Here I have compiled a list of reasons why the PlayStation 3 is an inferior product when compared to the Xbox 360. I'll be adding extra points as I come across them. I've done a LOT of reading on this subject and will continue to go back to find all of the articles, reviews, essays and press releases, etc, so that I can link them here. My memory isn't the greatest, it's well past 3am as of starting this page, and this list is only intended for the average Joe with basic technological knowledge, therfore I haven't gotten too much into details on each of my points below. Grammer and spelling might be lacking, but who cares.

You are probably already thinking that I'm a Microsoft fanboy. If I am, it's for good reason. But still, I do not consider myself a fanboy. I like what I like, and it has to be good for me to like it. In fact, I have owned two PS2s and two Xboxes, and ended up selling both of the Xboxes but only one of the PS2s. I liked PS2 better back then, but it also didn't hurt that I was able to make more off the Xboxes (I really needed the money). Today I am the unfortnate owner of two (yes, I ended up getting a second PS2 again) broken PS2s. I was the victim of the first generation PS2 and it's faulty laser. To make matters worse I've replaced that laser twice and managed to trade that PS2 for a newer one, but only to end up with both of my 8th generation PS2s falling to the same ill. That is where Sony started to let me down. The next big step was when our year old Trinitron 32" TV commited suicide. Apparently there's a board inside that predicts the imminent failure of the TV and stops you from using it until it's rightful death. This is shown by a red blinking light on the front, to which prompted me to search Google. The results weren't good. It's not nice to find over 10,000 posts from people who have had their Sony stuff die prematurely. But regardless of all this, I was still pumped about the release of the PS3. I spited the Xbox 360 because I was so into the upcoming release of the PS3. It's funny how things turn out. All it took was one demonstration of a 360 in use on a computer monitor (playing the demo of Lost Planet and some other games), streaming music and playing games in high def, while downloing demos on top of all that. The Xbox Live Arcade was the icing on the cake. I was so impressed by the 360 that I decided to look deeper into what Sony was going to be offering, and it was dissapointment all around. I'm also not a fan of false advertisment and unkept promises. This page is here to tell you why Sony has dropped the ball.

So, now that I've gotten that out of the way, when thinking about buying a PlayStation 3 please consider the following points (the order is pretty much random, and the 'Read More' links expand hidden text):

[New] PS3 Steering Wheels May Not Have Force Feedback. (Read More)
"It’s old news by now that the PS3 controller doesn ’t have force feedback built into it. What’s breaking news to us is the fact that the PS3 doesn’t even know how to transmit a signal telling ANY controller to vibrate or give force feedback. For all you racing fans, that means Gran Turismo 5 is going to feel like you're driving on ice." (taken from Digg.com)

Full Article

The rumble has been removed from the PS3 controller; replaced with motion sensing. (Read More)
Rumble is used in virtually every PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 game out there, and now we're expected to just abandon it? The rumble provides a level of immersion into games and is almost required in certain instances. Even the most basic of things like the shots of a gun or the feeling of pain in a game is simulated through rumbling. It's just natural after all these years of it. Think about the next time you're racing and you lock up your breaks or spin the tires. You'd normally feel this sensation, but without rumble you are forced to listen for the sounds amidst those of every other car on the track. What about the cool heartbeat gizmo (sorry, I haven't played this in a while but it's memorable) in games like MGS? Remember the time that Psycho Mantis took over your controller and made it shake? Well goodbye to all of that. Instead you get gimmicky motion sensing. Way to copy Nintendo at the last second. Actually, Microsoft had that out in the days of Windows 9x.

Why isn't there rumble?

Sony's Phil Harrison states that rumble was last gen and no longer needed.

