Xbox 360 VS Playstation 3 - The console war of the 2000s

[JPZ]

I had a PS3 and it's the console which I have the most games for.

However, when it came to titles which were on both consoles, the Xbox 360 version usually had the better graphics and performance.

This is most evident in Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas, where not only are the PS3 graphics worse but the game performance drops to near unplayable as the save file gets bigger, which causes massive slowdown and frame-rate drops. The performance issues were later mostly resolved with a patch and the games were at least playable after this.

An exception would be the the Silent Hill HD collection, which the PS3 received a patch to fix some major performance and graphical issues, while the 360 did not and remains nearly unplayable in comparison.

The Xbox 360 had all three Mass Effect games and the PS3 only 2 and 3. As with most of the multi-platform releases the 360 version looked and performed better.

On the other hand, PS3 had the exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 which really showed the potential of the console. Also had the Yakuza games which the 360 did not. And a major game which arguably looked better on the PS3 was GTA IV.

 

[Haganeren]

It's a very hard question to me.

I hated this generation of console. Often, when i think about how i'm not satisfied in current gaming, i still think about how bad PS3 vs 360 was. It's actually when i stopped being "mainstream" because i didn't understood the craze with brown shooters. I mean, i started on Macintosh and Windows then thanks to SNES emulators found love with consoles and took a N64 then a Gamecube and a PS2 so i thought i liked any kind of game.

But that generation of console proved me wrong with Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, what Resident Evil become to be fair, i was already not a big fan of open world and didn't cared about GTA III so yeah not liking open world like Infamous or Sleeping Dogs didn't helped me ! That's how Prince of Persia became Assassin's Creed which i liked less... Even Uncharted i couldn't like ( especially the first one ) and i found it SO POOR compared to Tomb Raider. I also couldn't understand W-RPG at the time ( so no Oblivion and Mass Effect ) and J RPG were losing their touch at the time ( Err Star Ocean 4, FFXIII, Last Remnant ( sorry Kawazu...) not being understandable, Resonance of Fate being cool at the beginning very repetitive after a while even Tales of Vesperia had a disappointing story...). Even with Nintendo I was disappointed by Mario Galaxy linearity ( the atmosphere was fine but disappeared with the second one ), disappointed in Mario Kart handling, disappointed in Twilight Princess, disappointed in the casual focus...

EVERYTHING wasn't bad at the time of course. It was the revival of fighting game and i loved Blazblue to death; most new CAVE's shmup like Mushihime sama Futari or Deathsmiles were here too even if you couldn't play all of them... Some shooters were interesting enough for me like Bioshock ( even went back to play all the System shock which.. I kinda liked better than Bioshock ah ah ), Portal, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge or everything Platinuum Game made at the time really be it Bayonetta, Vanquish or Madworld ( not Anarchy Reigns... ). But still, it was obvious to me i didn't like ALL video games like i thought before.

So... i mostly played on portable at the time, on DS and PSP with game i really loved like Ace Attorney or Locoroco.... And of course i still played my PS2 at the time, with games like Persona 4 still being out on 2008.

There is still something that gave me hope at the time though... And it was the indie games. I think it's strange to hear today but World of Goo was like, my favorite Wii game at the time. I never thought a video game could also be "a short cool unique experience with a big artistic ambition and a small price". And for that, the Xbox 360 was the best with stuff like the narrative of Braid, the presentation of Limbo, the simplicity of Splosion man, the atmosphere of Scary girl, the joy of Trouble Witch, the fights of Shank, the concept of Fez, the narrator of Bastion and much more... That was my true joy really. Even some Xbox Live Arcade Indie game were fun like the creepy Decay, or the super cheap but very fun Street of Fury

So yeah, Xbox 360 wins right ?

