Wednesday, March 16, 2011

In Which I Actively Invite A Decade-Long Flamewar To My Blog

At some point soon I hope to be getting one of the two "core" game systems: PS3 or Xbox 360. I had been leaning towards the 360, just as I have been pretty much since release. However, given that I don't actually care that much about the specific specs of each, unless a game is REALLY bad on one system, my primary criteria are the exclusive games available on each (including PC games). Since many of the games I'm behind on are available for both, like Red Dead Redemption or Soul Calibur IV or even, if I dare, Final Fantasy XIII, or on PC, my preferred system, the simplest way to judge is to make a list of games on each that I should play. And surprisingly, the list as I think of it is tilted towards PS3.

PlayStation 3:
LittleBigPlanet 2
Flower
Demon's Souls
Valkyria Chronicles
Uncharted 1/2

Infamous*


Xbox 360:
Halo 3/Reach
Limbo
Gears of War
Fable


Looks pretty even right now, but in most of the cases I'm more interested in the PS3 games than the 360 games. I will admit to a certain level of ignorance towards indie games, but the biggest of them - Braid - is on PC now, removing a major 360 strength. On the other have, given that I have a Wii, Kinect seems vaguely more appealing than Move, but neither really excite me.

What am I missing here, fellow gamers? Bearing in mind that, as a general rule, I like most genres but only the very best games of most genres, though I'll tolerate more mediocre RPGs or quirky games.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Stay away from Soul Calibur IV. It's pretty awful.

Also, I own both (dull story, I won one), and I'd probably go the PS3 if you don't play online and Xbox 360 if you do.

Unknown said...

Thanks, mister!

I haven't heard many people complain about SC4, actually. Most of what I've heard is "fine return to form after SC3, Yoda is cheap."

I'm unlikely to do too much online play. Should mention that.

sarCC said...

Hmm. Well, the usual argument is between 360 and PS3 without PC entering into the picture. As a console boy, XBOX always had the most games I wanted to play(beginning way back with Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Jet Set Radio Future). But, since you're a PCer, most of the games that are great, or better on the 360 than on the PS3 are probably best played on a PC.

Can't really single out any exclusives, though 360 usually gets DLC much earlier than PS3 does. Which leads to me writing that if you're ever going to get Rock Band, get it for the 360. It's just better on there and the extra songs come out quicker.

Unknown said...

Yeah, the PC thing changes it up dramatically. Add Braid and Mass Effect 2 to the 360 list, as was the case a year or so ago, and it's suddenly not all that close.

How is Rock Band better as a game on the 360, given that I'm not likely to go wild on DLC unless I suddenly get a full-time job or something?

sarCC said...

It's really just the DLC as far as the difference goes between them. I have friends that have had problems with PS3's online availability.

Mychal said...

1) Braid is available for PS3 now, as is Mass Effect 2 in the self-proclaimed "definitive" edition.

2) If you have a lot of friends to game with online, XBOX Live is certainly more easier to manage them and play with them. However, XBOX Live costs money and PSN does not. Furthermore, if you play with the unwashed masses, PS3 gamers, on average, are much more fun and civilized to play with, while the cliche of the cursing 12 year old 360 player is all too true.

3) The only difference between the Rock Band DLC on PS3 and 360 is that the 360 gets all the user-made Rock Band Network tracks and PS3 only gets those that are handpicked by the developers. As for the official, developer made DLC, there is no difference.

4) With Portal 2, Valve is introducing a Steam sync type deal between the PS3 and Steam, in which you can play Portal 2 multiplayer with PC gamers on your PS3 and vice versa, along with syncing your saves and so on. Furthermore, if you buy Portal 2 for PS3 and sync your Steam account with it, you get a free PC copy of Portal 2. Gabe Newell promises the same sort of functionality for all future Valve releases on the PS3. The way Microsoft handles the online market prevents him from doing anything like this on the 360.

5) And please don't forget the PS3 only Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD re-release, and The Last Guardian. That's reason enough to get a PS3, for me.

6) Oh, and the PS3 has Heavy Rain, which, while not perfect, should be played if you are at all interested in the potential future of the medium.

7) And to not leave the 360 out of it, the 360 has Alan Wake, which is pretty much the only 360 exclusive I'm interested in. (I'm not a Halo guy)

Oozo said...

I had to take the same decision last year. In the end, I chose the PS3, for the reasons already mentioned: The overlap between titles is fairly big between Xbox and PC (also my favourite platform).

Plus: In my opinion, my taste in Western games is pretty much covered by the PC, whereas PS3 is a good platform for Japanese games. The ones you already mentioned (Demon's Souls - notice though that they are constanly menacing to shut down the servers, which would alter the experience), and the Team Ico games you have forgotten.

Plus, on PS3, you have MUBI, which is delightful in itself.

wsn said...

For the reasons you outlined, I'd go with PS3.

FWIW, I own a 360, but no PC. Plus a few friends own 360's so we can share games. I don't have cable, and the espn stuff from xbox live covers a lot of my sports fix.