12 yr old son’s after one of the above. He wants to be able to play Fifa 11 (and other games I imagine) against his mates over t’internet. I know nothing about them … had a Google and more confused re hard drive sizes, what’s really required/extras, cost of internet capability / subscription, and ultimately is one better than the other.

Any simple guidance … he’ll need to spend all his b’day / savings money on it, so won’t have much left for games or extras! He does have an old PS2 and a few PS2 games so I guess there’s an advantage there.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Oh, and buying 2nd hand … safe enough or best avoided?

Get a new one mate, you don’t know what a used one has had spilt on it, dropped, stolen etc….

plus if you buy new you get a one year warranty and you can extend that via, game, gamestation, HMV where ever you buy it.

Ive had my ps3 for a year now…. i love it, unlike Xbox! you dont have to pay a yearly subscription to get online
Dan

If he wants to play against his mates, go for the one that most of his mates have, so they can play against each other.

sadly, there’s an even split amongst hos mates of PS3 vs XBox

He does have an old PS2 and a few PS2 games so I guess there’s an advantage there.

No advantage as far as I’m aware…the new latest PS3 does not run the old PS2 games.

Give him the choice…’which mates does he want to play against’.

Online play on the Xbox is a £40 per year subscription but can be found for less (I paid about £29 via ebay last year).

I got a 2nd hand PS3 3 years ago and it has worked flawlessly, absolutely no problems whatsoever.

I had a 2nd hand 360 which died not long after purchase but it was covered by the shop. Had a couple of others go the same way.

The one I have now though works fine (2nd hand, ebay, £40).

If I had the cash and wanted a 360 I would go new however. Better design and warranty cover when it goes wrong.

thanks … and with either, any view on hard drive size?

The PS3 is a very good bluray player so handy if you like watching films in HD. Not sure but think the X-box is DVD.

to quote my 14 year old hardcore gamer son ‘the xbox blows the PS3 out of the water for on-line gaming!’ but yes you do have to pay for that where the PS3 is free. Oh and he has both but rarely uses the PS3 except to play the games not available on xbox

PS3 HD isn’t so important as it’s easy to upgrade at a later date, 360 is near on impossible. I prefer my PS3 over the 360 but there’s not much between them.

2nd hand is fine you go through someone like game they’re checked and usually come with a 30 day warranty.

Mine is the older PS3 that came with the 80GB HDD. I havn’t filled it yet and have about 15 games that are in various stages of completion. I think the new PS3’s come with 120, 160 or 250 HDD’s.

With the 360 I have heard some say that the bigger HDD option is better rather than the 4GB version and using USB sticks.

I only know a couple of people with PS3’s and they definately use it more as a media centre than a gaming unit, streaming films from PC’s etc. All of the hardcore gamers I know will only use the 360. I use the PS3 more than the 360 but then my 360 is a project more than anything else. I don’t do online gaming so can’t comment on how they are on that front.

any view on hard drive size?

If you’re getting the xbox for online gaming, don’t get the 4gb one, get the one with the proper HDD in it (250?). Otherwise you’ll be buying one in a month anyway, at twice the price.

All the mega ultra hardcore gamers I know use PS3 and use the 360 as a foot rest.

In reality there’s no great difference Xbox live is marginally more stable but not much more and I doubt most people can tell.

I doubt he’ll be dissapointed with either. Online? Xbox, no question.

If you get an Xbox then he won’t be able to play Fifa11 (or any other EA game) online until he is 13. Unless of course you make a “mistake” when entering his d.o.b. 🙂

Other than that the Xbox is excellent. Can’t comment on PS3.