Well.... yeah.... ? But I took a PS3 in 2010 or so and little by little, i found new stuff to like. The time management of Atelier Rorona, the last chapter of Solid Snake life with MGS4, Demon's Soul being that "strange hardcore thing" that i started and completed as Dark Souls began to explode, Tales of Xillia that i liked way better, the reboot of Rayman with Rayman Origins then (arguably later) Legends, 3D Dot Games Heroes or, coming from Trails in the Sky, i was very eager to play Trails of Cold Steel which AT THE TIME at least, i loved ( now i'm more reserved ) and i still loved some Playstation exclusive like Journey or Tokyo Jungle

So i usually say that PS3 was my favorite in the end especially during the Wii U days where i was much more happy in general with gaming. On PS3 i could even play Blazblue online without paying anything ! Now that was SUPER cool, the true democratisation of online for me ! I will always curse Microsoft for making you pay for it, console are the only ones that do that !
But despite this deep grudge, i still think the Xbox 360 brought more to the world in the end... Especially nowadays, when i'm starting to learn how TPS like Gears of War can actually be fun when playing with someone i actually like... And that i found that i find even horrible BTA at the time like Splatterhouse, Dark Sector or XBlades, easily the worst of them all oddly entertaining.

So yeah
TL;DR : Xbox 360 brought more to me thanks to indie games but my grudge for paying online makes me more fond of PS3 in the end.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[moonbits]

This is most evident in Skyrim and Fallout: New Vegas, where not only are the PS3 graphics worse but the game performance drops to near unplayable as the save file gets bigger, which causes massive slowdown and frame-rate drops. The performance issues were later mostly resolved with a patch and the games were at least playable after this.

This is a very particular scenario because Oblivion on PS3 is noticeably better than the 360 counterpart. I think the PS3 had an edge in processing power but the 360 was just a more suitable and welcoming platform for game development with less hassle managing memory. A lot PS3 games were crappy due to inexperience; not because of lack of power.

Games like Killzone 2 are a sigh to behold even today.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I think there were no "console war" since the mid 90's anymore.

 

[PhrawzT]

The Xbox 360 was the clear winner in my opinion. Games like Halo 3 and the Mass Effect trillogy I played far more than anything on the PS3, plus the XBLA games were a lot of fun. I spent countless hours playing Bankshot Billiards with friends, and even fired it up a few months ago to play against my wife.

 

[JPZ]

This is a very particular scenario because Oblivion on PS3 is noticeably better than the 360 counterpart. I think the PS3 had an edge in processing power but the 360 was just a more suitable and welcoming platform for game development with less hassle managing memory. A lot PS3 games were crappy due to inexperience; not because of lack of power.

Games like Killzone 2 are a sigh to behold even today.

Yes, thankfully Oblivion for the PS3 was at least better, though it did come out a few years later. I played that game a lot, wish the original Steam version had built-in controller options.

Another game which still stands out graphically is MGS4.

 

[iamthemilkman]

It's a very hard question to me.

I hated this generation of console. Often, when i think about how i'm not satisfied in current gaming, i still think about how bad PS3 vs 360 was. It's actually when i stopped being "mainstream" because i didn't understood the craze with brown shooters. I mean, i started on Macintosh and Windows then thanks to SNES emulators found love with consoles and took a N64 then a Gamecube and a PS2 so i thought i liked any kind of game.

But that generation of console proved me wrong with Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, what Resident Evil become to be fair, i was already not a big fan of open world and didn't cared about GTA III so yeah not liking open world like Infamous or Sleeping Dogs didn't helped me ! That's how Prince of Persia became Assassin's Creed which i liked less... Even Uncharted i couldn't like ( especially the first one ) and i found it SO POOR compared to Tomb Raider. I also couldn't understand W-RPG at the time ( so no Oblivion and Mass Effect ) and J RPG were losing their touch at the time ( Err Star Ocean 4, FFXIII, Last Remnant ( sorry Kawazu...) not being understandable, Resonance of Fate being cool at the beginning very repetitive after a while even Tales of Vesperia had a disappointing story...). Even with Nintendo I was disappointed by Mario Galaxy linearity ( the atmosphere was fine but disappeared with the second one ), disappointed in Mario Kart handling, disappointed in Twilight Princess, disappointed in the casual focus...

