functions' gets morphed into "digital living room experience" and an undelying tone of 'it's not a box of wires that does stuff, it's a lifestyle choice - look, see how cool you will be, and how all your friends will envy you'. It's all marketing b0llocks and corporate c0ck sucking, and it annoys me.
I apologise for littering your blog with expletives :( but this kind of nonsense annoys me, and make me want to rant. And then burn things.
I'm on the 360 and must say I've been a very satisfied customer thus far. Got the red rings for all of an hour once but managed to shake them with a little fiddling.
Of course, the easiest way to solve the problem is to make a long-term plan to own BOTH. Seems to have worked for my little brothers...
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kingandy
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 02:18 pm (UTC)So, finances permitting your ready to cross to the dark side and getting with the console program :-) Do let us know when you do so I can "friend" you for online enjoyment!
no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 03:14 pm (UTC)On the one hand ... XBox is Microsoft, and the Red Ring of Doom (XBox's spooky and permanent equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death) appears to be accepted by their users as an inevitable and even somehow trivial eventual outcome (and occasionally even beneficial as it means you get an upgrade to the latest model or something).
On the other hand what's this I hear in the news lately about the PS3 not really having many games that use it to its fullest potential? I mean sure it's nice to have the more powerful system but not so much if all that power is just sitting there.
On the third hand, brakes are nifty.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 04:04 pm (UTC)However as developers get more comfortable with the hardware they will be able to get more out of it. Certainly if you look at the experience with the PS2 (and even the original PS) and compare the games from the original line-up to now you can get a good idea. Basically what I'm saying is the PS3 certainly has the potential for growth. The base hardware has a ridiculous amount of power.
That's not to say that the games you can currently get for it are not already pretty damn good. We don't use the PS2 any more and have a reasonable library of PS3 games that we enjoy. CoD4, GTAIV, Burnout Paradise, Drakes Fortune, DiRT, and Lego Indiana Jones are all good console playing fun.
I'd add one additional negative to the Xbox360, to play online you need to become another revenue stream for Microsoft. At least online play is free on every PS3 title I have got.
However the PS3 is more expensive (although the gap is closing all the time) so if your not gagging for it you could wait until 80gb £299 model arrives in August, or the run up to Christmas.
It will be interesting to see what Sony make for the "digital living room" initiative. I'm not buying Blu-Ray but I am now watching all my digital films (divx/mp4) via the USB hard drive plugged into my PS3 instead of the lower res of the DVD player. Sony have surprised me by adding more codec support to their regular software updates. I have no idea what the Xbox360 is like for viewing media.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 09:30 pm (UTC)See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayTV
no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 07:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 08:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-25 12:13 pm (UTC)So 'box that has many functions' gets morphed into "digital living room experience" and an undelying tone of 'it's not a box of wires that does stuff, it's a lifestyle choice - look, see how cool you will be, and how all your friends will envy you'. It's all marketing b0llocks and corporate c0ck sucking, and it annoys me.
I apologise for littering your blog with expletives :( but this kind of nonsense annoys me, and make me want to rant. And then burn things.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 06:59 pm (UTC)Of course, the easiest way to solve the problem is to make a long-term plan to own BOTH. Seems to have worked for my little brothers...