Sony PS3

[Nec5]

If it's still around in 3 years, and gets down to $249 or so, then everything considered, especially the first-party stuff, it would be worth a purchase.

Let me ask a few questions about the cash hit from each system.

1. How much is the monthly subscription to XBOX 360? Do you have to pay to receive patches, updates, and play online? Price tag?

2. Does the PS3 provide most of that for free(aside from the initial $700 boot to the face)?

3. Does the Wii provide most of the XBOX 360 stuff for free or is it also a subscription deal?

4. Can you not answer these questions in general because it varies from game to game?

I'm not a fan of paying per month for games. I want to own the car, not rent it. I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the actual dollar amounts that online requires(and since ?every? system virtually requires it, I guess it must be factored into cost). Thanks for clearing up any misinformation on my part.

I'm trying to see if the "free" aspect of online PS3 games makes up at all for absurdly huge initial price versus the XBOX 360 or possibly Wii.

[SilverStar]

Let me ask a few questions about the cash hit from each system.

1. How much is the monthly subscription to XBOX 360? Do you have to pay to receive patches, updates, and play online? Price tag?

2. Does the PS3 provide most of that for free(aside from the initial $700 boot to the face)?

3. Does the Wii provide most of the XBOX 360 stuff for free or is it also a subscription deal?

4. Can you not answer these questions in general because it varies from game to game?

I'm not a fan of paying per month for games. I want to own the car, not rent it. I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the actual dollar amounts that online requires(and since ?every? system virtually requires it, I guess it must be factored into cost). Thanks for clearing up any misinformation on my part.

I'm trying to see if the "free" aspect of online PS3 games makes up at all for absurdly huge initial price versus the XBOX 360 or possibly Wii.

Monthly subscription for Live! Gold is 15 dollars, I believe. This enables you to play the games online.

PS3, so far, offers the features for free. But it seems to be more a game-to-game offering, where some may charge you for the access if they wish.

Wii's online offering is like a free version of Xbox Live. The online play will be free(so far, as with PS3), plus it offers other free online things, of varying worth(not much, really).

For both PS3 and X360(since they have examples already), game patches are free(even with standard Live! Silver membership, that costs nothing). There's limited free content to enhance games across both, and some premium expansion content on X360 for some games, which costs money to obtain. As I said, PS3 is currently free to play online, as is Wii.

X360 and PS3 both include more community-based features than Wii does, which is a heavy kick to the stomach for Nintendo.

Generally, what it winds up boiling down to is, do you want a system to play games in a new way, or stick to the tried and true that has done well for over 20 years? And if you want the old way, do you want to pay for superior online gaming, or stick to what's free and have it be up to each developer how to implement it all?

With X360, even if you don't want to pay for the Gold subscription, you'll be able to still get game updates and patches, but you won't play online. With PS3, you'll play online, but the quality is questionable at this stage in the game. In time, there's a chance PS3's method will improve dramatically, since it's more open to the developers to change, but this could also lead to some odd quirks showing up when you try to add it to older titles.

[DJ Skratch 'n' Sniff]

Let me ask a few questions about the cash hit from each system.

1. How much is the monthly subscription to XBOX 360? Do you have to pay to receive patches, updates, and play online? Price tag?

2. Does the PS3 provide most of that for free(aside from the initial $700 boot to the face)?

3. Does the Wii provide most of the XBOX 360 stuff for free or is it also a subscription deal?

4. Can you not answer these questions in general because it varies from game to game?

I'm not a fan of paying per month for games. I want to own the car, not rent it. I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the actual dollar amounts that online requires(and since ?every? system virtually requires it, I guess it must be factored into cost). Thanks for clearing up any misinformation on my part.

I'm trying to see if the "free" aspect of online PS3 games makes up at all for absurdly huge initial price versus the XBOX 360 or possibly Wii.

Not that it matters too much, but the 60 gig PS3 is actually $500.

[SilverStar]

Not that it matters too much' date=' but the 60 gig PS3 is actually $500.[/quote']

That would also depend on what country you live in. It's still close to $700CAD.

