Software, Computers, Video Games and D&D UtilitiesGeneral discussion on computer software and hardware, PC and console games, and RPG utilities such as eTools, PC GEN, etc.
I just received a 22" HDTV (1080i) for Christmas. I am really looking forward to playing Fallout 3. I am not sure what gaming console to buy, however. Yes I know this topic is flame-bait. I am hoping we can act like adults.
Here are my considerations:
I haven't owned a console since the original Nintendo. I do have a PC, but I am not sure it's game worthy, especially my GPU. Here are my stats:
E6550 Intel Core Duo 2.33 GHz, 2 GB RAM, Geforce 7600 GT; Windows XP
Also a consideration, I troubleshoot computers all-day; coming home and doing that is not fun.
* Games besides Fallout 3? I can't play FPS they make me physically ill (motion sickness). Action games are pretty fun.
* PS3 costs more and I currently don't see the 'big name' games
* Xbox 360 is cheaper, but no DVD upconversion (plus many people online said the fans are LOUD). The reliability concerns me, too.
* Some console people said Fallout 3 locks up; that drives me nuts
Any other considerations?
__________________ Livin' in a lonely world
"That's so freakin' dorky it's cool!!!" - krunchyfrogg
Well, the first thing worth mentioning, given your problems with motion sickness, is that while Fallout 3 is not a FPS, it is intended to played in first-person perspective. If anyone here is able to play it exclusively in over-the-shoulder mode, by all means chime in.
As to which console to choose, it's pretty much six or a half-dozen. In terms of graphics and processing power, it's a push. If you want the Blu-Ray capabilities, get the PS3. If not, a 360 should fulfill your needs. Its fans are noisy, but no noisier than my PC when it's running.
Last edited by Felon; 30th December 2008 at 10:35 PM..
Fallout 3 for the PS3 is being patched (can't remember if it's been released yet). A friend of mine loves the PS3 version, haven't played it myself.
You can't go wrong with an Xbox 360 given it's game library... that said, I went with the PS3 --at the $500 price point-- and consider it a terrific purchase. It's my media center, Blu-ray player, upcoverting DVD player, and a fine game console. Some crackerjack exclusives: Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank Future, Valkyria Chronicles, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD and Wipeout HD.
__________________ "We're pimps and killers, but in a philanthropic way." -- Boyd, Dollhouse.
Fallout 3 for the PS3 is being patched (can't remember if it's been released yet).
It has. Fixed some of the freeze issues (not all of them) and gave us the trophies.
I have both systems, and I honestly don't remember the last time I turned on the 360. Of course other folks would likely say otherwise. Blu-ray is a big point. Also the free access to online play is great. No matter which system you go for a game well worth considering is Rock Band 2, if you like Rock music at all it's a great game and available foe PS3 and 360. (and Wii, for whatever that's worth.)
The root of intolerance against RPG players by some Christians is ignorance. The root of intolerance against Christians by some RPG players is ignorance. It's part of being human, but it's still good practice to not fall into the same behaviour one condemns.
_________________ Looking for a Cthulhu game in Houston.
- Generally, I look at the PS3 version first since I much prefer the (far-superior, AFAIC) controller, and, indeed, my 360 sounds like a plane taking off when a disc is in the drive. My PS3 is silent. (It's also more reliable.)
- If the game has a heavy online play component, it'll always be the PS3 version for me. I had Xbox Live for a little while, and it's nowhere close to being worth paying for (especially when you get it free everywhere else).
- If the game is mostly a single-player game (eg. Fallout 3) and has exclusive DLC, I'll get the version with the DLC (like 360 version of Fallout 3).
I think the drive (not the fan) is the major noise factor on the 360. It can sometimes spin up to pretty fast speeds and can get LOUD.
That being said, the newest upgrade to the 360 that came out this winter has allowed the option to preload a game onto the hard drive. If you do this, you still have to leave the game disc in the machine, but when you play it there will be no drive noise as it pulls the data off the HDD. This allows me to play Fallout 3 in peace.
One other new feature the 360 does is allow you to stream Netflix streamable movies through your internet connection. You do have to subscribe to Xbox Live (Usually costs 45-50 bucks for 13 months on Amazon) and have to have to be a Netflix user as well (9 bucks a month for the 1-DVD-at-your-house-at-a-time plan). My wife, who never uses the game function of the 360 LOVES this. We have watched 4 seasons of The Office in HD in just a couple weeks since signing up.
I don't think either machine you pick is gonna be a bad choice. Good luck!
If I was buying a console to be a console, at this stage, I'd be getting a 360.
The costs is less, the current next gen game selection is a lot wider and the quality of the games is top notch. Xbox Live has a lot to offer - even if there is a cost associated with it. You get what you pay for in terms of XBL vs PS Home. (Arnwyn and I obviously disagree here.)
With a new unit, you can install to HDD and avoid the noise problem. (And as mentioned elsewhere, the noise is a significant issue).
If Blu-ray or using it to watch movies (even DVD) is something you intend, then the obvious choice is the PS3. As a console, it has a smaller selection of current titles - but it's otherwise a fine machine. Given the noise issue, the fact that you can use the 360 as an upscaling DVD player is more a theory than a reality. It's too damn loud.
I don't think you can go outright WRONG with either choice, but for use as a pure console, the 360 advantages tilts the board in its favour.
That's my .02. And yes, I have both a 360 and a PS3.
__________________ .Robert
roXidy Games Inc.
Last edited by Steel_Wind; 31st December 2008 at 12:55 AM..
The other alternative here - which you have not mentioned as a real issue for you - is to simply upgrade the card on your PC.
Given the CPU, I'm guessing your mobo has a PCI E slot.
