360 or PS3?

[Keldryn]

Does anybody really find the quality of standard DVDs so lacking that it justifies a several hundred dollar player plus an extra $10-15 per film for stuff you already have?

Seems like a big waste of money to me unless you've got loads of disposable income.

 

[Mallus]

...plus an extra $10-15 per film for stuff you already have?

One word: Netflix.

And yeah, while regular DVD's look swell on my TV, you really do notice a difference with HD source material.

 

[John Crichton]

I have been using a 32" HD tube TV ($800 at the time) for about 4 years. DVDs, especially upscaled look really good. Then I got the 360 HD-DVD add on and a PS3. I saw a definite quality difference. Same with HD DirecTV broadcasts like football and some shows like Lost.

I just got a 50" plasma and the 1080p Blu-Ray movies look frickin' tremendous. My SO, who is not a tech whore like myself can't stand watching regular football broadcasts any more if she can help it.

So the short answer is: no, nobody *needs* it. But as it gets cheaper and cheaper it will be. Just like the upgrade from VHS to DVD. Oh, and I wouldn't buy a dedicated player right now. The only reason I made the latest leap was because of the PS3 and then the HD-DVD add-on for the 360.

 

[Ravenknight]

360 ftw, Mass effect is coming..

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I just got a 50" plasma and the 1080p Blu-Ray movies look frickin' tremendous. My SO, who is not a tech whore like myself can't stand watching regular football broadcasts any more if she can help it.

I'm curious which 50" plasma did you get? Here's Mine. I also recently bought a PS3 but am currently only playing PS2 games as none of the PS3 games hold interest for me just yet. I'm awaiting things like the new Ratchet and Clank, GTA IV, Metal Gear Solid and some other titles. That and seeing where the current tide has shifted concerning the current format war I wanted to get a Blu-Ray player although there's nothing out in Blu-Ray that I'm interested in getting as I'm not looking to get something in Blu-Ray that I already have on DVD. I'm thinking about picking up 300 as my first Blu-Ray purchase, but I havent seen the movie yet. I might just wait until something that I have seen comes out (Ratatouille, Transformers) come out and get that.

 

[Simplicity]

The 360 is a gamer's paradise. Way better than the original XBox.
I own a 360 and a Wii. I haven't bothered with the PS3. As much as I'd like to blow some money on another game system... There has to be some games for it first before I'd be willing to do that.

 

[WizarDru]

Each system has it's own merits. It really depends on where your preferences lie.

Personally, I would recommend the Xbox 360. Xbox Live by itself is almost enough to recommend it, particularly with the excellent Arcade offerings, such as Carcassone and Catan. The PS3 has some excellent exclusives coming, but the 360 has some excellent exclusives now. Bioshock, for example (of which the demo just appeared on XBL yesterday, and which all 360 players should get, not just because it's an awesome game, but because ENWorlders worked on it).

I have the Wii/360 combo, and while there are a couple of games coming to the PS3 that look good, they're not enough to justify the price to me. My wife and I play Carcasonne on the 360 virtually every day, and there are other games in that vein. I don't think you'd go horribly wrong with the PS3, but the games that I'm most interested in are either multi-platform (Rock Band or Assassin's Creed, for example) or exclusive to the Wii or 360 (Metroid Prime 3, BioShock, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, etc.)

That, coupled with my lack of faith in Sony's ability to course correct quickly enough means I'd go with the 360. There certainly are some good games coming for the PS3, depending on your preferences (Folklore, Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Ratchet & Clank Future, Lair and a few others). But I'm not comfortable recommending Sony, especially with their current shell game of console pricing that's in play right now.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I bought a PS3 and my reasons were:

Reliability: The 360 heat issues have me spooked.
Features: I like the Blu-Ray, and built in wireless and bluetooth are also very cool.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I have been using a 32" HD tube TV ($800 at the time) for about 4 years.

I don't have an HD, was considering one for next year, probably just a 32" or 37". How is the 32" for difference compared to a regular TV?

So the short answer is: no, nobody *needs* it. But as it gets cheaper and cheaper it will be. Just like the upgrade from VHS to DVD. Oh, and I wouldn't buy a dedicated player right now. The only reason I made the latest leap was because of the PS3 and then the HD-DVD add-on for the 360.

My thing is, I'm not sure that the next step IS BluRay or HD-DVD. People make a big deal of Bluray selling 2 to 1 vs HD-DVD in movies that come out in both (okay, so mostly 300. , but it's still such a small segment of the market, it's meaningless at this point. By the time there's a decent amount of market share, the technology will be outdated.

I mean, they're already talking about 10 layer discs and such, that current players can't play.

Add in that they are charging double for the HD-DVD/Bluray's discs, and I think it's slowing teh HD change down.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Bioshock, for example (of which the demo just appeared on XBL yesterday, and which all 360 players should get, not just because it's an awesome game, but because ENWorlders worked on it).

Considering the download speed, it seems like every 360 player IS getting it.