More links about the missing rumble

Online gaming may be free on the PS3, but you get what you pay for. (Read More)
There's no unifed friends list on PS3 online. This means for each game you play you have to create a news friends list just for that game. Meanwhile on Xbox Live you have one single list where you can enter voice and video chats no matter what game you're in (or even when you're not in a game). I can invite friends to play any game I own even if they're currently in other games. They will get a nice little notification and all they have to do is press the guide button on their controller to see my inviation. If they accept, the xbox will simply ask them to switch discs to the proper game and it will join right up into the match. No loading up games one by one to find out if friends are playing or not. If you find someone you dispise playing with then you can rate and avoid them, and you only have to do it once for effect in every game. Everyone has ratings, everyone can be given positive or negative feedback. There's a penalty for being an *******. On the PS3 jerks have nothing to lose. $5 a month is nothing for what you get with Xbox live.

Headsets are standard on the Xbox. Almost everyone has, and uses them. 360 owners also get a headset with the premium consoles and they are included with most 12month subscriptions in store. I absolutely love being able to talk to the people I'm playing with. That alone makes the $5 a month worth it to me. It enhances things so much. Everything is improved, from teamwork to the general excitement you feel in the games. It's almost a given that pretty much everyone playing on Xbox Live will be using their headset.

See the player feedback system

See the unified friends list

Top 10 PS3 Annoyances (see 'Being Online')


Image from xbox.com

There's no real PS3 community and no achievements system on the PS3. The 360 is more community/fun based. (Read More)
You're probably wondering what the Achievements system is. One of my favorite reasons for owning a 360 is for the ability to unlock achievements in each of my games. Every game has 1000 gamerpoints worth of these achievements to unlock. This brings a nice challenge and replay factor to all of your games. I love going through the lists and finding new achievements to get. You can even go on xbox.com and compare your games and achievements to your friends. Example: Get 40 kills before being killed.

The 360 also provides a much more robust and enjoyable online community. Such a thing hardly exists on the PS3.

Read about gamer profiles

Read about the achievements system

Microsoft's Achievement Points Yield 'Nerd Cred'


You can message friends, view their profiles, even compare your scores. Xbox.com has a nice forum and there's always something new going on.


xbox.com Achievement tracker for Rainbow Six: Vegas (can be viewed on the xbox aswell)

The PS3 cannot compete with the success of the Xbox Live Arcade (Read More)
Geometry Wars is amazing. It alone will amaze you and your friends, and it's not even 3d! The arcade has everything from Hearts to Pool to PacMan and DOOM. If you don't want to get deep into a serious game then there's always the arcade right there at your fingertips. And most of the games are multiplayer, even on Xbox live! 4 player split-screen DOOM on XBox live - You know you're dying to try that!

Read a Geometry Wars review


Geometry Wars. Image from gamesradar.com


Mad Tracks (not yet out). Image from xbox365.com


Billiards. Image from gamespy.com

Bluetooth on the SixAxis isn't all it's cracked up to be. (Read More)
Unlike SixAxis, the 360 controllers have amazed me. They work even better than my WiFI! I can't bring a laptop more than 10ft away from my router without losing connection, yet I can go anywhere in my house (even three floors up and to the opposite end) and do things like change songs. I actually found this out by accident as I left the room with the controller and changed the current song while I played with the buttons on the controller.

SixAxis's sketchy bluetooth likes to freak out on you and maybe it's just my house, but WiFi and bluetooth seem to have little to no range. Range aside, many people report that their PS3 controllers like to glitch out and leave their character in a seizure on screen. I've never had this problem with my 360. The controllers work flawlessly, all the time.

Just one of many examples of the controller misbehaving

The 360 controller is sexy and smooth. Dualshock is dated and the new trigger buttons are bad news. (Read More)
Lay your hands on a 360 controller and then on a SixAxis, and try to tell me that the 360 controller isn't infinately more comfortable and curvatious. It's amazing how these things feel so perfect! Failing to bring anything new to the table (at least they didn't stick with the boomerang controller), Sony's gone back to it's 2 generation old DualShock design. Not bad, but deffinately could be better. The biggest flaw in the SixAxis has to be the trigger buttons which are curved towards the controller instead of away. They are slippery and too short. My fingers slide off them. It's not nearly as nice as having the triggers of the 360's controller, which are curved to grip your fingers, much like a gun-trigger. No slippage, and for shooters it just makes more sense.


backwards triggers


Sexy. Image from game-machines.com


Triggers. That's how they're supposed to be done. Image from softweb.at

SixAxis battery will require entire controller replacement when dead; No charge cable with new controllers; Cable needed to sync controller. (Read More)
I don't know about you, but in a year when they SixAxis stops holding a charge I'm not going to want to have to go out and buy a new one, or pry it apart to put in a new (and probably no-namer) battery. These are controllers, not IPods. If there were even an option to replace the battery yourself, it would be limited to those who are willing to **** around with the controller. What happened to just playing?

