Scrub that. I traded the 360 in for the PS3.

I own both and have to be honest they are about the same, it's funny though the PS3 has the blue ray drive and more space for information storage, and yet more and more games have to install onto hard disk before playing like a PC. The recently released Metal Gear Solid 4 initially took something like 8 minutes to install, then 2 or 3 minutes at several more instances through the game, admittedly there is a lot of cut scenes, and at times is more like a movie than a game but the latestRratchet and Clank, GTA 4 and Haze also had to be installed onto hard disk before play also.

There are more games for the 360 than PS3 but that's to be expected, the 360 is bl**dy loud because of the continual spinning of the DVD drive, it's build quality seems cheap compared to the PS3, as it should as it costs a lot less although I love it's joypad, the PS3 one seems very flimsy compared to it.

The 360 took a lot of flack because of the ring of death, I had 2 die on me before things got sorted, but in all I wouldn't rate one above the other. Fanboys will say different but they're entitled to their opinions. Sony did a good thing in offering online play for free, I refuse to pay for a Gold subscription to play online with the 360, but I'm not an oline gameplayer anyway.

Just some opinions, hope this helps.

I don't get it belfman, did the PS3 loose USB ports? There are 4 on my machine and a card reader, not a full one like on a PC but it does SD and Mini SD cards. I bought mine shortly after the release with a 60GB drive but from what I read you can use any notebook sized hard drive to upgrade, I haven't really researched it as 60GB is good enough for me at the moment.

ps I changed my name.

gazzaho - I think you mean 400-500mb rather than GB as if it was 400gb then you would need a set of 7 or so PS3s :P

It is refreshing to see a topic where there are no fan boys bigging up each console for no particular reason.

Looking for places to buy toys r us always seem to offer the best deals on console bundles, but places like game station and granger games (north east england only) offer best games prices so take a look at the offers.

Overall if you are considering buying either machine my advice is to go to the various games shops and look at the titles. Also have a look at the upcoming games and see which machine will suit your gaming tastes. Some people like Halo and bioshock, while others will enjoy the immersion that they find in Gran Turismo and Final fantasy take over.

So my best suggestion is to look at the 2 systems games and decide what will give you the best entertainment value.

Personally I have a 60gb PS3 based purely on the fact that it has some exclusive games that I just cant live to play consoles without. If you do opt for the PS3 go do your best to get a 60gb as they command a higher value because of the ps2 compatibly and extra features.

Similarly for the Xbox be sure to get one with a decent size drive as data on modern consoles is huge and it will be annoying to delete things all the time.

Also dont just look at the bottom line. Remember that after you consider the life span of the consoles another 5 years (minimum) that on the PS3 you wont have to pay to play online whereas the xbox will cost you to have this feature and in a couple of years will negate the advantage that was seen when purchased of the unit being cheaper. So remember that with the xbox once the subscription is up you need to pay again and online gaming is addictive.

The Xbox also uses a stupid points system for buying games online and this annoyingly hides the true price for what you are buying. Similarly the PS3 doesnt possess a system of paying just for items one at at time instead needing to put money in a wallet and then pay using that. In the end if you buy a game that is 3.99 you end up having 1.01 left over and you cant buy anything else with it really. It does get rather irritating on both machines as you dont always see the actual cost. This can be made worse if you have kids because they will always want new games as they appear online. However both systems have a nice selection of cheap games that can offer as much replay value as a retail store disk and often more.

Finally dont forget to consider the little bits that they dont always tell you. The PS3 has blue ray and these retail for about £100 so you are getting a top of the line next gen DVD player in the bundle too. The Xbox requires either batteries or an optional extra power pack, the PS3 only provides one USB controller charge cable (these are USB a to b mini cables but still something else to buy if you get more than one controller).

Also my sister purchased an Xbox360 and found that it doesnt have WiFi so be sure to check the machine you buy has everything you expect it to. The PS3 also doesnt come with a HDMI cable as standard so be sure to consider this hidden required extra if you have a HD TV.

All the best in your purchase Si_L and do let us know what you purchase.