SkinzCinqSporting said:

Right, now buy me an XBOX 360

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custard said:

go find my alloy then

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Being a video game developer (I develop for both, Playstation 3 and XBOX 360) people ask me almost daily which platform I think is better. These are my personal feelings, in no way does this reflect my employer.

Performance: On paper, the PS3 is more powerful. In reality, it's quite inferior to the 360. Without getting into too many details, the three general-purpose CPU's the xbox360 has are currently FAR easier to take advantage of than the SPU's on the PS3. I suspect a few years down the road some high budget, first party PS3 exclusive titles will come out that really take advantage of the SPU's and do things the XBOX 360 can't, but I don't think the console is worth buying based on this speculation (for some it will be though, we'll have to wait and see how these games turn out).

Graphics: The XBOX 360 is a clear winner. The GPU is more powerful. It has more powerful fillrate, and far more pixel and vertex processing horsepower. Part of the reason is their choice of memory, and architecture of pixel and vertex procesing. I can't get into details but the same vertex shader will run much slower on the PS3 than the XBOX 360. The 360 also has a clever new way rendering high definition anti aliased back buffers. To accomplish the same effect on PS3 is prohibitively expensive. For this reason I think many games will have no choice but to run in non-HD resolutions on the PS3 version, use a lower quality anti aliasing technique, or do back buffer upscaling. The end result in all cases is going to be noticeably worse image quality.

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Developer John Carmack is keen to put gamers at ease, claiming that "the Xbox 360 is the first console that I've ever worked with that actually has development tools that are better for games than what we've got for the PC."

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custard said:

unconfirmed but the prototypes they had had the lower 20GB machine without wifi or memry reader slots???
surely a big error if so?

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mase said:

and at the end of the day, all i store on sd cards is mp3's and pics, so i cant see why you would need sd reader slots

(

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As more reports filter in from the few existing Playstation 3s available from the Japanese and US launches, people are finding more out about what it can and cannot do.

One recent test was performed on older HDTV sets that do not natively support the 720p resolution. It appears that on sets that do not have the 720p resolution built in, but only feature resolutions of 480i, 480p and 1080i the PS3 has problems. Games that were meant to be played at 720p appear to be downgraded to 480p instead of upgrading to 1080i, which would be far more desirable. Apparently this issue is the same, whether or not you use an HDMI cable or a standard analog HD cable (component cables).

In contrast, Sony's competitor, the Xbox 360 does upscale games meant for 720p to 1080i if the HDTV supports the latter but not the mid-resolution.

Sony had been contacted on the matter to find out whether this is a hardware fault or a software problem that could be fixed via a patch, however Sony has yet to comment on the subject.

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Sony has defended its decision to offer two versions of its forthcoming PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console.

Senior Sony executive Phil Harrison said the models were aimed at different types of consumers.

The games giant has been criticised for offering a lower end model without several significant features.

The console is due to go on sale in November, with prices starting at $499 in the US and 499 euros (£341) in Europe.

HD concerns

Sony announced the launch date and price for the PS3 at a big news presentation at its studios in Culver City in Los Angeles.

At the time it only talked about the difference in the size of the hard drives. The basic model has a 20GB drive, while the model costing $599/599 euros comes with a 60GB one.

Only later, after detailed press releases were distributed, did it become apparent that there were other key differences.

We have a great brand and fantastically loyal consumers
Phil Harrison, Sony

The lower end model lacks wi-fi, a slot for memory cards and, in particular, a port to hook up a HDMI lead for high-definition programmes.

The decision to offer a model without HDMI has raised concerns about the high-definition compatibility of the PS3.

Mr Harrison shrugged off these fears, insisting that the both models would offer full HD output.

"What we should be clear about is that the functionality is identical in both machines," he told the BBC News website. "There is no difference in what the machine does."

"It's just that the technical method of extracting audio and video from the devices is slightly different," said Mr Harrison, who heads up Sony Computer Entertainment worldwide studios.

He said the decision to offer two versions was designed to give consumers a choice.

"Some people might be interested in the PS3 primarily and exclusively as a games system, whereas other users might look at it as a multimedia hub in the home, which is games and music and movies and other digital content."

Xbox rivals

Speaking personally, Mr Harrison said he would buy the high end model.

It seems likely that PlayStation fans looking forward to the new system may do the same thing.

Some queued for an hour to see the new games

When rival Microsoft launched its Xbox 360 console last November, it offered a basic model and a higher-end model.

But gamers shied away from the cheaper version in favour of the more expensive one.

Microsoft has sold more than three million Xbox 360s worldwide since its debut.

It has set itself a target of 10 million by the time the PS3 appears in stores in an attempt to steal a lead over Sony.

But Mr Harrison said he was not worried by the figures from Microsoft.

"I doubt they will achieve that," he said

"I think the clear advantages of the PS3 will mean that this product is very well accepted in the marketplace.

"We have a great brand and fantastically loyal consumers."

Japanese gamers will be the first to get their hands on the PS3 on 11 November. The console will arrive in the US and Europe on 17 November.

Pressed on whether Sony would meet this deadline, Mr Harrison said the company would not have specified a date unless it could, adding that manufacturing of the console was starting.

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custard said:

as ive said before its uknown what support levels will be offered.sony are clamping down and have banned exporters from supplying to the UK.
so itsa unlikely they will offer any support for a non UK unit.
also you may find you cannot access the online service to play or access the store/downloads.
also going by the newer console releases there will be firmware and patch releases.
not being able to access these could leave you with a useless brick as the PS3 already has at least one firmware upgrade released

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sikersh said:

well i've decided not to go for a ps3...i'm gonna wait until late next year/early 2008 before getting one. i'm gonna get a 360 hd-dvd player from nyc, its region free and $199, which is around £101 + hd-dvd's work out at only £11-13 over there, so i'll get a fair few!!

si

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KoArAnG said:

Surely you will need a step down converter with that ?

Never known a US region console to run directly through our plug sockets.
Also do you know if you are going to need to buy USA games every time you want a new one ? If so it'll work out expensive as customs are clamping down on all imports.
I used to buy nothing but imported consoles, and I never used to mind paying the extra as they used to be superior in speed but now it's just not worth the extra hassle, particularly with the ps3 because it will be ages before any really good titles come out on it, so it's worth waiting for the UK release.

That's a seriously low price on that console bought isn't it ?

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