xbox 360/PS3 buying advice

[DegoRed]

yes...I've never actually bought a 360 before, and it looks like now might be a good time to do so, but I have a few questions for the experts out there....

 

I'm looking at the Premium console with 60gb HDD. Is buying it from ebay acceptable? The new ones are about the same price anywhere you look, online or retail, so I'm mainly looking at either going used or refurbed. The downside I guess is I lose out on the 3 year Microsoft warranty by doing that, but I've found some of the latest Premium consoles on there for about $175 with free shipping. Is there any other reason to pay $125 more for a new one?

 

I've also heard that the way to go is the Falcon chips or later to ensure I don't get the red ring of death. Is this true? Are the older units really that bad, cause I can get older units for real cheap too.

 

I'm also thinking of maybe going with a PS3 because I currently have a Sony Blu-ray player I could sell on ebay for about $200 and pay another $200 and get the PS3, so is that a better way to go? I've just heard the PS3 aren't that reliable and they have trouble playing a lot of Blu-ray movies. Same question applies about buying from ebay.

 

Let me know what you guys think

[DeliriumTrigger]

Are the older units really that bad, cause I can get older units for real cheap too.

 

Depends on the unit itself. Of everyone I know personally with a 360 (myself and 3 others), every one of us have been hit with the RRoD. Myself twice, another person twice, one person once, and one person 4 times (!) before he finally sold his and bought a PS3. And we all had various units throughout this (All were purchased fairly far apart from each other, and 2 units were shipped to/from microsoft for refurb, 2 were taken in via Best Buy's extended warranty which yielded a newer units)

 

I've just heard the PS3 aren't that reliable and they have trouble playing a lot of Blu-ray movies.

 

I've never had a problem with my PS3. Never had a game fail on me, nor bluray movies. It's (surprisingly) a damn good machine. There are parts that make me say its leaps and bounds above the 360 (user-replaceable hard drive that doesn't cost an arm and a leg more than it should, any bluetooth headset being accepted, any keyboard usable, any webcam usable, HDMI from day 1, better support for switching audio between HDMI and optical (I have both, optical for stereo, hdmi for tv when others are sleeping), etc).

 

The one (very major) thing the PS3 lacks is exclusive titles. There are very few games with multiplayer I've been willing to buy on PS3 simply because everyone else I know with the game will have it on 360. So take a look at the titles xbox has, vs the titles that are cross platform, and which console friends have. (I'll also say on the subject of multiplayer - yes, you have to pay yearly to use xbox live. But it's worth it. The online service on Wii and PS3 don't hold a candle to that of XBL.)

[jmicha]

I have both, and the only reason I ended up buying my PS3 was because I was tired of all the problems my Xbox 360 was having. I got the red ring of death once, my friend has had it happen three times, and I know of at least ten people that have had it happen once. Only one of the people I know that has an Xbox 360 has never had a red ring of death experience, and I know this is a rarity. My 360 also is no longer able to play the games that were backwards-compatible with the exception of Halo and Halo 2. I've also seen several people have problems with the Play and Charge Kit for the wireless controllers. The chargers and/or battery pack just stop working altogether.

 

If I could go back, I never would have bought the 360. It does have some titles that I really like (PGR, Test Drive Unlimited, Halo (1 and multiplayer of 2. Don't get me started on how bad all of Halo 3 was), and Gears of War 1 (2 is a disappointment though), and several others. But this doesn't stop me from disliking the system. Microsoft products are just generally poorly made, unfortunately. My PS3, although i has fewer exclusive titles (currently) that I like, has never had a problem. It acts so much more like a computer which is nice. I can store all of my ripped movies and music on it with ease, and it really is just more of a home entertainment system than just a video game console. The price is higher, but honestly when you look at the breakdown of all the extras that you will need to buy when you get a 360, you'll realize you really aren't saving all that much money.

 

If I were you, I would look at all of the exclusive titles to see which system is geared more towards what you are looking for. If both systems are equal in the amount of exclusives you want, or are close, I'd go with the PS3. There is a pretty good chance that if you buy a used 360, it will get the red ring of death, and without the warranty, you'll be throwing your money down the drain. So I'd say that unless the 360 has titles you MUST have, go with a PS3.

[Speeddeamon128]

I have all 3 new systems Wii, 360, & PS3. I really only play Wii & 360. My 360 I've had for about 2 years & it hasn't had any problems. Wii is my favorite that is why I included it I never played my PS3 because it is my brothers & he only has skateboarding games for it. On 360 I really only play guitar hero. I wish I could answer your price questions but they were all Christmas gifts.

[MG]

I've never had a problem with my PS3 and I love it dearly. Only problem is lack of backwards compatability for PS2. Game selection isn't great but who cares when the PS3 has LITTLE BIG PLANET!!

[Hotlanta]

I love my PS3 and so far had no issues with regards to compatibility for either Blu-Ray titles or PS3 games.