You also to have to buy seperate charge cords to charge any extra controllers, seeing as you do not get cords with new controllers. If more than one of them die at a time then what do you do? Well, on the 360 I can use AA's (which last for many weeks before dying). Recharable batteries are optional and you only need one cord (since you can use AA's in any controller that has a battery waiting to be charged). If those rechargable batteries ever stop holding a charge I'm only out $15 and the 2 seconds it takes to pop out the old and insert the new battery. And like I said before, if they just die temporarily then I can use AA's in any of the controllers not using the charge cable, instead of buying more charge cables.

Another thing is that you have to plug in your controllers to sync them to the PS3. What's with that? It's minor but it shouldn't be neccesary. You have to do it when the console is updated aswell, that's annoying and unexpected. 360 controllers never have to be resynced after the first time, not unless you go to use them on another console.

New addition: Controllers will not charge while the PS3 is off/standby. Shall I take a photo of my 360 charging my controller while it's off? Hmm?

SixAxis battery replacement - it's kind of replaceable

Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge

Sony's execs are douchebags/liars. Microsoft is in touch with us, the gamers. (Read More)
Xbox owners occasionally get emails with surveys on what they want to see next. Microsoft invites us to events and lets us know about the newest thing on Xbox Live. We also get to see the people behind the console and the games. It's made by gamers, for gamers. Not by business men, for rich people. Microsoft isn't out there making rediculous comments about the competition. Sony's failed promises and immature comments have caused me to lose all respect for the company. However, it is amusing to watch them get stuck with their foot-in-mouth.

One of Microsofts surveys

Apparently Sony freezes up consoles ON PURPOSE?!

Sony's President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.

Sony Exec calls the 360 and Wii "too expensive"

Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games

Sony sinks Lik-Sang

Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network

Sony's Jack Tretton comments on the PS3 BC problems and states that the Wii has 0 backwards compatibility

Sony retracts 1080i fix statement, leaving customers in lurch.

Do you want a game console that you have to worry about scratching? (Read More)
Pretty self explanitory. It's a game system, not a mirror.

My PS3 Scratched In 10 Seconds

Sony wants to contol your living room, but they forgot the infrared port. (Read More)
Basically you have to use their remote or controller and nothing else to play your movies. Great. Well with my 360 I have my 3rd party universal remote controlling everything I own, INCLUDING the 360. I don't have to go out of my way to use a seperate bluetooth remote. Great one Sony. Stop trying to reinvent the fucking wheel.

Sony claims High Definition starts with the PS3, but they forgot to give you the cables, and the television compatibility. (Read More)
So you get home and go to play your first high def game, but you're dissapointed to find that they only include composite cables. BURN! Back to the pre-HD days with you until your next trip to the store!

The 360 is on the exact same playing field as the PS3 when it comes to hd graphics. In fact since many games are designed primarily with the 360 and then ported to the PS3, they look and play better on the 360. Plus we all know Gears of War looks better than any PS3 game out. PS3 may have 1080p, but, wait, so does the 360!

The 360 also has an upscaling chip, unlike the PS3. You are at the mercy of your TV with the PS3 since it will be spitting out whatever resolution is desired by the game or movie you are playing, regardless of your TV setting. You may keep hearing all this stuff about 1080p graphics but sadly many if not most games are in 720p or 1080i. If you're TV doesn't support all of these modes then you may end up back in the realm of 480p. Hardly hi-def at all. How ironic! Unfortuantely even if your TV does support all these HD modes it won't look as good as it could unless it has an upscaler in it to bring things up to your TVs native resoltion. But everyone with a 360 is free from all these problems because we have the miracle called 'Ana', a nice little upscaler chip built right in. That's right, my 360 even makes DVD look even better than my standalone DVD player can.

