by Peter Hart

Created on: September 01, 2009

Of the "next-gen" consoles, Xbox 360 is a much better choice from my personal standpoint. Of all 3 of the main systems, it has the most American-style games to choose from. The first-person shooters are great, but with online play, it makes it that much more addictive. And in all actuality, the online is what makes this system the hands down winner.

After owning a Playstation 3, and now a 360, I don't miss it much. PS3 has a lot of fancy bells and whistles including a web browser, easy hard drive upgrade that uses computer SATA drives (a friend of mine upgraded his to 1 terabyte, that equals 1000 gigabytes), and free online. From a technical capability standpoint, PS3 is better, but in this writer's opinion - it lacks the "fun factor". Preferring mainly "American-style" games, there are many Japanese titles. This is also the problem with the Wii. In American we have a different opinion of what a fun game is.

Not wanting to sound too harsh on the PS3, I will say it's not a horrible system. All of those "bells and whistles" make it a very neat system, just not enough to make it a better system than the 360. My family and friends all enjoyed countless hours playing Rock Band and Resistance, but for the price,the system isn't quite worth all the money. Which brings me to the next point.

Price. This more so than ever, is a very important role in deciding in which system to choose. The economy is poor, morale in the country is low, we all need something to take our minds off of everyday stress. The low end PS3 is around $280 being the cheapest I have seen. The store did not confirm if it was a used or new system. In the Midwestern region of the U.S. the low end 360 systems go, brand new, for $200. The only way Sony will keep up, is by furthering prices cuts on their monster 160gb system. Is free online worth it?

No. The online community for Playstation network is sub-par. This comes not only from this writer's experiences, but from the overall community. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to certain things in life. Yes, it is free, BUT finding groups for things is near impossible being there is hardly anyone ever on. For the casual gamer, most of the people that are on tend to be ridiculously well played, which also kills the fun factor. Being the 360 is the favored system right now in America, there are always people on, most of which are casual gamers. Yes, you will sometimes run into those exceptionally skilled players, but you can find your skill level players much easier. The online for 360 is not free, BUT it is very cheap, and the community is much better. It makes the system the better buy.

To sum it up: online gaming is the future of gaming with it's ever changing diversity and depth. The 360 makes up for what very little it lacks in tech specs and bells and whistles with it's amazing online community and game play.

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