Jason Unger

Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3: Which Should I Buy?

Posted by junger - 03/03/08 at 08:03:11 am

I'm stuck at a standstill, and I'm not sure I'll be able to move forward until I have your help.

For the past few weeks, I've been debating between purchasing an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3. Both are attractive for separate reasons — and I cannot get both.

Here's my situation. I need your help.

Xbox 360

Cheaper. But which model? HDMI is preferred.

Rock Band. Will hard drive-less Arcade model have enough space for DLC?

Media Center Extender. But would need to run powerline to add to network.

Better games. But I don't really have time to get into hardcore games. Scene It is more attractive.

PlayStation 3

More expensive.

Blu-ray. Won the format war, but I don't buy (or rent) movies that much.

Rock Band. But can't use my PS2 guitar, which is moronic.

Free Online Play. But would I buy any other games?

Tell Me What to Do

You guys have given me good advice in the past — help me out again.

Which should I buy — Xbox 360 or PS3? Vote now!

Heroes, WTF: Why Aren't You on Sale?

Posted by junger - 02/22/08 at 02:02:51 pm

The format war is over. Now that HD DVD has lost, retailers across the Interwebs are putting titles on sale.

Amazon has discs on sale from 30%-57% off. Fry's has a load of movies for $14.99. The Xbox 360 external drive only costs $50!

Yet the only title I want that this format war has kept me from purchasing — Heroes Season 1 — hasn't dropped one penny in price.

No one has the discs on sale. I seriously don't get it. It's not like HD DVD is still, you know, alive.

The cheapest price online, according to Google Product search, is $66.99 (from sketchy SuperDuperClub.com).

I wouldn't be surprised if this season is never released on Blu-ray.

Don't Believe the Xbox 360/Blu-ray Rumors

Posted by junger - 02/18/08 at 11:02:19 am

Right now, at the top of Techmeme ("Tech Web, Page A1") is a story on Microsoft planning an Xbox 360 with Blu-ray drive.

Don't believe it. It's not true.

The story is "written" by David Richards, the Australian Web publisher known for plagiarizing and fabricating technology stories.

Richards has previously made up a story about an Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD drive coming from Microsoft, which never happened.

CrunchGear, Gizmodo and Engadget have all picked up on the story, at least noting it as a rumor.

Beyond the credibility problems of Richards, there are a lot of reasons why this will never happen.

1) Microsoft has been looking to digital downloads for a long time now. It makes no sense for them to re-do their most popular hardware to catch the wind of a short-lived trend.

2) Microsoft hates Java, which Blu-ray uses for its interactivity feature set, BD-J. Chris Lanier has a nice wrap-up of why this is important.

3) No one would pay for a BD 360. Considering the premium 360 costs $350 — only $50 less than the PlayStation 3 — a Blu-ray enabled Xbox would have to MSRP for close to $500. We know how well the PS3 did at that price point.

4) Microsoft hates Sony! The common speculation why Microsoft supported HD DVD was to prolong the format war to a point where digital downloads would be viable. We're not there yet, but we're close.

A day after Fred Wilson takes aim at bloggers not fulfilling their journalistic duties, it's important to remind everyone to be skeptical of rumors and research the claims and the people making them.

In this case, there's nothing from David Richards worth believing.

Big Surprise: Gaming Driving Blu-ray, HD DVD

Posted by junger - 01/22/08 at 01:01:28 pm

Gaming Pushing Blu-ray/HD DVD Market, Research Finds

Gaming hardware is driving the adoption of both Blu-ray and HD DVD, according to new research from DisplaySearch.

According to “Quarterly Global Next Generation DVD and Game Platform Hardware Shipment and Forecast Report,” high-definition DVD gaming hardware—Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360’s external HD DVD drive—had revenue growth of more than three times that of standalone players from the second to third quarters of 2007.

This isn't shocking. Why would someone on the fence about the format war invest their hard-earned money in a player that could eventually be useless?

(The exception here is when the price of the units competes with current DVD players, as HD DVD's $98 Wal-Mart special did back in November.)

The only reason I'm considering a PS3 is that it would provide two entertainment options — Blu-ray and gaming. While it's looking more and more likely that Blu-ray will win the format war, at some point digital downloads will be the norm.

One of the big problems with Blu-ray research and the PS3 is that everyone uses it at their convenience. The HD DVD side doesn't include it when discussing "standalone" players — I would consider it one — and the Blu-ray side uses it when totaling their market share.

For all intents and purposes, the PS3 should be included in all Blu-ray statistics. Obviously, it's questionable just how many PS3 owners use it as a Blu-ray player — some studies say a lot, some not a lot.

But it has a Blu-ray drive in it, so it's a Blu-ray player. That doesn't mean that Toshiba should be trying to compete against it — it shouldn't — but you can't ignore its presence.