Online Support
Oh boy. I was in the middle of writing this article when this happened. I am referring to the great PSN hack of 2011. It kind of makes it tough to compare online services when one goes down indefinitely, doesn’t it? The network is just starting to come back online as I write this (it is still not working in my region however), but the promised ‘loyalty rewards’ have not yet been fully revealed.
I’ll try not to get into who is to blame for the hack, how mad we should be, whether we should sue Sony, etc. However, I have seen some people excuse it because PSN “was free anyway”. True, it didn’t have a subscription model like XBOX Live, but it was a service included with the PS3. In other words, when you pay for your PS3, you are buying the right to use PSN. And because the network is down, you aren’t getting what you paid for. In the grand scheme of things though, missing out on four weeks of connectivity over the lifetime of the console is probably nothing worth complaining about. How they handled it is another issue, but that is not relevant to this article.
XBOX Live continues to require a subscription to use its online matching services, and PSN does not. I would comment on how XBOX Live is gives a better multiplayer experience, but this isn’t about deciding which system is preferable to me. The fact is, games that are played predominantly in multiplayer mode are far more popular on XBOX Live, subscription fee and all.
So if you like to play against other players online, you will find much more competition on the XBOX 360. There are also some smaller or older games, with lower populations to consider. Those will get to the point of unplayability on PSN faster than XBOX Live, because of the lower overall amount of online gamers.
PSN Store vs XBOX Live Arcade
The stores are tougher to compare, because so many games are available on each one. Most of them are non-exclusives, and some are timed exclusives that are released for the other store at a later date. There are a few exclusive first-party-published titles, like Limbo on XBLA or the excellent PixelJunk games on PSN, that will remain exclusive. Coming to an objective conclusion on which store is better is a tough call, if not impossible. Perhaps the PSN hack has some influence on your opinion?
Playstation does offer a subscription service – Playstation Plus. What do you get for $4 or $6 per month (depending on subscription length)? It’s hard to tell you really, since the offers change constantly. Right now, you get to play the PS1 title Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus, and the PSN title Comet Crash for free. You would also be able to play the PSN Mini games Vector TD and “A Space Shooter For 2 Bucks” for free. These are just some examples, and they don’t last forever. If you ever decide to discontinue your Playstation Plus subscription, these games stop being free, and if you wish to continue playing them, you’ll have keep paying.
In addition, you have access to some discounts when spending at the PSN store. 50% off the Mini game Mad Alpha Blocker, for instance, and 20% off Magic Orbz. There are also wallpapers, avatars, and early beta demos.
If type of service excites you, then there you go. For more details, check out the Playstation Plus page. It should be noted that Sony has promised to give every PSN member a free 30 day trial of Plus when the network fully goes back online. However, they have not as of yet announced when that will happen.
One thing XBLA has in hand is the Indie Marketplace. This is a fantastic idea, and there are plenty of great indie games available on the cheap. Miner Dig Deep is an addictive little game, and you will easily get your 80 points’ ($1) worth out of it. PSN does carry some indie titles, but the XBLA Indie Marketplace’s ease of use seems to lead to many more titles being available. Unfortunately, this means that the vast majority of them tend to be crap. They have recently overhauled their rating system to prevent shilling, so it should be easier now to pick out the actual playable titles.
Oh yeah, Playstation Home still exists. My description of it in the last article received some notoriety, so I’ll use it again here:
Picture this scene: A stark looking “futuristic” city garden, populated by zombies that all have the same blank expressions on their faces, same clothes and same hairstyles. Wherever there is a female zombie, she will be surrounded by at least 5 male zombies, all of whom are showing off their best dance movies. Also, bubble machines are everywhere.
It may have changed since then, I’ll have to check it out when PSN is back in service. If it is significantly different, I’ll update this article.
‘It is also very easy to create PSN accounts for any country you wish, although you may not be able to register a credit card. You’ll be able to play foreign demos, but to buy games you’ll have to import some PSN monetary value cards.’
You can do this on XBL as-well.
