What game system should I get?

[Rob_Merritt]

This isn't a general question to invite trolls. I have a specific need.

This past week I finally upgraded my bedroom TV from a 15+ year old 19 inch TV/vcr combo to a 42 inch LCD TV and bluray player. Now I'm thinking about including a game system. I'm not looking for a main system. I have all that in my living room. I would be mostly looking for lite gaming. This isn't as easy as it initially appears. I might want to do some media streaming from my Windows home Server and maybe some web surfing as well. My options:

a) Build a pc. Does all three but at a higher cost. I also want to get away from the pc.
b) Wii. Does lite "gaming." Maybe too lite but has a web broswer.
c) Another 360. Does all three but buying another 360 seems a bit ridiculous. It is the one I'm leaning towards.
d) A PS3. I could access psn titles which could be fun. Plus Little big Planet. It is the one system I don't have from this generation. However it is a bit expensive, I already have a blu ray player, and streaming from a Windows Home Server seems questionable based on my google searches.
e) Something else I haven't thought of.

To answer the question, why on earth why I want to do this at all: Basically this is to solve the issue of me staying up downstairs till the wee hours in the morning while the rest of the family is asleep upstairs.

[gordonrumble]

If you already have an xbox, think a wii won't serve your needs and want to get away from a PC, then looks like the PS3 is your best bet. Process of elimination, haha

Only console I have, no regrets there.

[Rock8man]

I already have a PS3, Wii and 360 for the living room, and I was in a similar situation. I got another 360 and have no regrets. The 360 has the most games I want to play on it, and in the bedroom one I mostly play light XBLA games, but also games like Dead Space and Condemned, where I like having a smaller room with no lights, with headphones on. And if you get a memory card, you can switch back and forth between the two 360s easily, just make sure your profile and save games are saved on the memory card.

Plus there's the added benefit that when I have my brother over, we can sometimes play system link games or even XBL online games in the same house.

[LesJarvis]

Does the 360 have a browser now? Anyway, if you don't have any interest in PS3 exclusives, the 360 seems like the best bet since it's quite a bit cheaper, though if you didn't already have a Blu-ray player the PS3 would be the obvious choice. Do you see any value in having a Blu-ray player in both locations? That might be another reason to get a PS3. I stream video from my PC to my PS3 all the time and it works great, but I believe the 360 can do the same thing, plus Netflix support if you're into that.

[Hunty]

Bear in mind that whilst streaming to a PS3 from a Windows Home Server can be a bit shonky, TVersity is a simple and much more robust solution that I've been using with great success - it can encode any incompatible format on the fly into mpeg2, which isn't ideal in terms of picture quality, but does mean you'll never bump into anything that doesn't work. Plus, if money's no object and you have all the other systems, you might as well get the PS3 and check out the odd exclusive. There's some great light gaming stuff on PSN (though the same is true of Xbox Arcade, I guess), like Burn Zombie Burn, SSD, Flower, the PixelJunk stuff and so on.

[ThornFalconeye]

why not simply move one of the consoles from that main room into your room: like the ps3 or wii(although waggling in the wee hours?)

I would pick up a PS2 if you dont mind going back a generation to play on its huge library of games. They are pretty cheap by now and they have a great selection of single player games in nearly every genre.

[fuzzyslug]

I'd wait for the price drop in the fall and buy a PS3 to diversify. You'll be able to take that blu-ray player to another TV.

[DeathMonkey]

I voted for the 360 before I read your question. I'd revise my answer to the Wii. It's got a unique set of games and avoids the redundancy of the PS3. I have a PS3, but don't own any boxed games for it because I haven't liked any of them enough. I bought and sold MGS4 and Ratchet and Clank. (I do have Flower, some PixelJunk games, and some other downloadable games.)

-Scott-

[Rob_Merritt]

why not simply move one of the consoles from that main room into your room: like the ps3 or wii(although waggling in the wee hours?)

Because then the complaint will be I'm hold up upstairs while everyone is awake down stairs. I know, it sounds crazy. Is it really a big deal that it takes 20 seconds to walk the stairs to find me?

[Jon Rowe]

Buy a PS3 and flip positions with the 360. Move them around.

[Rock8man]

Buy a PS3 and flip positions with the 360. Move them around.

That's actually a very good suggestion. Also, listen to fuzzyslug and wait for the price drop on the PS3. It is coming.

[Rob_Merritt]

Buy a PS3 and flip positions with the 360. Move them around.

One good reason why that isn't a good idea: Rockband

[Bahimiron]

I would be mostly looking for lite gaming.

In that case you want the Nintendo DS.

[WarrenM]

That's actually a very good suggestion. Also, listen to fuzzyslug and wait for the price drop on the PS3. It is coming.
Is it? Is that a gut feel or was there an announcement?

[Rock8man]

Is it? Is that a gut feel or was there an announcement?

No announcement, but it's gleaned from their sales projections. Obviously they can't announce a price cut in advance. Bill Harris goes into it in detail (http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2009/07/console-post-of-week-its-just-math.html). Plus this month's analysis on Gamasutra (Behind the Numbers) goes into it a little bit too. They're also predicting a $100 price cut, but admit that it could be $50.

