PC, Xbox 360 or PS3?

[freebfrost]

I know you can, but what's the fun in that?

Because I got killed and I still took its stuff!

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I knew eventually I was going to put money down for a 360, I just didn't expect it to be so soon. Yesterday I went out and bought the 20g model with a most excellent coupon from K-Mart that knocked $70 off the price.

I've only had about 4-6 hours with the console itself (including set-up, reading directions, and mucking around in XBL.) Already I can see why some folks would be turned off. While I think XBL is an excellent service, most of the extra DLC has a pricetag, and that includes the various themes and gamer pictures. I would like to customize my XBox that way, but not at the expense of my wallet. (I also have ethical questions about it, like who gets this money, and do they actually deserve it? But I don't want to get into that.)

However, I'm not regretting my purchase at all. I've barely combed the functionality the console has to offer, and it has so many great games (both released and coming up). In my mind it's the best system to have if gaming is a serious hobby. Of course I know that could still change, seeing as how early we are in the three consoles' lives, but I think I've made the right choice.

Let me just say really quickly that I'm not knocking the PS3, just illustrating my own brief experience with the 360, and why it was the right console for me.

 

[Simplicity]

On the downloadable content score, I don't have a problem at all with the various fees being charged for the downloadable content. The only way you're going to get a healthy variety of content is to charge something for it. What I DO wish was that it wasn't such a walled garden. People should be able to create and release free downloads. Of course, then it becomes a security problem, and maybe XBox doesn't want to deal with that.

Although, if I want a damn gamer pic, I should be able to get that off the internet, not get charged for it. That's just stupid. Hence, I still haven't bothered to change mine from one of the defaults.

 

[Felon]

The PC is the best choice for a MMORPG gamer, obviously. Having a mouse makes it superior for FPS games as well. I never will understand how the popularity of Halo or other FPS's on the consoles failed to generate market forces that should have driven MS and Sony to produce a wireless mouse. Such a thing would become a staple of every decent console setup.

The PS3 and Xbox are a wash IMHO. As has been stated, success in the console market is not about hardware specs. It's about the games. The Xbox could make a noise like a 742 turbine engine and people would still buy it to play Halo 3. But Halo 3 is really the only killer console-exclusive game for the Xbox, and the PS3 doesn't have one at all, so unless you're a Halo fan there is nothing currently providing a clear-cut edge for one or the other.

I wound up getting an Xbox because I wanted to play Mass Effect. That was back in April when Mass Effect was promised to be out in May. Bioware lied, then lied again and slated it for September, then pushed it back to November. It looks like they're done with the jerking around, and I pray to the gods that it was worth the wait.

 

[Felon]

I knew eventually I was going to put money down for a 360, I just didn't expect it to be so soon. Yesterday I went out and bought the 20g model with a most excellent coupon from K-Mart that knocked $70 off the price.

I've only had about 4-6 hours with the console itself (including set-up, reading directions, and mucking around in XBL.) Already I can see why some folks would be turned off. While I think XBL is an excellent service, most of the extra DLC has a pricetag, and that includes the various themes and gamer pictures. I would like to customize my XBox that way, but not at the expense of my wallet.

Oh yes, there is a very evident attitude on Xbox Live that giving anything away for free is a very bad thing.

Having said that, there are certainly lots and lots of freely downloadable game demos. I think I had my Xbox a couple of weeks before I actually put a game in it.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

The PS3 and Xbox are a wash IMHO. As has been stated, success in the console market is not about hardware specs. It's about the games. The Xbox could make a noise like a 742 turbine engine and people would still buy it to play Halo 3. But Halo 3 is really the only killer console-exclusive game for the Xbox, and the PS3 doesn't have one at all, so unless you're a Halo fan there is nothing currently providing a clear-cut edge for one or the other.

I completely agree. A big selling factor was that 3 of my friends have 360s, and we all enjoy Halo. So there was a social aspect weighing on my decision as well.