An Asus NVidia based GTX 260 or an Asus Radeon 4870 might do nicely.
Note - the 4870 is HDMI compliant and even has HDMI sound processing on the card. You can get one from Newegg right now for about $225 after rebate. The 260 is about $35 more, but has less bells and whistles (it runs more quietly though and NVidia drivers are superior to ATI's).
I have both the GTX 260 and a Sapphire 4870. I still slant to the 260, but the 4870, since the bios update, is a solid card and admittedly a lil faster than my 260. (Before BIOS update, the 4870 was a defective piece of crap, but that has finally been fixed). I would, if given a choice, always get an Asus over a Sapphire, all things being equal). To be clear, Asus makes both the NVidia 260 based card and a Radeon 4870 based card.
Either would be a good choice. And given your new HD set, it might be the 4870 and a Blu-Ray drive for your PC would make you a happy camper. Or maybe just the card?
If forced to choose between a gaming PC and a console is a choice you believe you have to make (i.e., you can't get both), in terms of gaming, the titles available you want to play - and how you prefer to play them - would be the determining issue. Generally speaking, the PC version of the game is almost always better (almost means almost, not always), but these days, there are less and less titles with any PC version.
__________________ .Robert
roXidy Games Inc.
Last edited by Steel_Wind; 31st December 2008 at 01:19 AM..
Nothing wrong with a Core 2 Duo. I'd go with the graphics card option. Even an HD4850, rather than 4870, would do the trick. And CPUs, well they're fairly insignificant in most gaming, and besides - like I said - C2D is absolutely fine anyway. I use one, with a 4850, and Fallout 3 (plus everything else so far) runs smooth as silk, maxed out.
Keyboard and mouse ftw.
Oh, and if you like mods for games, PC is without a doubt *the* way to go.
I'll point out that the newer XBoxes aren't as loud. When they changed to the Falcon board (most of the ones you can buy that were in the stores in 2008), the CPU was cooler, and consequently, the fans are quieter. In addition, there is an even quieter/cooler one coming out.....it is even cooler, and quieter than the ones with the Falcon board.
The newer ones are supposedly not as prone to hardware failure either.
I have both systems, but I tend to play the XBox far more. I just find it easier to locate people to play with....but everyone has their own preferences.
I keep hearing about this. What's this "install to HDD" stuff about? I have an elite unit. Is that considered a sufficiently "new" unit?
You can have a release date box from back in 2005, and you'd still be able to install to HDD. As long as you have installed the New XBox Experience, you'll be able to install a game.
They don't recommend doing it with Halo3, but other games should be fine.
When you're on your desktop, simply go to "My XBox", and select your game...don't click "play game"....go to one of the options to the right, where you can see an option to look at things related to a game....achievements, etc. You should have an option to install it to the hard drive.
Unless you like online (and you've just advocated for Xbox Live) - then it costs more. (If one likes online, the 360 is the most expensive console available today.)
Blu-Ray DVD Combo Drive $130.00
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1 GB 256bit HDCP $240.00
(all prices from newegg 12/30/08)
===
Total $370.00
Not a bad price all things considered.
Nice!
One last thing to consider re: PC vs. console is what genres of games you're interested in. For instance, a big chuck of the good PC games are FPS. In general, there's a wider variety of different kinds of games available for the consoles.
__________________ "We're pimps and killers, but in a philanthropic way." -- Boyd, Dollhouse.
You can have a release date box from back in 2005, and you'd still be able to install to HDD. As long as you have installed the New XBox Experience, you'll be able to install a game.
They don't recommend doing it with Halo3, but other games should be fine.
When you're on your desktop, simply go to "My XBox", and select your game...don't click "play game"....go to one of the options to the right, where you can see an option to look at things related to a game....achievements, etc. You should have an option to install it to the hard drive.
Blu-Ray DVD Combo Drive $130.00
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1 GB 256bit HDCP $240.00
(all prices from newegg 12/30/08)
===
Total $370.00
Not a bad price all things considered.
I appreciate the advice.
Do note that with most Sapphire 48xx cards in stock - you will need to flash the BIOS on the card in order to allow it to work with most older (and some newer) games properly.
The flash.bat is easy to run on a Vista 32 machine....if you can somehow boot your machine into plain vanilla DOS.
If you have never tried to boot a modern computer into plain vanilla DOS, you may not appreciate how hard that task has now become. You will need:
- a PS/2 style keyboard or at least a dongle for your usb connection that allows you to connect it to the PS/2 port on your mobo. Because after your machine boots to plain vanilla DOS you won't be able to type in the word "flash" at the prompt without this as a pure USB keyboard won't work
- for most boot disk images, an IDE CD Rom. Trying it with a SATA DVD is not going to work. Hell, trying it with an IDE DVD usually won't work either...
- preferably have a 3.5 floppy (and a 3.5" disk!) around
OR
or a bootable Flash drive. (Those aren't easy to make work either!)
- And even if you have a floppy drive around - your mobo will need to support a connection to it. That's a rare mobo these days. Most newer ones do not.
Blah blah blah... end result: total pain in the ass.
There is a workaround for this under XP. A community util called WinFlash exists for use under XP that allows you to use it when running XP to flash the BIOS on a 48xx card. I recommend going that route. Even just grabbing an older hard drive with XP installed on it from another system just connected to a Vista machine long enough to boot it - and run the WinFlash util is all you need. It takes 3 seconds to do and you never have to do it again - but if you have an older BIOS on the 48xx card, it is a vital step you will have to do once.
If you don't have Vista installed - well - then running WinFlash won't be a problem for you
__________________ .Robert
roXidy Games Inc.
Last edited by Steel_Wind; 31st December 2008 at 05:49 PM..
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