XBox or Playstation?

Its a personal choice,i prefer the XBOX,Gameplay is supposed to be better although there isnt much in it.Get as much memory as poss,Might be worth trying to find out what his friends have so that they can all link up ????

If you do decide to get the XBOX then get the Kinect with it as it does all that the Wii can do but better !!!

Don't get him one - unless you want him to become addicted to it.

I prefer the Ps3 over the xbox find the graphic marginally better not much in it. the PS3 has much more potential but developers don't use its full spec 360 is at max'd out but easy as it uses PC lanuage. ( there is always the fan boy answer but many clips that compare PS3 vs PC vs 360)
The PS3 set up so quick i take mine out and little takes seconds to set up to the net.
plus for me is blue ray player and free inline gaming
prefer the controller on the PS3.
As said find out what mates have got

mask of sanity wrote:

Paying for xbox live isn't really a downside seeing as it works better and is yet to be hacked...

Has been hacked but not taken down by it's owner and not to the scale.
PS3 was down to prove a point as it was said to be unhackable where as the Xbox is relative easy if you are that why inclined. just look for in game hack so much for the xbox

PS3 uses lead free solder. If you leave the PS3 continually switched on or it sits in a hot room the, the internals can get very hot. Lead free solder melts at a much lower temperature than tin/lead solder and so you can end up with shorts on the motherboard.
Just had to fix my friends one, and this is exactly what had happened. Needed a new UART chip as the short circuit had blown it and a bit of re-soldering with old style tin/lead solder. So don't leave the PS3 switched on......

pottssteve wrote:

Thanks, Scrumple. That makes things a bit clearer for me. Good to hear that it plays DVD also. We do have an HD television - great for the cycling coverage.

As he's only 10 he won't be getting Call of Duty! I'm looking at driving and flight simulators particularly. Have you used a steering wheel for driving? If so, are they worth the extra money? Anything to go for or avoid? Excuse my ignorance, I think the last video game I played was pac man (when it first came out!).

Cheers,
Steve

We bought a steering wheel for ours, I think if the kids (10yr and 12 yr old) have used it 5 times that would pushing it.

Didn't see what was wrong with the Sega Megadrive to be honest.

Every friend I have who has bought either console for their children -for various reasons wishes they hadn't really. Funnily enough thats not so much the case for those that have a wii for "the family".

other than that I cant help

I have a PS3 and Wii in our house, the kids love the Wii, especially the mario games which aren't available on ps3 or Xbox.

I have an old 40gb ps3 but just fitted a 500gb drive which took 10 mins. Was amazed at how easy it was and Sony allow you to do it and not ruin the warranty (not that there's any left!)

The Blu ray player on the PS3 is excellent, better than my Panasonic one. It's also 3D which the kids love!

3D gaming is quite interesting, especially Call of Duty!

Basically, the people with X-boxs will tell you that's the one to get and the people with PS3s will tell you that's the one to get.

I've got a PS3, get that one

Anyway........ I've had an original PS3 60gb since not long after it was released at the end of 2006. As I kept it in an enclosed timber TV cabinet, I bought an additional cooling fan for it, but otherwise left it as it was. Due to the cabinet it was in, it could get pretty hot (read f*cking hot !!) but never skipped a beat. If finally died about 3 months ago as it stopped recognising PS3 disks. It still played dvds and blu-rays ok and would connect to i-player etc fine. I sold it on ebay for £60 and bought another one. I think that's a pretty good lifetime.

The blu-ray player is one of the best on the market as the blu-ray format was developed by Sony. It will upscale your dvds to give an HD quality.

The internet browser is ok, but I guess that's not why you buy one of these. Wireless connectivity is good, blue tooth connectivity is good. it's optimised for BBC i-player, 4-OD etc, so there's a button to click on the menu and you're straight in.

The controllers are intuitive, I've never got on with the X-box controllers, but maybe that's just me ?

Connection / use of the playstation network is free, where as you have to pay a subscription for the x-box network. Some say that as a result, the X-box network is better and doesn't have any connection issues. Personally, I've only ever had connection issues where it has been an issue with a specific game.

I've never needed anything more than the hard drive that the unit was supplied with. As mentioned, my old PS3 had a 60gb hard drive, my new one has a 160gb hard drive. Unless you're planning on downloading and keeping films on your PS3, it's unlikely that you'll need anything more than standard. But as NapD said, it's an easy upgrade.

Games wise, most games are available on both PS3 and X-box. There are some which aren't, like Gran Turismo (PS3) or Halo (X-box).

Personally, I'd find out what his mates have got and go with that. They're both games consoles and will both play games just as well, but he'll be a bit p*ssed if all of his mates have PS3s and you get him an X-box, or vice-versa.

Cheers.......... M

(PS3 is still better though )

pottssteve wrote:

I didn't realise they were as complicated as they sound - internet access, playing Blu-ray etc. I just thought you shoved a disc in it an drove around Tokyo at night...

That's just the thing Steve, the PS3 isn't at all complicated. If you want to just shove a disk in and drive, you can. If you want to use it's other functionality, it's very intuitive.

Have you thought about getting him a bike instead? ;-)

also the xbox is having a large update soon which will install iplayer and love film and allow the kinect to have voice control - i have both and have had a wii - personally for gaming the paid service on the xbox is better but the ps is not bad and there are very few exclusives on each format - for me the ps is a must have if you have a hd tv