The PS3 games will come. I've always loved the Ratchet and Clank games, and the new one looks stellar. Plus, Drake's Fortune, MSG4, Warhawk, and the multiplatform games all look wonderful. And Home sounds really cool, I'd like to know more about it. I think Sony botched the PS3 launch, but the system is certainly coming around.

I wound up getting an Xbox because I wanted to play Mass Effect. That was back in April when Mass Effect was promised to be out in May. Bioware lied, then lied again and slated it for September, then pushed it back to November. It looks like they're done with the jerking around, and I pray to the gods that it was worth the wait.

Another important decision for me on buying the system, so I'm right there with you.

 

[Rackhir]

Oh yes, there is a very evident attitude on Xbox Live that giving anything away for free is a very bad thing.

This is very much a Microsoft thing. Bill Gates actually invented the concept of software piracy. Back in the days of the very first personal computers people used to just give away the software (very primitive mind you) and he complained that people were giving out copies of the Basic he had written for the Altair.

My brother works for Kodak and back in the nineties they wanted to give away a basic image editing package with their Photo CD product, but got a lot of pressure from Microsoft to charge some sort of nominal fee for the product. Simply because they didn't like the precedent of giving the software away.

 

[Vocenoctum]

On the downloadable content score, I don't have a problem at all with the various fees being charged for the downloadable content. The only way you're going to get a healthy variety of content is to charge something for it. What I DO wish was that it wasn't such a walled garden. People should be able to create and release free downloads. Of course, then it becomes a security problem, and maybe XBox doesn't want to deal with that.

Theoretically, that's the problem. Even game patchs have to be cleared with XBox Team to make sure there's no problem and such, before it'll be put in the cue. I can't see MS opening the can of worms that a "free area" would engender.

Although, if I want a damn gamer pic, I should be able to get that off the internet, not get charged for it. That's just stupid. Hence, I still haven't bothered to change mine from one of the defaults.

I agree that charging for the gamer pics and such is silly. It's a promotional product in most cases. Getting an image from elsewhere opens the possibility of someone being offended, but that hardly seems a problem. It's all about Control, I'm sure.


For myself, I have never bought or used any MS Points since I got my XBox 360 at the start of 06. I've played demo's, free games, etc and never bothered looking for backgrounds and such.

 

[takyris]

I wound up getting an Xbox because I wanted to play Mass Effect. That was back in April when Mass Effect was promised to be out in May. Bioware lied, then lied again and slated it for September, then pushed it back to November. It looks like they're done with the jerking around, and I pray to the gods that it was worth the wait.

Nitpick: Can you find me anything from BioWare that gives a formal release date for Mass Effect? Amazon.com, Microsoft, sure, I can see them saying stuff that turned out to be flat-out wrong, but while Mass Effect had a number of internal release dates planned (and then pushed back when it became clear that we'd be releasing a sub-par product), I don't recall seeing anything stated formally.

'Cause my view from the inside is that we never said anything about a release date. The "we don't plan to show anything at E3" is the closest I saw Ray and Greg get, and that's a ways short of marking a date on the calendar.

 

[Felon]

Nitpick: Can you find me anything from BioWare that gives a formal release date for Mass Effect? Amazon.com, Microsoft, sure, I can see them saying stuff that turned out to be flat-out wrong, but while Mass Effect had a number of internal release dates planned (and then pushed back when it became clear that we'd be releasing a sub-par product), I don't recall seeing anything stated formally.

'Cause my view from the inside is that we never said anything about a release date. The "we don't plan to show anything at E3" is the closest I saw Ray and Greg get, and that's a ways short of marking a date on the calendar.

My May release date (and in general my fascination with Mass Effect) came from Bioware newsletters. I suppose it is conceivable that the newsletters simply danced around using implicit language like "imminent" and "impending" and "almost here" while they let Microsoft and major retailers throw out dates that were specific--letting folks like me be strung along for weeks and months making purchasing decisions based on bad intel, and then at the 10th or 11th hour saying "nope, not yet"--but I don't see much of an "innocent bystander" defense in that.

At any rate, in a week's time my bitterness will be water under the bridge.