Thinking of buying a 360...

[shivars]

Ok so I have a PS3 that I'm more than happy, with -really enojy the games I have on it, its a great blu-ray player and networked video player, etc etc.

But I'm annoyed with two things...

1. sick of waiting for GT5 to never be released....

2. I'm a trophy we, and there's no possible integration for PS3 trophies into sites like Giantbomb (or other places that aggregate achievements from different platforms).


So I'm considering buying a 360...mostly for Forza but also just to see what life on the other side is like.

I know this is a really dangerous question - and I really dont want this thread to turn into another ps3-vs-360 flamewar - but....wait for it...what should I expect from a 360 as opposed to what I get from my PS3?

I don't want to hear about games or exclusives; I know about those already. Neither do I want to know about which has the most CPU or graphics power - there are plenty of reviews explaining that already.

I want to know about the little things....


- 360 can install games to the HDD. Is this just to make them load quicker, or does it mean I don't have to stick the disc in the drive? That'd be really handy

- am I right in thinking the 360 can't save networked media files to its local HDD? (and doesn't come with wifi - so I need to get a network cable up to my tv room...)

- achievements; do these work any differently/better to PS3's trophies? (I know you get points for them that are more explicit than the PS3's level and % - anything else?)

- still no 1080p on 360? do people prefer 720p or 1080i for Forza? (will be mostly playing on a 28" PC monitor)

- Logitech G25 racing wheel doesn't work on 360 right? are there any wheels of an equivilent quality? the only ones I can see look.....a bit crap really. Fanatec is a bit out of my budget...

- what else?


anything anyone can tell me before I take the £200 plunge would be great

(except, no need to just say 'its better' or 'ps3 is deh suk'...hehe)

[onlynik]

shivars said:

- 360 can install games to the HDD. Is this just to make them load quicker, or does it mean I don't have to stick the disc in the drive? That'd be really handy

It is just to load the game quicker and not have the disc drive whirring all through the game. However there are downlaodable games from teh Marketplace (Microsoft's online Xbox store) which you can play straight off the HD and no disc is needed (or supplied) Bafflefield 1943 is such a game.

shivars said:

- am I right in thinking the 360 can't save networked media files to its local HDD? (and doesn't come with wifi - so I need to get a network cable up to my tv room...)

Not sure quite what you mean here, you can stream media files to the Xbox from your PC as a media centre extender, or you can play media files from the HD on the Xbox.

shivars said:

- achievements; do these work any differently/better to PS3's trophies? (I know you get points for them that are more explicit than the PS3's level and % - anything else?)

I don't know how PS3 trophies work, but normally Xbox achievments add up to 1000 points and this is yuor gamer score, games normally have 50 achievements (Downloaded games from the Marketplace are usually less about 12 - 20)

shivars said:

- still no 1080p on 360? do people prefer 720p or 1080i for Forza? (will be mostly playing on a 28" PC monitor)

I play at 720p and I don't have an HDMI out on my Xbox (yet) and it looks good enough to me.

shivars said:

- Logitech G25 racing wheel doesn't work on 360 right? are there any wheels of an equivilent quality? the only ones I can see look.....a bit crap really. Fanatec is a bit out of my budget...

I have the MS wireless wheel attached to a wheelstandpro. Works really well, however I wouldn't fancy trying to design any shapes in Forza with the wheel.

shivars said:

- what else?

You'll need to get a Gold Xbox Live account, that's around £35 a year, this allows you to play online. I don't have a PS3 so I couldn't comment on the online game play, but the friends I have who have a PS3s play online on their Xboxes more.

[Parsnip]

Running the Xbox wireless is a case of either shelling out £50 for the wireless adapter or having your 360 close enough to a pc with wireless that you can connect them together with a network cable.

1080p is supported.

[shivars]

k thanks guys

tbh it sounds like there's really not a lot in it. I guess I just need to decide if Forza 3 (plus any other 360 games that aren't out on PC or PS3) are important enough to me to want to pay the extra £300 odd it'll cost (for the xbox, 2nd steering wheel, etc, etc).

somehow I think I was expecting more - particularly from the "xbox is better online" sentiment i get from everyone, but if the only difference is being able to see people's gamerscore and recent achievements then i'm not so impressed.

not sure if i'll get one; its at least 4 months until GT5....but there's no shortage of decent games to play in the meantime....