XBox 360 Elite

[Felon]

Oh, suggest away by all means!

Still hoping Mass Effect is just around the corner. That was my major impetus.

What's the word on Jade Empire? Up to the hype?

 

[John Crichton]

Still hoping Mass Effect is just around the corner. That was my major impetus.

Yeah, that's my next 360 purchase. May is the rumor but it's Bioware so expect to add at least 4-6 months to that. I say late 2007. Although, they can take their sweet time if they want to make it better.

What's the word on Jade Empire? Up to the hype?

I played it for about 5 hours and it wasn't bad but not as good as KotOR. Then again, I am a huge Star Wars fan. I recall it playing pretty well on the 360, too.

But the 4 I suggested already are the best things out there unless you are a FPS fan. Then there are more options.

 

[jonathan swift]

Sure, if I get a chance while at work today and I'm bored of posting in other threads.

But, really man, c'mon... all you have to do is get your annual cash outflows for each option, apply a reasonable discount rate (most appropriately a savings interest rate you're able to get at your local bank), present worth them, and then compare. Any spreadsheet can do that, for pete's sake.

Using a savings interest rate from a bank for the discount rate? Ouch. I'd go with a 10% mutual fund.

 

[Arnwyn]

Using a savings interest rate from a bank for the discount rate? Ouch. I'd go with a 10% mutual fund.

I like you already. I suggested one's local bank savings interest rate simply because it's readily accessible/available to the general population, who may not have a wide number of financial instruments to choose from.

I don't currently have a cash outflow for each option. This will be my first console since the original Playstation.

The options I was referring to was simply 360 vs. PS3 in terms of price. But here's the quick and dirty analysis that you asked for earlier:

I'll do the easier one, my #2, feature for feature, first:

2) feature-for-feature

This one's easy.
Price of 360 + HD-DVD drive + online gaming for 1 year = 400+200+50 = $650
Price of comparable PS3 = $500

I'm not even going to waste my time discounting future cash flows (annual Live price). The PS3 is cheaper right from the get-go.

If I get a little more detailed:
Price of Elite + HD-DVD + online gaming for 1 year = 480+200+50 = $730 (Edit: Not $650! Whoops!)
Price of PS3 + 120 GB HD (from Newegg) = 500+53 = $553

The results are still clear on the feature-for-feature front.

1) if you're interested in online

Now for the slightly more complicated costing.

Option 1: 360
Year 1 cash flow: 360 + online gaming = 400+50 = 450
Year 2-5 cash flows: online gaming = $50 per year for 4 years

Option 2: PS3
Year 1 cash flow: PS3 = $500
No future cash flows (online is free).

Discount rate: 3.5%

Option 1 present value = -$450-$184 = -$633
Option 2 present value = -$500

The PS3, yet again, is the cheaper option.

Sensivity analysis:
Using a discount rate of 10%, Option 1 = -$608



Disclaimer:
Now, if one is just interested in simple gaming, with no online, no movies, no nothing, then the 360 is by far cheaper ($400 compared to the PS3's $500). One might also try to argue that Live is a better experience and thus worth the $50 per year to be allowed to game online (something you can do for free on the PC and PS3), but this is certainly debatable. Most PS3 games go online already, and the experience is more than adequate (e.g. R:FoM, with 40 players and virtually no lag, could reasonably be considered a superior experience) even before the PS3's online announcement. But neither of those is what I'm talking about - I had just pointed out that saying the PS3 is overpriced while not mentioning anything about MS's Xbox 360 (especially those rare nitwits screaming at the same time: PS3 is overpriced! Live is teh awsum!) is disingenuous, bordering on dishonest.

 

[Atavar]

Price of Elite + HD-DVD + online gaming for 1 year = 480+200+50 = $650

Hmmm....



Atavar

 

[TwistedBishop]

Now, if one is just interested in simple gaming, with no online, no movies, no nothing, then the 360 is by far cheaper ($400 compared to the PS3's $500).

Just a note: The $500 20GB PS3 has been discontinued by Sony. You can still find it in a lot of stores, but when those are gone, it's gone.

 

[Arnwyn]

Just a note: The $500 20GB PS3 has been discontinued by Sony. You can still find it in a lot of stores, but when those are gone, it's gone.

I know... I just read it on IGN shortly after posting all that. The 60 GB model sure turned out to be popular.

Hmmm....

Whoops! Thanks, Atavar.

 

[TwistedBishop]

I know... I just read it on IGN shortly after posting all that. The 60 GB model sure turned out to be popular.

Popular may be a relative term in this case. It makes sense that early adopters are going to be the demographic that wants the premium model, and by reports Sony shipped only a fraction of the 20GB compared to the 60GB. The whole thing ends up feeling like a marketing tactic to ease sticker shock, less than something Sony intended to follow through on.

 

[IcyCool]

I would like to point out, if anyone cares, that the PS3 is a beautiful piece of hardware. Not only does it have power in spades (power that would cost you a freaking fortune if you were to try and build a similar power-level computer), seeing and hearing it run is amazing. The PS3 is whisper silent, and the 360 sounds like a jet engine by comparison. If (and that's a big if) they get developers creating games that leverage the full power of the PS3, it will blow away the 360 simply because it is a better piece of hardware. But the comments by developers about how difficult the PS3 is supposed to be to develop for make me more than a little worried about that.

Of course, it shouldn't really be the console itself that sells you on a system, it should be the games. And there aren't a whole lot of great choices for the PS3 still. I'll be buying mine when FF13 comes out, but that's because I'm a hopeless FF fanboy.

And my final disclaimer, I currently own a 360, but that's only because I apparently have the world's coolest friends, and they bought me one (Gears of War and Rainbow Six have been a blast so far, and playing on Xbox Live has been a hoot).

 

[Vocenoctum]

Of course, it shouldn't really be the console itself that sells you on a system, it should be the games. And there aren't a whole lot of great choices for the PS3 still. I'll be buying mine when FF13 comes out, but that's because I'm a hopeless FF fanboy.

Most of the comments I see about the PS3 and games, the developers say they want to hold out for more install base. It's sort of a catchall right now I think, systems are slow due to lack of games, but games won't come out until system sales pick up.

As I said before the PS3 launch, I think the PS2 is more what the PS3 is competing with right now than the 360. There are less exclusives nowadays, but there's still a difference in the style of games.

And my final disclaimer, I currently own a 360, but that's only because I apparently have the world's coolest friends, and they bought me one (Gears of War and Rainbow Six have been a blast so far, and playing on Xbox Live has been a hoot).

I liked Gears, haven't done Rainbow Six. I love the demo's for 360, but I don't really play all that many games on a console, so I can't justify more than one at any rate.