Here's the relevant quote from the 'Behind the Numbers' article:


The PlayStation 3 will likely receive the first price cut. Sony itself continues to be coy about its pricing strategy, but virtually everyone agrees that it must drop the price of the PlayStation 3 by at least $50 in the next two or three months.

Given Sony's global hardware sales target and the size of the U.S. market, we continue to favor a $100 price cut, preferably in August. Without such a cut, it seems unlikely to us that the PS3 base in the U.S. will contribute enough to help Sony reach the stated goal of a 30% increase in system sales.

True, it's speculation, but it's based on Sony's own projections, so it's pretty safe.

[Jazar]

There are also very heavy rumors that a pricedrop will be in august to coincide with Madden. Right now BestBuy.com is offering a PS3 with free copies of Killzone 2 and MGS4.

PS3 or 360 are good choices. Let me say this: PlayOn turns the 360 and PS3 to media monsters. Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, CNN, ESPN, (Crackle, GameTrailers, Adult Swim w/ plugins), local media. The amount of content I have to watch on my systems are mind boggling.

Recently I've discovered how amazing having Youtube streaming can be. This guy has tons of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes to watch (http://www.youtube.com/user/Flaggboy42). When Michael Jackson died I wanted to check out the Matrin Bashir interview again and someone had that (http://www.youtube.com/user/RedbyCat). Then I wanted to check out the MJ PR response video ("footage you weren't meant to see!") and someone else had that (http://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelJackson5couk). Workout videos from SparkPeople (http://www.youtube.com/user/sparkpeople) let gives you instant access to aerobics. It's unbelievable.

[mashakos]

my advice: get a used 60gb ps3. Price-wise, you have a lot of options, and can get lucky with a barely used 60gb ps3 for $350. Also, they come with a bluetooth remote while only the high end ps3's on the market bundle one AFAIK.

The ps3 library on it's own is kind of weak, while there are some great games on the ps2. I was disappointed with the supposed "ps2 upscaling" but other than that I'm happier with the choice I made in terms of price and features.

I don't use the ps3 for anything but games since getting a blu-ray writer, but the 60gb ps3 has a neat card reader that would come in handy if you record stuff on a video cam or digital camera. Streaming is also very easy, the ps3 can connect to network drives and/or computers on a LAN and it can play divx/mp4. It's a good media solution overall.

[RickH]

If you're wanting to stream, then you should see how you like it with your existing 360 before you plunk down for another one.

I was seriously disappointed in the Media Center Extender functionality of the 360, both in the interface and codec support.

[sam and the firefly]

Buying another 360 would be crazy. Go with a PS3 after the inevitable price drop - even if you only use it for 'light' gaming, the PSN store has a much better range of stuff for that than XBLA.

[AndrewM]

Buying another 360 would be crazy.

There are some advantages

1) Already own games for it.

2) When the downstairs 360 breaks, there's already a replacement.

[RickH]

There are some advantages

1) Already own games for it.

2) When the downstairs 360 breaks, there's already a replacement.

Also, could play system link games with the kids. I had 2 until my original (replaced 3 times) unit broke.

[Mysterio]

snip

I'm still drooling over the fact that your wife allows a 42" LCD TV, and a video game console or PC in the bedroom. What is your wife's planet of origin?

[Kael]

I voted PC. In particular I would buy a cheap laptop, maybe even a mini. Placed in a little docking station with your PC you get all the media benifits you are looking for, and you can take it with you. Dell Mini's start at around $299.

[mkozlows]

If you're wanting to stream, then you should see how you like it with your existing 360 before you plunk down for another one.

I was seriously disappointed in the Media Center Extender functionality of the 360, both in the interface and codec support.

The Media Center support is junky (I've mentally tossed Media Center onto that "seemed like a good idea in 2004" pile that PlaysForSure is on), but the support via the regular UI is pretty solid.

[unbongwah]

In particular I would buy a cheap laptop, maybe even a mini.
Except cheap laptops have crappy GPUs, which severely limit one's gaming options. Plus the whole point is to take advantage of that shiny new 42" LCD - why would he settle for a piddle 10" - 12" screen?

[ARogan]

I voted 360 before I read carefully enough. I would say go get a ps3 so you have all the exclusives covered. But not for lbp, maybe something like the uncharted games!

also for streaming I think this was posted before (I've never tried it):
http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

[Kael]

Except cheap laptops have crappy GPUs, which severely limit one's gaming options. Plus the whole point is to take advantage of that shiny new 42" LCD - why would he settle for a piddle 10" - 12" screen?

I don't know if this is sarcasm or not, but Im going to treat it as if you are being serious.

You output audio/video from the laptop to the TV, Im suggesting you use the laptops screen. And this is a casual gaming setup. He has a real gaming computer and an xBox. We wanted something lite for the bedroom. A mini won't be able to play (insert cutting edge FPS here) well, but you can play flash games, strategy games, and bounce around in WoW without any difficulty.

