Okay, I will have owned my first Xbox 360 for a full year in January. So far, I’ve loved it. I have a gold membership to play online and the xbox live community is excellent and is always adding new features. Recently launched Zune, Facebook, and Twitter features are really cool. I’ve also linked up my last.fm station too. I LOVE the Netflix instant watch capability as well.
Games
The game selection is great, and even though there are titles on the PS3 I would love to own (Gran Turismo, Killzone, MLB: The Show, & Metal Gear); the Xbox has it’s own exclusive titles that are pretty awesome too (see Halo, Gears of War, Fable 2, etc). Really, the main games are cross platform, so it doesn’t matter that much (Call of Duty, Madden, Assassin’s Creed, etc, etc). These days, I think you’d have to be a die hard of a particular game to pick a platform based on that one game.
Online Community
As far as I can tell, the PS3 Network isn’t quite as robust as the Xbox Live online community…yet. However, I’m sure Sony will move quickly to make up the deficit. But, the Xbox Live membership costs you $40-50 per year; PS Network is FREE. A big bonus, effectively making this category a wash.
Equipment
Well, this could be argued, but would there be a point? The failures of the 360 are notorious…RROD ring a bell? Disc read errors? Yep, better buy a service agreement from whatever vendor you purchase your machine from. I’ve seen stats that indicated the failure rate of the 360 to be around 50%. I’m sure that is too high, but still scary to think about. The same reports indicate Wii and PS3 failures around 10% or less.
My personal experience? I covered my machine with a protection plan from Best Buy. I also tried to purchase a Jasper revision of the machine when I went to the store. Here are two articles detailing the Jasper hardware: Ars Technica & Tom’s Hardware. Good news for me, cause I’ve had to replace at least 2 controllers already for various different failures. I have only noticed a few minor issues with disc read errors, but mostly due to scratched discs.
Clearly, I think your best bet on hardware would be to purchase a PS3. The better hardware, and addition of blu ray should make this a no-brainer win for the PS3. One other note: the 360 controller design is a huge step up from the first generation. They are smaller, more compact, and fit well in your hands.; none of which you could really say about the first generation.
Price
Really, I would have purchased a PS3 had it not been the price of the machine. The only other factors were that I had the original Xbox and knew some friends who already have Xbox Live memberships. None of these were that critical as price was the biggest factor. Also, a year ago, I wasn’t sold on blu ray being the definitive format moving forward; so I didn’t want to pay a premium just for the player. Even now, the 360 is still cheaper, but the PS3 has really been dropping in price; check mark goes to the 360 on this one.
Summary
Overall, I’m happy with my Xbox and I’m going to play it until the thing dies. When/If that happens, who knows, a PS3 might be replacing it; or just added to the video game arsenal…