Really, I thought the entire console could only be set to one region at a time…
You can make different accounts for different regions. I’m from Australia and have a second account, which is an US account. Only used it for Indy games so far, but since the US Games on Demand prices are cheap, I’m going to try buying something. GOD could still be region locked (pretty sure XBLA games aren’t), but you can always buy stuff from compatible regions I s’pose.
Good article, but I feel like you missed an important comparison. Audio. A couple pluses for the ps3 are 5.1 on Netflix, 2.0 on other sources pc, 360 etc. at the moment. Also, due to the growing size of alot of games one of the first things to take a hit on 360 is the audio, ive noticed on alot of games on the 360 that they usually do a center mix so it can almost sound like a 4.1. Most games do a good job with the compression so it’s usually not a big deal but when devs spend some extra time with hd audio formats and the extra space on a blu ray it really helps to separate the experience you get from both consoles.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll look into it more soon
What do you mean by HD audio? Blu-ray has pretty decent audio capabilities (24Bit, 48khz), but if they were to include audio at that resolution, it would sap a crap-load of space (quite a few GB), so I think you’ll find that PS3 games compress audio (data) pretty heavily and I’d imagine that most multi-platform games would just have the audio cues transferred from one platform to other to save time. I think it would be pretty rare that PS3 games have audio differences which are anything more than negligable.
So, if by HD audio, you mean pro audio (audio which is uncompressed or with lossless data compression, lossless audio data compression reducing the size of the file by roughly a 3rd), then I would say, PS3 games most certainly would not be benefited by any significant improvement in audio.
As far as multi plats go there isn’t a huge difference except a few games on the 360 that I’ve compared have a weak center mix. Also there are a handful of ps3 games that support full 7.1 channels( uc2, kz3), not sure of any 360 games that do atm. I don’t think any games on ps use dts ma or DD hd but they clearly have more head room and for the exclusives the games definitely have greater separation between channels and have less compression as well. Example gow 3 and kz3, if you a/b versus say halo and gears 2, all 4 games have great sound and are orchestrated well, but from a fidelity stand point there is quite a difference…
[...] PID4=""; UPDATE 2011: Our latest article, written two years after the one below, can be found here. Much has changed, so it is suggested that you check that one out instead! Or at the very least, [...]
Brilliant article, though Ghost did have a point. I too am Aussie with a US XBL account to grab stuff we don’t get locally.
As far as PS Home goes, it has improved a good amount with PS avatar controllable games, but it still gets old fast without a few friends. Unfortunately you have to invest a bit of money in it to get the most entertainment though.
man i have been waiting ages for this article, so has silver i think. it was worth the wait, very unbiased and objective as usual.
cant wait for more people to realise this came out and contribute to this article like the others before it :)
thanks again,
Definitely. Since getting a lot of time with most platforms in general, the usual articles just make me want to punch something.
This was probably the most impartial comparison I’ve read that didn’t feel sterile.
Thanks for the kind feedback everyone. I am really proud of these articles. I just wish more people would be able to read them! Be sure to share them on your facebook/twitters/forums you visit, etc! Help spread the word if you enjoyed reading :)
yeh i’ll be sure to do just that. i have the link up in my online bio.
people probably just havn’t realised it’s finally up.
WOW. just checked out The Darkness 2. it looks amazing. i am one of those dedicated fans who had the first, and in my opinion is the best FPS. even better than those epic halo ones. that aside, it had one of the strongest stories of this generation, with only bioshock and prey able to compete IMO.
heres a very brutal gameplay demo
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tom-galt-design-interview/714010
i think that this will probably get banned in australia. split guys in half, biting of faces, puncturing their chest right in front of your screen, oh and slicing them up the middle to rip out their spines with the skull attatched…… hmm, i think i might need to import it come october
In my opinion the PS3 is the better overall. If you take price into it you wouldnt be able to buy the top spec 360 and a blu ray player for the price of a 320gb ps3. And it is the Blu ray that makes the differance as like said above you dont need more than 1 disk on ps3, I know there can be long install times but go make a coffee while your waiting. Better than haveing to get up and change disks. Take LA.Noire 3 disks on 360. Have read something about possible crossing Killzone 3 on to the 360 but it would require 8 DVD’s. Only anoying thing really with PS3 is there is not enough USB’s. Must say though 360 has a much better control pad. I do think though the 360 is getting very close to the end of its life maybe anougher 18 months before the 720 comes out.