 

 

Plus mine is backwards compatible so i am still getting some use of my old Need for Speed and Gran Turisimo games.

[darklingscribe]

I have all three systems and I really only use my PS3 for movies and any games that are exclusive to the system. (Ratchet and Clank, Little Big Planet)

 

My XBox 360 is my main choice when it comes to playing games online such as Left 4 Dead.

 

My Wii I find useful for short video game fixes such as Wii Fit and an incredible backlog of classic console titles I want to relive. I just recently played through Super Mario RPG, and am now exploring Super Metroid after becoming addicted to it's 2d sequels Nintendo makes for their portable systems.

 

To tell the truth I wouldn't have bought a PS3 if it wasn't for Blu-Ray movies and it's complete backward compatibility, (a feature the more recent consoles now no longer have.) I was lucky enough to find a completely backward compatible system at costco just when Sony was phasing them out.

[paintballer]

360 = More exclusive games, and better online. Although it costs.

Ps3, well, I would say if you dont have a great TV, it's not really worth it graphics wise.

[Carnage]

I would stay far away from any refurb 360. I'm currently on my third 360, and am really just waiting for it to die at which point I'll get one of the newer models with HDMI. Though if you do buy new, look for Jasper, that's the latest version to come out.

 

The chance of a refurb eventually dieing is very high. So many people like myself are on #3+ because whenever you send a console in, they just send you back a refurb which has been patched up. The odds of it crapping out again are fairly likely.

 

Buying used is alright, but if it specifically says refurb I wouldn't touch it. (especially if the warranty is up)

[paintballer]

Just to put a note in, I have never had any issues on my 360. I bought it back in 2007 and it's still going strong. I do have a cooling fan on the back though.

[DegoRed]

Good point Paul, that brings me to another question...I saw a Premium 360 on ebay with the Falcon chip, and it says it's used not refurbished and that it still has the 3 year warranty on it. How is that possible, unless they have a copy of the original receipt? But this was a ebay store not a private seller. How does Microsoft know when the unit was originally purchased? I'm thinking at this point of going for a used 360 provided I can still get some sort of warranty coverage on it.

[Carnage]

The warranty is based off of the manufacture date. (which is printed on the back of the console). There's no receipt required for the warranty.

 

Both times I've had my 360 replaced, all I've had to give them is the serial number. There's no proof of purchase required.

 

Buying a used Falcon is not a bad route to go. They are still somewhat prone to 3RRoD, but not nearly as bad as the original batch of consoles. From what I understand, the failure rate of the Falcon's are down about 10%, where as the original's were >30%.

[KrakenKing]

I've never owned a 360 but I know a few people that have. My brother has gotten RRoD twice, and our friend three times.

 

I bought my PS3 a month after release (60gb 1st Gen) and at first I hardly used it due to lack of games and lack of a good Television.

 

After buying a 37" 1080p TV for Christmas...

 

I now have about 12 games. The exclusives I own are Warhawk, Resistance 2, and LittleBigPlanet. But with all the other games, there is absolutely no problem finding players online (Battlefield: Bad Company, Call Of Duty 4, Rock Band 2).

 

360 has exclusives such as Halo and Left4Dead, but PS3 also has Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2 and others as exclusives.

 

360 you have to pay to play online... I think $10 a month, or something like that (Correct me if I'm wrong). But with the PS3 it's free to play games online. There is also Trophy support now.

 

The new game, DC Universe Online, will supposedly be a Free To Play MMORPG with integration to play with players that are playing on PC (For a monthly fee) with is really cool.

 

Blu-Ray, I own about 17 movies. Planet Earth, Rush (Live), The Dark Knight, A Clockwork Orange, Weeds (Season 1 and 2) etc, and have never had a problem playing any of the blu-ray discs, quality is always top knotch.

 

They are going to start selling a Blu-Ray player add-on for the 360 (Fail HD-DVD) soon, but I hear it's going to cost between $150 and $200. If they end up doing the price drop on the PS3 in the coming months it will be (They're saying) $199, making it the SAME price as the 360. The PS3 already has a Blu-Ray player in it.

 

The PS3 also has tons of extra features such as being able to plug in a portable HDD or a Memory Stick and being able to watch movies that were put on it. I've made backups of my Blu-Ray movies into .vob files on my PC and then can watch the Back Up of the movie straight through the Portable HDD. I've done this with The Nightmare Before Christmas, Horton Hears a Who, and others.

 

I'd say go PS3.

[DegoRed]

I ended up going with a 360. It was only $220 for one of the latest versions that had the holiday bundle pack with Lego Indy and Kung-Fu Panda for the Premium 60 gig. It is used but it's guaranteed and most important is not a refurb so it pretty much has the full 3 year MS warranty on it. I'm just gonna keep using my Blu-ray player I currently have and add the 360. While PS3 online play is free, I've been hearing it just can't compete with xbox live, which is well worth the money.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help though