Having finally been able to justify purchasing a Playstation 3 I thought I’d give a quick comparison of it against my trusty Xbox 360. This seems to be a commonly requested comparison as both consoles compete for a very similar market.

It took me 2 years of consideration before purchasing a 2nd console. The decision was based purely on my passion for games rather than a need for a bluray drive (which is what I originally thought would justify it). The 360 developed my passion for games through a number of titles, allowing me to relive my youth and giving me another hobby (money sink). As I work in interactive design I also enjoy exploring the range of different UI elements within the console’s operating system as well as within games.

I’ve owned the 360 for just over 2 years, and bought about 30 games as well as played many demos. I’ve had the PS3 for about a month, bought 6 games and played about 10 demos. So obviously my experience with the 360 well outweighs my PS3 experience, which may slightly effect this comparison.

Here are some things I immediately noted about the PS3 compared with 360 ownership.

Firstly the positives:

1. It has sophisticated hardware — the console and controller have a nicer finish. It also comes with built in wifi and standard a/v connections like a proper digital audio out and HDMI port (no adaptors required). The only thing I’ve missed was a HDMI cable in the box (grr!) and a headset, although I don’t have many friends on PSN (yet). With the 360 I’ve had quite a few on going costs. I spent £50 for an ugly wifi adaptor that clips on to the back of the console, £20 for an adaptor that splits the HDMI port off to digital audio output, £20 on two recharable battery packs for the controller, and £5 a month for Xbox live. I also bought a 60GB HD for £45 to upgrade the 20GB it came with 2 years ago (this is perhaps more a sign of the times than a disadvantage as new 360s come with larger HDs). In the end it just mean the 360 and PS3 are actually priced about the same, just the 360 is cheaper upfront — I’m not sure which I prefer, but probably the PS3 system with everything included and integrated as I do use all the features.

PS3 hardware (left) and XBox 360 (right)

2. The built in BBC iPlayer, web browser and Bluray drive seem like really nice features. They make the PS3 a better media device simply by offering more options for accessing media than the 360. Realistically I don’t buy Bluray discs (I’ve owned a seperate bluray player for over a year) and I don’t watch much TV (plus I always have my computer for that which plugs in to my LCD TV via HDMI anyway). The web browser isn’t too stable but has served to stream web shows to my TV and saved me plugging in my computer.

BBC iPlayer on PS3

3. The PS3 leads in innovation (for now). I bought the Play TV device with the system. It allows you to record/schedule and rewind tv and even stream media to your PSP via the Internet. The 6 axis controller also provides another level of interaction — through motion, though I’m not always happy to enguage in physical interaction with a game, and think the Wii has that segment of the market covered. The PS3 lets you connect a keyboard and mouse, even via bluetooth. There’s also the addition of Playstation Home as an innovative way of navigating the system and interacting with other people on PSN, though this is still in beta and has been for a long time. Plus folding@home, a system of distributed computing. Also Life, a dynamic web content portal for viewing news and weather around the globe.

Playstation Home

Microsoft’s Project Natal might blow Sony’s innovative advantage out of the water when it arrives later this year. Microsoft are also introducing game room later this month, a mini version of Playstation Home, introducing some of the innovative social interaction elements from Home. Though Sony are introducing a more sophisticated motion device code named Arc towards the end of the year too.

4. Near silent operation. The 360 is really loud when running games/movies from the DVD player but if you install them it’s not too bad but the PS3 is much quieter.

And now some of the not so good things about the PS3 compared to the 360:

1. The UI is a mess, with no scope for developing hierarchy within menus and overlays - it’s all based on black backgrounds and white text with minimal graphic elements. Button style vary and rollover states are sometimes too subtle to notice what’s active. User journeys are generally overly complicated with cancel and back buttons appearing in different places on a form, and sometimes twice on the same screen. The Xbox dashboard is much more friendly and easy to use plus has better online features and communication with XBox Live (though it’s not perfect).

PS3 XMB (above) vs Xbox 360 dashboard (below)

2. There are more great games on the 360 and most cross platform games look and run better. See Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry if you don’t believe me.

Bayonetta, one cross platform game that performs much better on 360

Mass Effect 2, one of the best games I've played, unavailable on PS3

That said, the PS3 has launched several really impressive exclusive games recently. These were the top 3 titles that swayed my purchase decision (some not even out yet which shows how carried away I can get with PR): Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain and God of War 3. Combined with these other games I wanted to try: Little Big Planet, Infamous, Noby Noby Boy, Flower, Ratchet and Clank, Yakuza, Fat Princess.

God of War 3, PS3 exclusive with promising gameplay and amazing graphics

It’s fairly obvious to me that the 360 will remain as my primary games machine. If you play a lot of polished games I recommend the 360, it’s also got a larger indie-developed games catalogue. Both consoles act as media devices, they can both stream from your computer (in my case I need 3rd party applications to stream from my Mac), they both play physical media DVDs (though only the PS3 can play bluray discs), both can use webcams, and both allow you to rent films online and stream/download them. I would recommend the PS3 to people who like games but maybe don’t play that many and are just as interested in movies and TV (specifically bluray movies). The PS3 is also more interesting for it’s innovation interactive features but they may change by the end of the year. If you’re really in to games (like me) it seems it’s becoming more likely that you need both! Perhaps this will be the last generation of consoles where we need specific hardware to access games content .. ?