[The Coop]

Let me ask a few questions about the cash hit from each system.

1. How much is the monthly subscription to XBOX 360? Do you have to pay to receive patches, updates, and play online? Price tag?

2. Does the PS3 provide most of that for free(aside from the initial $700 boot to the face)?

3. Does the Wii provide most of the XBOX 360 stuff for free or is it also a subscription deal?

4. Can you not answer these questions in general because it varies from game to game?

I'm not a fan of paying per month for games. I want to own the car, not rent it. I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the actual dollar amounts that online requires(and since ?every? system virtually requires it, I guess it must be factored into cost). Thanks for clearing up any misinformation on my part.

I'm trying to see if the "free" aspect of online PS3 games makes up at all for absurdly huge initial price versus the XBOX 360 or possibly Wii.

Well, I can answer part of that...

1- The Gold membership for Live is $50 a year. This lets you do everything. However, every 360 comes with a permanent, free Live Silver package. You can't play online games (unless there's a weekend special or something), but you can still browse, get patches, chat online, buy classic games, etc. Check this out for more info.

2- Unless things have changed in the last few months, the PS3 hasn't gotten it's online stuff really going just yet. It's way too early to say "they do it for free", because they could just as easily decide the maintenance costs are too high, and start charging. If they do keep it free, great... that'll be a point in their favor. But until they're actually doing it, and offering XBox Live-level service, all for free, I wouldn't start looking at this as an argument against MS just yet. Time has yet to tell if what Sony says is indeed what happens.

3- The Wii doesn't have much of an online service yet. As such, they don't offer anything like what MS does, or what Sony plans to in terms of online gaming and services. They have the VC and friend codes and such, but it's not in the same league as what MS and Sony have/will have... for the moment.

4- Not sure what you're asking here.

[SilverStar]

^^ What Coop said. I wasn't sure about the price of the Live membership.

Nintendo.. has the most to catch up with. Even nintendo fanboys admit, Nintendo has been half-assing it at best, when it comes to online. If it were at least as good as DS is, for Mario Kart for example, then it'd be a great, casual online experience. Just get in there and play.

If, however, it turns out to be more splash and no substance, like Pokemon Battle Revolution, then it'll be dead in the water. (load times between text menus? what?)

But, the reviews of Mario Strikers Charged seems to indicate that it'll be decent, for actual play. Just won't be as fleshed out as Live or PSN.

[Bigfoot]

Yeah, Nintendo really needs to kick it up a whole bunch of notches.

[kupernikus]

Personally, I still dont see a reason to own a PS3 I had one for a time, had Resistance and F1, other then that there wasn't anything too special, and while I understand its only a year old, its got ports, and a few crappy games out. My wii is in the same boat, I got Zelda, my wife has Spongebob, and we play wiisports together. In my opinion sony is just trying to hard to cater to everyone without any follow through. its a lackluster media machine, a lackluster internet browser, its online offerings are too new to judge, and so what Im really left with is a really pricey PS2

Edit: I will be rebuying a PS3 for FFXIII and MGS4. and one other I cant think of, either way thats still 6 months to a year for me. and I will be buying a used one.

[SilverStar]

Wonder if next gen will see a game with the openness of the PS3(custom selected HDD, Linux), the online gameplay of X360(Live!), and the generally fun, wacky, and all-ages aim of the Wii. And if so, who's gonna be the one to pull it off?

[Bahamut]

Don't you mean a console?

Breaking into Nintendo's stranglehold on the family-friendly market is a tough draw for Sony and Microsoft. I rather not dwell on the next gen while we still have most of this gen to cherish.

[SilverStar]

Don't you mean a console?

Breaking into Nintendo's stranglehold on the family-friendly market is a tough draw for Sony and Microsoft. I rather not dwell on the next gen while we still have most of this gen to cherish.

Er, yeah. Game console.

And if you really think about it.. this generation is already going about as well as one can expect, so far. It's been 8 months, the trends have continued pretty stable(X360 has seen slow but steady sales, outselling EVERYONE in games, PS3's sales have honestly sucked, both hardware and software, and Wii is selling out for hardware, but is struggling to do even 2:1 over Sony for software).