Gamers looking to get the best picture out of Sony's premium PlayStation 3 package will need to shell out extra for proper hookups.

PS3 downscales 720p games instead of upscaling to 1080i

Sony retracts 1080i fix statement, leaving customers in lurch.

The Cell processor has 8 'cores', but only 6 are used for games. Each 'core' is less featured than those of the 360. (Read More)
That's right, 25% of your Cell is sitting there for other use, such as running the operating system. The operating system that you don't see when you're gaming. Yep.

But not only that, to put it dumbly, the processors in the PS3 are quantity over quality. Think of it like this, the 360 cpu is like 3 men in their prime. The PS3's processors are like amputees and children working harder to do the same thing.

Inside the PS3

IGN's in-depth hardware comparison of the 360 and PlayStation 3

AnandTech's in-depth hardware comparison

PS3 can't seem to multitask. (Read More)
The 360 lets you play music in-game, or even download files while in-game. You can even open the 360 guide at any time and edit playlists or change the source of your music. You would think that Sony would have put together their elite team of scientists to integrate a way to do this on the PS3, but no, they haven't. Maybe they'll get to it someday, but 360 owners have already had this for over a year. On the other hand you can use your PSP in conjunction with the PS3 to play music I hear. That way you have not one, but TWO gaming systems sitting around doing nothing but playing music. Hell why not just park your car in the living room so that you can use it to play music instead of drive?

Top 10 complaints about the PS3

PS3 owners beg for improvements

Top 5 pet peeves about the PS3

Blu-Ray is costing you extra to game, but is half as fast. Sony's workaround: Use up your HDD's space. (Read More)
So you're thinking that games will get a huge graphics boost from the use of blu ray right? Well that's all fine when you think of nothing but the size and how many detailed textures and such you can store, but have you thought about things like actually getting them from the disc to the game? Blu ray is aproximately half has fast as the DVDROM in the 360. Sony's workaround for this is to get you to waste your HDD space by installing game files onto it. So now you have your fancy 50gb BR discs but you're using up your HDD space to store that data. Great! Just fantastic! It's now a fucking PC.

Top 5 pet peeves about the PS3

Genji Uses HDD to speed up load times

The 360 graphics processor is arguably better than the PS3's. And Cell is not all it was touted to be. (Read More)
Yep that's right so now you've shelled out all your money on the next big thing and it turns out they are slightly behind. The 360's ATI GPU is technologically ahead of graphics cards out on PC market. The PS3's NVidia GPU is what will soon be the last-generation on the PC market. Not to mention how any PC gamer knows that ATI is generally more advanced, efficient, and reliable. Even moreso when it comes to home theater use, such as playing video (yes, I know, this is somewhat unrelated). ATI seems to have really pulled through for Microsoft. There's a 2nd die on the 360 GPU which provides AntiAliasing and HightDynamicRange Lighting to the already breathtaking graphics. This is at next to no expense to speed. PS3 has to work harder and sacrifice speed to match the quality of a 360 game, so in most cases, they don't do it. Too bad!

IGN's in-depth hardware comparison of the 360 and PlayStation 3

AnandTech's in-depth hardware comparison

256mb of RAM x 2 is not as good as 512mb x 1; PS3 uses more RAM than the 360 for non-gaming tasks. (Read More)
The 360 has all of it's RAM in one place, allowing developers to use it however and wherever they need. PS3's seperated RAM banks limit it's use. Not only that but 64mb of one of those banks and 32mb from the other are reserved by the operating system. Meanwhile the 360 is only using 32mb from it's single bank, to run a superior GUI & OS. Therefore there is only 416mb RAM for use in-game on the PS3 while the 360 can use 480mb.