Holy sh*t because changing discs is SUCH A HASSLE GAHhhhhhh
yeh that sucks. i am getting rage for my 360 and it is three discs. i don’t have any multi disc games, other than old final fantasy games on ps1, which was acceptable back then because there was no blu-ray (and dvd’s were expensive)
both consoles can squeeze out equal graphics atm, but i can see the ps3 beating crysis 2 and killzone 3 even more. especially since the 360 doesn’t have blu-ray, allowing more space for textures and the like.
also, the 360 is very limited on developers, take a look at exclusives this year for the 360 to the ps3. shit all games.
The halo games aren’t for graphics, just gameplay and online (though i love the campaigns), and EPIC are using a multi-plat engine.
though i highly commend EPIC for squeezing the 360 with gears of war 3. the game looks even better than uncharted 2(which, is still much an achievement, that game looks amazing and is still very much considered one of the best looking games.
i wonder how gears 3 will fair against UC3. hopefully not blown out of the water like gears 2 was with UC2. though both games looking great.they should do a comparison between Gears 3 and Resistance 3, especially since E3 is over and we have something to go by.
Take a look at screenshots and videos for both Gears of War 3 and Uncharted 2 and that honestly tell me that Gears of War 3 looks better. Either you’re playing Uncharted 2 on a very low end TV, or you haven’t seen Uncharted 2 in a while. It’s hands down, without a doubt, much better looking than Gears of War 3. The lighting is light years beyond Gears of War 3 (which has pretty terrible lighting), shadowing is also much worse, as are particle effects, texture quality, models, character motion… just about everything except for possibly AA (which is very good in Gears of War 3 at times, and absolutely horrible other times, like the grass for instance).
I’m sorry man, but Gears of War 3 is far from the graphics king on consoles.
[...] Guide By Carl Nelson on July 4, 2011 /**/ One of the major advantages we write about in our PS3 vs XBOX 360 coverage that the Playstation 3 has over the XBOX 360 is that you can install just about any [...]
I’m gonna start off by saying you might want to make some kind of allusion to your first PS3 vs. 360 article and admit that your developer friend had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Nobody knew the power of the cell processor at the time and how many GPU standard tasks it would be able to replicate. Obviously after seeing the likes of Killzone 3 and Uncharted 2, it’s obvious that the PS3 definitely had the more powerful hardware, you just had to work to make it shine.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, you’re a bit mislead on the topic of performance. First off, most games are natively 720p. The 360 does have the ability to upscale to 1080p, but you don’t gain anything except some primitive MSAA (that eats up resources for no good reason forcing developers to leave them free). While many games in 2006 and 2007 were lower than 720p, it’s actually rare to see a game running lower than 720p anymore. Not to say it doesn’t occasionally happen (Alan Wake for the 360 or RDR for the PS3 for instance), but it’s the exception to the rule. The vast majority of games run natively in 720p, though post processing effects won’t always be at 720p.
eDRAM is not just for AA. It can be used for a number of different tasks. It’s definitely very useful, however it’s also NOT free 4XAA. Not at 720p anyway. There’s only 10 MB of eDRAM on the 360, which isn’t enough to hold an entire 720p image. To get around this they use tiling, which is basically just cutting the image in half, or thirds, or fourths… whatever it takes to get it done. While it’s nice that it doesn’t take up the GPU’s resources to do this, it does require system RAM to be used for the task which also requires time for the image to be moved between system RAM and the eDRAM. It’s nothing major, but it can result in tearing or pop in. eDRAM is also used for a variety of post processing effects.
The major problem with your article is you fail to mention that the system RAM in the PS3 is XDR. Many people, including your developer friend, view the absence of a unified pipeline between the system RAM and the VRAM as a drawback of the PS3. In reality, it’s often a major contributor to why exclusives on the PS3 look so amazing. XDR is a special type of Rambus that is actually about 4 times faster than the system RAM used in the 360. This allows for some amazing texture streaming capabilities. Take Uncharted 2 for example, you don’t see a sudden change in quality in buildings as you get closer to them. If used correctly XDR can make pop in almost non existant, not to mention the faster RAM can read and write the faster information can be sent and blocks released for reuse eliminating a possible bottleneck. This coupled with the cell processor, which developers are constantly finding new ways to push its power, make the PS3 a graphics powerhouse among consoles.