[Omniscia]

Buy the 360 and pick up a cheap HD-DVD drive, so you can enjoy the hundreds of dirt-cheap titles available. You could save a great deal over the cost of certain Blu-ray discs.

[mashakos]

I don't know if this is sarcasm or not, but Im going to treat it as if you are being serious.

You output audio/video from the laptop to the TV, Im suggesting you use the laptops screen. And this is a casual gaming setup. He has a real gaming computer and an xBox. We wanted something lite for the bedroom. A mini won't be able to play (insert cutting edge FPS here) well, but you can play flash games, strategy games, and bounce around in WoW without any difficulty.
netbook != 1080p HD playback
...

[Kael]

netbook != 1080p HD playback
...

Sorry, I didn't read that in his requirements. I read:

1. Lite gaming.
2. Media Streaming.
3. Web browsing.

[mashakos]

Sorry, I didn't read that in his requirements. I read:

1. Lite gaming.
2. Media Streaming.
3. Web browsing.
Media Streaming = all types of media - not just youtube level stuff.

[Lizard_King]

A second 360 has been great for us. Streaming works fine, although the fact that it's only one xbox/netflix account is annoying as hell. A memory card and one of those crappy datel wire adapters allowed me to clone our profiles onto each hd so that I don't even have to keep anything on the card apart from the saved games of the moment. An absurdly long ethernet cable from monoprice takes care of system link gaming for next to nothing, which is much more pleasant than XBL shenanigans. And, of course, coop makes marginal games good and good games great.

And from what I understand, the Datel 4GB memory card (http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/XB360-MAX-Memory-4GB__EF000778.aspx) with access to up to 16gb on Micro SD cards is a way to use an Arcade as a secondary system.

[sam and the firefly]

There are some advantages

1) Already own games for it.

2) When the downstairs 360 breaks, there's already a replacement.

...Interesting points! I cannot argue. I actually have two 360s myself, though granted one of them is six thousand miles away.

However, I'd probably take the PS3 over the 360 if I could only have one anyway, so I remain unswayed.

[Adree]

http://i32.tinypic.com/fucidy.jpg

[Rob_Merritt]

I'm still drooling over the fact that your wife allows a 42" LCD TV, and a video game console or PC in the bedroom. What is your wife's planet of origin?

She's wanted one for a long while and I've been sort of against it.

[Kael]

Media Streaming = all types of media - not just youtube level stuff.

The mini10 has a HDMI connector. I dont see why it wouldnt be able to stream HD video (though Im no expert in the matter). I know the mini's aren't made to display HD on their screen's, but streaming it through to an external device with an HDMI input shouldn't be an issue.


She's wanted one for a long while and I've been sort of against it.

Are you sure she wanted a TV, or was she just asking for something larger in the bedroom?

I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your wait staff.

[ARogan]

And from what I understand, the Datel 4GB memory card (http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/XB360-MAX-Memory-4GB__EF000778.aspx) with access to up to 16gb on Micro SD cards is a way to use an Arcade as a secondary system.

OK, that looks really cool. I'm about to run out of free space for my saves on my 512MB memory unit. This would be nice to have not to shuffle my saves around between the MU and the hard drive. Has anybody tried one of these? Does it look like just one big MU to the 360?

[weblegend]

PC is the best i think, Key board + Mouse > console :D

[mashakos]

The mini10 has a HDMI connector. I dont see why it wouldnt be able to stream HD video (though Im no expert in the matter). I know the mini's aren't made to display HD on their screen's, but streaming it through to an external device with an HDMI input shouldn't be an issue.
exactly, you're no expert. It's not "streaming" when the gfx chip is outputting to a display device.

Sorry if I'm being rude, but I'm annoyed that you reply without looking anything up.

[Rob_Merritt]

If you're wanting to stream, then you should see how you like it with your existing 360 before you plunk down for another one.

I was seriously disappointed in the Media Center Extender functionality of the 360, both in the interface and codec support.


This was a good suggestion. I tried it last night and hardly anything I have will steam to the 360 from the WHS. I mostly have mpeg 4 videos recorded via Tivo. I also tried a few dvd rips and they weren't working either. The only thing that did work are a few ancient mpeg 2 videos I had laying around.

[unbongwah]

The mini10 has a HDMI connector. I dont see why it wouldnt be able to stream HD video (though Im no expert in the matter).
Is the Mini 10 powerful enough to play back HD content? It's only got an Atom CPU and Intel GPU - I thought you needed something beefier.

[ARogan]

And from what I understand, the Datel 4GB memory card (http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/XB360-MAX-Memory-4GB__EF000778.aspx) with access to up to 16gb on Micro SD cards is a way to use an Arcade as a secondary system.

I finally saw one of these at best buy and picked one up. It was a 2GB model for $40. The device works great. It actually doesn't have any internal memory. It just includes a 2gb microsdhc card. I promptly swapped that out with a 16gb one I already had.

http://blog.arogan.com/2009/09/xb360-max-memory-2gb-xbox-360.html

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/IMG_0922.jpg