Reasons to Buy a SONY Playstation3 Over a Microsoft XBOX 360

The PS3 is the newest video game console that belongs to the 4th generation of video game systems. What that means is that this system is the 4th new console series in the video game market. Also in this 4th generation there is the Microsoft XBOX 360 and the Nintendo Wii. But what this paper will be focusing on is the differences between the Sony PS3 and Microsoft XBOX 360. Some of the differences that will be discussed are the graphic and visual differences, cost effectiveness, online connectivity, exclusive game titles, and percentage of failure rates.

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The first topic that will be discussed is the graphics. The PS3 games are powered by a Blu-Ray drive. But what is Blu-Ray? Blu-Ray is the newest form of digital disc format. Blu-Ray has supperiror sound quality provided the right home theater set up, the best picture available on the market. Also each Blu-Ray disc can hold 10 times more memory than previous DVD format. Each Blu-Ray disc has a hard plastic covering that prevents scratches and cracks.  The High Definition/ Digital Video Disc or HD/DVD player supports the XBOX. It has better picture than the previous 3rd generation of consoles but is not as good as the Blu-Ray powered PS3. For instance, the HD/DVD disc has the same memory capacity of a standard DVD, it has no hard plastic covering that protects each disc which means that those discs are more prone to scratches and cracks than Blu-Ray discs.

Another thing about the PS3 is that it is more cost effective. The standard PS3 is $400. The Sony PS3 has a hard drive memory of 80GB, which is plenty of room for game memory space, movies, music and more. It also comes with a Dual Shock 3 controller with the SIXAXIS functions that are similar to the Nintendo Wii controllers. This means that whatever actions you do, the controller does. For instance, if the player rotates the controller to the left the player’s character moves to the left. It is a very intuitive way of playing and it gives the player a better experience while playing the game. Another added feature is that a HDMI cable set is included with the PS3. The cables connect to the HDMI compatible TV, and after that they connect to the PS3 and gives the optimum graphics for the system. A free wifi wireless router comes with the PS3. The router searches and connects the PS3 to the Internet, and free Playstation Network Membership for online play. Now the XBOX 360 Arcade is the cheapest version of the 360. It costs around $200. It does not have a wifi router built in so the consumer then has to go out and buy one which is quite expensive, no HDMI cables that are included, and if the consumer wants to have online play he/she needs to buy a one year subscription to Microsoft XBOX Live which costs $50 a year.

The next Major topic is online play. In this generation of video game consoles and consumers, the players want to reach out to other people while playing games. The online play feature makes that happen. Online play connects you through the Internet and connects the consumer with his friends and family along with millions of people around the world. This feature gives the consumer a totally new and exciting experience. This allows the consumer to communicate, play, and reach out with hundreds of millions of players online. Although Microsoft came first in terms of online play, the PS3 is rapidly catching up. There are downloadable movies, pictures, games, and “add-ons” which are features that were not included on the game when it was released and they can be bought from the Playstation Network Store. Demos or trial versions of games can also be downloaded from the store free of charge.

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What is the point of buying any one of these highly advanced systems if there are not any great games available for the system.  There are already a lot of great games available for the PS3, such as Little Big Planet in which you can create levels in the game and then via online play. The player can then share levels by uploading the created levels to the games online community and other players around the world can play the levels. Another game is Resistance that takes place in an alternate history where WWII never happened and a biological warfare virus gone wrong and the player has to save the world. Landmark Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of The Patriots is where player is Solid Snake, an elite army commando and you must save the world from total control from the Patriots system. All these and many more great titles are only on the PS3. The XBOX 360 has some great titles too. Such as the Popular HALO series, and Gears of War. Sony has the advantage of owning various studios such as Sony Computer Entertainment, Naughty Dog, and Incognito. This is an advantage because SONY can release more games because they have more studios. SONY also has the experience of 15 years of making video games, while Microsoft has about 7 to 8 years of experience with developing video games.

 Failure rate percentages and problems need to be talked about. Of the two systems, the XBOX 360 probably has the highest failure rate percentage.  Microsoft XBOX owners have been hit with the “Red Rings of Death”. The Red Rings is a very serious error that occurs when dust and dirt gets in the XBOX and the system over heats and then the console essentially ceases to function properly. There are four problems that include the Red Ring of Death. One red light means major hardware failure or system error, two red lights means that the 360 is over heating and needs to be turned off to cool, 3 red rings is the infamous “Red Rings of Death” or RRoD and the XBOX has to be sent to Microsoft for repairs, and fourth is when the 360 cannot detect the AV power cable. After that the angry consumer has to send it in for repair to a Microsoft factory. The total time it takes for the console to be shipped to Microsoft, repaired, and shipped back to the angry consumer can take up to two weeks. Do not think that Microsoft has not tried to solve problems they have, and Microsoft has still failed. An example of this the NYKO cooler fan that instead of cooling the system, it draws dust into the console. This causes the XBOX to over heat. The NYKO also fans draw power away from the system and is sometimes known to turn off the system. The NYKO cooler also scorches and melts the metal frames that the necessary cables connect to.  With all these problems the percentage of an XBOX 360 owner getting red rings is 33%. SONY on the other hand has a failure rate percentage of 4% and they have solved many of the problems that the 360 have. They fixed the fan problem by making a built-in fan strategically placed to blow dust and dirt out of the system. Also the built-in fan does not take power away from the system. With this the malfunction percentage of the PS3 has a failure percentage of 4% compared to the XBOX 33%, there is a 29% difference. And if it does malfunction it only takes about 3 or 4 days to be shipped, fixed, and shipped back to the consumer.  Also the Microsoft Company is currently facing a class action lawsuit.“ The class action suit not only admonishes Microsoft for the shoddy quality of the Xbox 360 hardware, but also cites stories from VentureBeat on October 22, 2008, which claims that Microsoft knew about the problems but released the console anyway in order to beat the PS3 and Wii to market.” Says David Reidd for gamedaily.com. Microsoft is literally covering up the “shoddy quality of the XBOX 360 hardware” just to beat the PS3 and Wii in the market. This is a low move and shows that the Microsoft Company is desperate and won’t make up for the mistakes of their poor quality system. Unlike Microsoft, SONY has good reliability and in the rare event of it breaking you get your system back in 3 to 4 days.

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With these points in mind, the educated consumer will undoubtedly choose to purchase the PS3. It is technologically superior and has better quality. SONY them selves are more reliable when it comes to video games than Microsoft. So the educated consumer would choose the PS3 because it has better graphics, it is more cost effective, has great games, and has the lowest failure rate percentage.

Work Cited

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