I'm kinda surprised at how slow every has been, getting their first AAA-class exclusive titles out, for both PS3 and Wii, though. Even if you say no one expected it from Nintendo, they still had since TGS to get stuff hacked together. Without having to put even half as much manpower into graphics, they could easily have started having some solid, fun games out, within 6 months of starting development.

And with PS3.. a lot of those titles were already IN development, for well over a year before launch, and since then they've just gone multiplatform, or dropped their entire existing PS3 code.

Honestly.. it doesn't look good, from a gamer's perspective, unless you have a 360. Even within the first year, they were pumping out top shelf games that still sell nicely.

However, this holiday season could turn out to be VERY odd, because Sony will be releasing some of the more anticipated casual things(Home, LBP, etc...), while Nintendo and MS are more fighting for the hardcore crowd(Halo, MP3, Smash Bros, Mario, etc...).

Talk about a hell of a shake-up. And if nothing else, Home should start drawing the innumerable masses of digitally unwashed out of Second Life, and into their 3rd one.

Poor Sony.. stuck with all those furries.

[Nec5]

Hey, thanks for all the responses to my questions. Very helpful and no BS. I appreciate it.

[K999]

The MAN is keeping PS3 down.

[SilverStar]

The MAN is keeping PS3 down.

Don't you mean the Suits? And they're not keeping it down.. they're keeping it WAY up there, where no one can reach it.

[dsx100]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the 20GB PS3 discontinued on March or April of this year.

http://www.ebgames.com/productmerch.asp?groupid=635

At first I thought they might be selling them used but I can't indication of that anywhere on the site.

[Brithor]

It's kinda funny how the 60GB version cost's the same as the 20GB one...

[Groovemaster303]

Just wondered if anyone else has tried the GRAW2 demo on PS3 and what your thoughts are.

I've just had a quick run through the demo myself and compared to the 360 version it looks dull and lacks colour while the 360 looks vibrant and lively i can't believe the difference between the two. it's very noticable if you run both versions side by side, also the framerate is a bit iffy, other than that it's more or less the same.

[Strike911]

Just wondered if anyone else has tried the GRAW2 demo on PS3 and what your thoughts are.

I've just had a quick run through the demo myself and compared to the 360 version it looks dull and lacks colour while the 360 looks vibrant and lively i can't believe the difference between the two. it's very noticable if you run both versions side by side, also the framerate is a bit iffy, other than that it's more or less the same.

Where'd you get the GRAW2 demo? I don't think I recalled seeing it on the Playstation Store... is it available for download somewhere else?

I'm pretty satisfied with my PS3. It's got WAY more play-time so far than my cherished Wii. And I'm excited after Sony's E3 showing. But its true that the Xbox360 is the only system not going through a drought right now...

[Groovemaster303]

GRAW2 demo is online in the Euro store as of today.

not sure about the US or Jap stores though.

[NeoForte]

US will get it today, its just not up yet. Japan got Bladestorm demo....dunno what that is though...

[K999]

Japan got Bladestorm demo....dunno what that is though...

Another boring dynnasty warriors hybrid. You can try out for yourself. It's not that hard to create a Japanese account for downloading ps3 demos from japan.

[NeoForte]

Yea I made one to get FolkSoul (Folklore over here). I finished downloading it last night gonna try it out in a bit. The demo I really wanted to play isn't there anymore though (Hot Shots Golf 5)

[PriZm]

Heavenly sword demo was meh.

[Groovemaster303]

The Heavenly Sword demo was just too damn short.

I didn't like it too much but saying that I am playing through Ninja Gaiden Sigma right now and to be honest i don't think anything bar Devil May Cry and God Of War can hold a candle to the sheer greatness of NG (all versions)

[Nulion]

The weird thing about the Heavenly Sword demo was that I didn't like it at first either. But if you play it over again, you'll like it more. Play it again, you'll like it even more, and so on and so forth.

I think it's because the combat system at first seems very limited, until you get to understanding all the crazy things you can do with it, and because of that, the game just gets more fun.

Really weird, but hey, it worked for me.