Blu Ray and uncompressed textures also play a huge role in the PS3s ability to shine graphically. The tables have actually turned in 2011 as well. You’ll notice that most newer multi platforms actually look and perform better on the PS3 than they do on the 360. Even LA Noire looks better on the PS3, and Rockstar has a history of lowering graphic quality on the PS3. The PS3 devkit is lightyears beyond what it was at release and developers are finally beginning to integrate it properly in their engines.
The only real advantage that the 360 has at this point is the online, and that’s not free so it’s very debatable just how much of an advantage it really is. I don’t say it’s really an advantage because of the support, but because it’s not a target of hackers (though that mess is pretty much in the past at this point). In reality the amazing XBox Live matchmaking system is just a peer to peer host/client setup that’s been in use in the PC world for years. It’s inferior to a dedicated server in every way, which many developers use for the 360 and PS3 anyway since a p2p model has so many issues with lag and disconnections.
Anyway, this is getting long and I’m sure most people have already decided I’m just the run of the mill PS3 fanboy, but the 360 has nothing exciting for the hardcore gamer. Everything can either be found on the PS3 as well or is casual Kinect rubbish. If Microsoft continues to abandon their hardcore they’re going to really regret it come next gen. It’s a really bad idea.
You focused a lot on comparing the consoles graphically, and in theory. I wanted to avoid that, the very reason for which is apparent in your post. You can talk about resolutions, ram, tiling, pipelines, etc, all you want. But it doesn’t always lead to one console looking objectively better than the other.
Like I said in my post, the only way to really know is to compare each game you’re interested in directly. Obviously that is a lot of work, and some sites such as Eurogamer do a very good job of it. If you look through their “head to head” comparisons, there is a mix of some games looking or performing worse on one console, or the other. And some games might look better to some on one console, or the other.
My developer friend was working on the PS3 before it was released, and was correct in determining that the GPU is weaker than the 360′s. It was then, and it still is now. Early PS3 games almost always looked worse than 360 games back then. However 4 or 5 years later, we now know that things can be done to make games usually look at LEAST as good as the 360, sometimes better, sometimes worse.
And as for the XBOX 360 multiplayer, and PS3 being free… well just wait a bit ;)
Thanks for the feedback though
@ME
I don’t like calling people fanboys, but you definitely are. UC2 is light years ahead? I’m sorry, but Gears 3 is generally accepted as better looking. At least on par, although UC3 looks better IMO.
Also, multi-plats are catching up, with more and more looking better on the ps3, but still, the majority still look better on xbox 360.
Try a site called: LensofTruth. they do graphical and performance tests between the 2 consoles.
Also also, i own both consoles, so i know what i’m talking about. anyone who wasn’t a fanboy would say that gears 3 either looks better than UC2, is on par with it, or is almost as good as it graphically. Crawl back in your hole and maybe you can save up for more than 1 console
@ not me
“Also also, i own both consoles, so i know what i’m talking about. anyone who wasn’t a fanboy would say that gears 3 either looks better than UC2, is on par with it, or is almost as good as it graphically. Crawl back in your hole and maybe you can save up for more than 1 console”
Wow, another brain numbing rebuttal to a well thought out argument. Why don’t you crawl back in your hole, and educate yourself beyond the fourth grade. Maybe then, you can respond intelligently.
I used to be the biggest XBOX 360 fanboy… then I got a 60gb PS3 in 08′ and figured out the PS3 never overheated, was faster, and looked better. Understand these are slight but in a case of it not going to be updated until 2015 it matters ALOT… So I started playing ps3 aswell but I still love xbox I now have a both in slim (gotta admit the xbox got bettter the ps3 got worse) Also I love online play there are more players on my CoD games on xbox althouth I LOVE PS+ more than XBL… love free games.
