by Christopher Petterson

Created on: February 25, 2009   Last Updated: February 14, 2010

It's a question I'm asked all day at my job, working for a chain videogame retailer Who Shall Remain Nameless, "Should I buy the Xbox or the PlayStation 3?"

Apparently, it's an extremely prevalent issue, and in my opinion, being unsure of which toy to spend hundreds of dollars on is a great problem to have. But I digress. Here is the answer I tend to give such a question:

"Well, it depends on whether or not you'd like to keep paying for your system."

People look at the pricing options for each system ($199 or $299 for the 360, $299 or $349 for the PS3) and think that the 360 must be the better deal. The thing is, the 360 never costs just what the sticker price says.

So you look and say that you'd like the $199 XBox 360. Well, do you want to play online? Oh, okay. Well, then you're going to have to buy the $299 model instead, because that's the only model that comes with the necessary hard drive (120 GB). Do you want to hook up your system to the internet with a wireless connection? Because then you'll also have to buy the $100 wireless network adapter. So already we're up to $400, more than either model of the PS3. Oh! Before I forget, since you'd like to play online, you're going to have to pay $50 A YEAR TO DO SO.

Now, The 120 GB PS3 model is wireless out of the box, and its online features are free to access. With the other model, the extra $50 gets you more than double that hard drive space (250 GB). And we haven't even gotten to the fact that it's also a Blu-Ray player.

I don't know, financially, it seems obvious to me. But I feel like I'm still forgetting one big factor...

OH! right.

These Xbox 360s? They BREAK. I can't begin to tell how how many people a week come into my store, or call us up, or email, asking what to do because their 360 has the "Red Ring of Death" on it. This is a problem that, by the consensus of my customers, is more prevalent than H1N1, and it is a problem that can only be fixed by shipping your console back to Microsoft, and I hope to God it's still under warranty.

Since I've worked there, do you know how many people have complained of faulty PS3s? Two. TWO. That's less than three people.

Listen, this is America. We've all got the freedom to choose. If you have the money to throw away, and also like to ship your system away for months at a time when it breaks (and it WILL break), then by all means, pick up an XBox 360 for yourself.

If, however, you're into HD gaming and movies, and enjoy spending money on something once, I think you and your PlayStation 3 are going to be fast friends.

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