EVERYTHING wasn't bad at the time of course. It was the revival of fighting game and i loved Blazblue to death; most new CAVE's shmup like Mushihime sama Futari or Deathsmiles were here too even if you couldn't play all of them... Some shooters were interesting enough for me like Bioshock ( even went back to play all the System shock which.. I kinda liked better than Bioshock ah ah ), Portal, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge or everything Platinuum Game made at the time really be it Bayonetta, Vanquish or Madworld ( not Anarchy Reigns... ). But still, it was obvious to me i didn't like ALL video games like i thought before.

So... i mostly played on portable at the time, on DS and PSP with game i really loved like Ace Attorney or Locoroco.... And of course i still played my PS2 at the time, with games like Persona 4 still being out on 2008.

There is still something that gave me hope at the time though... And it was the indie games. I think it's strange to hear today but World of Goo was like, my favorite Wii game at the time. I never thought a video game could also be "a short cool unique experience with a big artistic ambition and a small price". And for that, the Xbox 360 was the best with stuff like the narrative of Braid, the presentation of Limbo, the simplicity of Splosion man, the atmosphere of Scary girl, the joy of Trouble Witch, the fights of Shank, the concept of Fez, the narrator of Bastion and much more... That was my true joy really. Even some Xbox Live Arcade Indie game were fun like the creepy Decay, or the super cheap but very fun Street of Fury

So yeah, Xbox 360 wins right ?

Well.... yeah.... ? But I took a PS3 in 2010 or so and little by little, i found new stuff to like. The time management of Atelier Rorona, the last chapter of Solid Snake life with MGS4, Demon's Soul being that "strange hardcore thing" that i started and completed as Dark Souls began to explode, Tales of Xillia that i liked way better, the reboot of Rayman with Rayman Origins then (arguably later) Legends, 3D Dot Games Heroes or, coming from Trails in the Sky, i was very eager to play Trails of Cold Steel which AT THE TIME at least, i loved ( now i'm more reserved ) and i still loved some Playstation exclusive like Journey or Tokyo Jungle

So i usually say that PS3 was my favorite in the end especially during the Wii U days where i was much more happy in general with gaming. On PS3 i could even play Blazblue online without paying anything ! Now that was SUPER cool, the true democratisation of online for me ! I will always curse Microsoft for making you pay for it, console are the only ones that do that !
But despite this deep grudge, i still think the Xbox 360 brought more to the world in the end... Especially nowadays, when i'm starting to learn how TPS like Gears of War can actually be fun when playing with someone i actually like... And that i found that i find even horrible BTA at the time like Splatterhouse, Dark Sector or XBlades, easily the worst of them all oddly entertaining.

So yeah
TL;DR : Xbox 360 brought more to me thanks to indie games but my grudge for paying online makes me more fond of PS3 in the end.

I enjoyed Splatterhouse and Dark Sector, however X-Blades was truly awful. Its sequel, Blades of Time, was slightly better, but still bad.

 

[Vardalis]

I only ever owned a PS3 at the time but there were definitely a few Xbox games that seemed interesting, like Halo 3/ODST/Reach or Crackdown.

The Xbox did seem to start as the favorite among my friend group but around the mid point of the generation people seemed to get a PS3 one by one. By the end of the gen I think most of them had moved on from the Xbox entirely.

 

[Maximecool]

In my country, or at least among the people around me, we didn’t really talk about a console war during the 2000s, unlike what was happening in the 90s.

Here in Europe, the PS3 was a total flop at launch in terms of sales. It was very expensive for the time, and maybe the marketing didn’t help either I’m not sure.

I personally didn’t have that generation; I was still using my old PS2 because my parents didn’t want to buy a new console. So throughout the 2000s, I only had my old-school 128-bit console. The first time I bought a 360 with my own money was in the 2010s, and I remember playing Bioshock on it.

That said, we can’t deny that the PS3 was technically the more powerful console thanks to its Cell processor compared to the 360.

 

[job32]

Xbox360 won in the media war in my region. I got one and it probably had a better choice of deeper games. Only console battle they won against sony and they lose any faith they may have gained by that, with hard drives that failed, ffs.