Inside the PS3

IGN's in-depth hardware comparison of the 360 and PlayStation 3

AnandTech's in-depth hardware comparison

PS1/PS2 games look worse on the PS3. Xbox games look better on the 360. Ironic since 360 buyers aren't paying for Xbox1 hardware while PS3 buyers are paying for PS1/PS2 hardware. (Read More)
Text and antialiasing problems on the PS3 are casuing people to hook up older composite cables to their HDTVs just to make their PS1/PS2 games look the way they should. Meanwhile Xbox 1 games flourish on the 360. While the PS3 may support most PS1/PS2 games, the user is paying for the extra hardware to do so, and it's not doing it as good as it could.

Sony has badmouthed Microsoft for not supporting every Xbox1 title, which has ended up with Sony's foot-in-mouth as Sony has problems with 200 titles of their own. Ironic isn't it? More and more Xbox1 titles are being supported all the time, and we didn't have to pay for extra hardware to do it.

PS2 Games Look Bad On A PS3

PS3 is a ploy to introduce Blu-Ray. (Read More)
Betamax, Minidisk, UMD, and now Blu Ray. How many new formats are they going to introduce and have fail on them? They just want control. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, Sony.

Blu-Ray for the PS3 was a "mistake"

Sony Blu-Ray Mistake FAQ

Sony's PS3: High-Scorer No More

Sony is losing exlusive game titles left and right. (Read More)
Why get a PS3 when the games that would have made it great will be probably be available for the 360? Not to mention on the 360 they'll provide a better online experience, and the achievements system.

Square Enix will not exclusively support Sony's PS3 as much as they did with the PS2.

NBA Live 2007 is cancelled on the PS3

More PS3 exclusives head to 360 (Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto IV, Fatal Inertia, Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War.

Virtua Fighter 5 dukes it out on Xbox 360

PS3 Loses more exclusives (Armored Core 4)

Tekken 6 next PS3-exclusive that is coming to Xbox 360?

Final Fantasy no longer PS3 Exclusive?

There are more, just google it up

HD DVD looks just as good, and judging from recent reviews, even better than Blu Ray. And 360 owners are not forced into it. (Read More)
So why get suckered into a system designed to sell Blu Ray when you can optionally get the same thing cheaper with HDDVD anyway?

Optical HD Battle May Be Over: HD DVD Wins

Is HD-DVD Winning The Format War?

PS3 Blu Ray vs Xbox 360 HD DVD vs DVD

The 360 is just as much of a living room entertainment center as the PS3, if not more. (Read More)
Yep, that's right. We get to download HD movies and TV shows. We can play music and video, view images, and all that jazz. Better yet we can do it from the 360 HDD, Data/Audio CD, Data/Video DVD, USB disk/HDD, or even streaming over a network. If you have Media Player 11 or Windows XP Media Center Edition then you don't even have to install anything extra to stream. Soon we'll even have DivX decoding built right in.

Beyond Games


Playing a CD (default theme). Image from xboxic.com

The PS3 is ugly. The 360 is beautiful. Features are ingenius. (Read More)
I'd rather play a game system than a vaccum from the 60's.

The 360 looks amazing and it's customizable. Faceplates may sound gimmicky but they're a great way to make your console personal. Not only can you change the theme on the outside you can change it on the inside in the menus and such aswell. We're not slaves to someone elses design. Also, the ring of light on the 360 is ingenius. Even if you rotate the console while it's on (don't do this with a disc in the drive!) the lights rotate in real time to show which players controllers are connected. Microsoft's even thought of all the little things.



360 is easier to program for, and you can write your own games too. (Read More)
Microsoft is very good at making it easy for developers to do what they want to do. It will be years before the PS3 is mastered and truely original things start to come out. We're already at that phase with the 360. 360 is a year ahead and doesn't have as many hurdles. Games that come out for multiple systems will most likely (and already are being) primarily developed on the 360. Therefore they're probably going to work and look best and on the 360. Call of Duty 3 is a good example of this. We don't have framerate slowdown on the 360.

PS3 may have linux, but what good does that do anyone? I can install linux on any old PC I have lying around. I don't buy game consoles so that I can use them as computers!

Microsoft has recently introduced the XNA game studio which allows regular people like you and I to program our own games in C# and DirectX. Now you can program and share your ideas to the world, and it will run the same for everyone as it does for you.