I own both systems and at first I’ve noticed the 360 had better graphics in the beginning of the console comparisons. 3 to 4 years later the cell processor began to show its colors and now the comparisons are like sega genesis and super nintendo. A definite difference. Also, if you notice, the ps3 optimizes the best graphics for your television. If you could afford a really high priced HDTV, you’ll notice how sharp the ps3 really is. It surprised the heck out of me when I saw games such as uncharted 3 and killzone 3..rediculous to say the least. For anyone who owns mgs4.. check this out. Look at it in 1080p if you have the resolution on your HDTV and you’ll see how the ps3 was ahead of its time when it came out..wow. and there’s still some time for improvement. Microsoft will have to compete with gameplay because the graphics war is finished. It’s time for the new generation of consoles to emerge. The wii u, ps4, and the xbox 720.(Those may not be the final names as of yet). I’m excited to see how the future of gameplay will effect these new consoles, but for some reason I believe that on these new consoles, graphics may not be the issue as far as comparisons because the specs are amazing on all platforms. It’ll have to come down to strictly gameplay and innovation on the years ahead.
Thanks for the article. It was a good read.
Thanks for the good read, but in my opinion ps3 dominates of the 360, graphics are better as well as the sound, the it can read bluray as well as normal DVDs. Everthing u need in 1 package
i may like american made things but im gona have to stick to sony playstation
Thanks that was good to read , I’m about to buy the new gears of war console for Xbox on Friday , i did previously own an old xbox years back which did die on me it’s good to hear that they have sorted that out (my main reason for googlng “PS3 vs XBOX 360″.
The only thing i am bothered about is that if they cut off Xbox live to Xbox 360′s when they bring out the next generation consoles.
that’d really piss me off as i am about to spend like £300 on my console and then of course building up my games collection will also cost a lot too.
As a student for my console to become obsolete within a couple of short years of spending way over £300 on it would be sooo annoying lol.
Anyways credit too you good article and helped me to decide to go ahead with my purchase :).
I have traded my xbox for ps3 a Mont ago Cox I need a 3d Blu-Ray player for my led…but thru was my worst mistake…..Coz there is no comparison between faceplate quality of xbox and ps3….ps3 is full of lag….while xbox gives u the smoothest gameplay .
Racing and first persone games are really unplayable with Sonys small console due to small and dull designed ps3 controller.
I really miss my xbox.
You forgot to mention that:
1) you need XBOX Live Gold subscription ($5/month) to Netflix on XBOX and 0$/month for watching Netflix on Playstation 3.
MS/Sony: 0:1
2) XBOX does not support bluray and the Playstation 3 does.
MS/Sony: 0:2
3) XBOX Kinect does not require any special controller, Playstation move does.
MS/Sony: 1:2
Regarding #1 – that is really unethical to charge for watching Netflix – they do not really provide any service here. Wii, Playstation, (also iPad, iPod, iPhone, Androids etc) do it for free.
i really like these articles i am using them on my research project on which console is better of the two so i thank you Carl sir it was fantastic
Thank you Carl for your hard work comparing these systems. I have been a PS2 fan since the beginning, moreover I’ve been a Sony fan for many, many years (tv’s, stereos, you name it).
However, I’ve been out of the loop. I got away from video games as I got older, but now my kids are old enough. I broke out the PS2 about a year ago, but now Im ready to move them up and didn’t have a clue which way to go. Though I detest Microsoft’s political positions, I do see that we need to return to the mindset of buying American if we’re going to revive our economy. On the other hand, I’m a long time Sony fan.
I had originally decided to buy an XBox, and was seeking information on storage needs when I found your article. So, I read through your original comparison, then through your One Year Later comparison, and ended on this Four Year Later comparison.
Your writing gives me the impression that you, if only slightly, prefer the XBox. However, you still gave me the information I need to make my decision. I found it to be a good read, and at least objective enough.
My take away is that if I were a serious gamer I would probably go with the Sony in expectation of the future games. However, I’m not, don’t intend to be, and don’t want my kids to be serious gamers. It sounds like the XBox 4GB is better suited for us.
Thank you again for you hard work and great writing.
P.S. Please forgive my typos. I wrote this on an iPad, ugh!