An Xbox360 or a Playstation 3?

[Sharingan]

Then, obviously, you don't have to back up your data first, since you won't have any yet.

[Harrison]

Do new PS3's come with the HD prepared with anything needed for the account setup the first time it is switched on? Plus any preloaded game and media demos? I would personally switch it on with the original HD in place first, just to have a play around and see what everything does and that it is all working correctly. And then swap the drives over.

[Teho]

Do new PS3's come with the HD prepared with anything needed for the account setup the first time it is switched on? Plus any preloaded game and media demos?

I don't think so. Mine didn't, but mine's not the current model. I don't remember exactly how it acts the first time you turn it on as I've only done it once and it was 15 months ago. But it's safe to say that among the first things it does is setup the video and audio, and asks you to create a new PSN account or register an existing one with the console.

As for media to try out, you'll have to get it from the PSN Store. There's plenty of game and movie trailers, and quite a few game demos by now. Also there's Gran Turismo HD which is free for anyone to get, it has only one track and ten cars but is given away to anyone who's bought the console.

[Zetr0]

I have to admit i can eventually see me getting a PS3 in a year or two, when the price comes down considerably... and theres some chip-mods for it. probably around the £150 mark... or lower....

as i have an Original XBox or 2... or 3.... or infact 5 the X360 has very little appeal to be honest, after all for that kinda hard-core gamage, thats what the PC's i have are for!

[Harrison]

That is exactly the same reason I've not bought a 360, and don't really have much intention to until they drop of the map and I can grab one for a few quid! All of the good 360 games appear on the PC quite quickly after their 360 "exclusive" releases, so there is little point. Yes a 360 is much cheaper than a gaming PC, but a PC can do so much more so in my view is worth the extra investment.

[Zetr0]

A good point indeed H,

infact a lot of the so-called exclusive titles are pretty damn poor in MHO

stepping aside a smidgeon, the Wifie bought me a PSP with Crisis Core for out anniversary on the 20th last Sunday

damn shame thats an exclusive for the PSP, i would love that on my PS2

[Harrison]

What do you think of the PSP? I love the system. Many people pan it on mention but there are tons of games available for it. If you have the slim PSP then you can connect it up to the TV and play the games that way. They don't look that different to PS2 games either.

The Lego Indy and Star Wars games are also great on the PSP.

I take it the PSP is currently using a standard Sony firmware? Definitely recommend getting a custom firmware onto as soon as you can to open it up to be used for much more. Depending on your current firmware version there are different ways to get the custom firmware installed.

Plus with a PS3 you can interface it with the PSP for streaming video and other content, as well as game interaction.

[Zetr0]

@Harrison

A Muchos Thanks for the Info my friend, when it arrives (31st this month) I will be most certainly tapping you for more info.

It will be a Slim as well so the fact i can set it upto my 42" plasma is gonna ROCK!!!!!! Oooo my m8y Yorkie is gonna be soooooOOoo green (he has 3 of the old PSP's)

anyway my main aim it to use my PSP for EMU and the odd movie I have many PSP's Emus already downloaded (incuding DOSBox, Amiga, SNES, MegaDrive AND PS1 )

[Harrison]

There is definitely a great emulation scene on the PSP. The SNES emulator is the most impressive in my view. Able to run games at full speed and very nice. Genesis/Megadrive emulation using Gen is also very good.

PSPUAE is also a great Amiga emulator, but it does still struggle a bit for speed and many game still run just below true speed. Good enough for many games, but this can cause the sound to go out of sync or the controls to act sluggishly in some games. Still a great emulator though.

MAME isn't so great with no sound currently emulated, and only a handful of games supported. But hpefully that will improve.

Definitely loads to explore and play around with.

I highly recommend you invest in the largest memorystick you can afford as you will need it once you get into the homebrew and emulation scene on the PSP. 8GB cards work fine these days and you can fit a load of stuff on one of those. Game ISOs are also normally between 200MB and 1GB so a few games can also be fitted onto a card at once.

Let me know if and when you need any more info and I will give you some links to great resources of info about custom fimwares and other PSP stuff.

[Bloodwych]

I thought long and hard about this.

In the end, the 360 seems to be easier for programmers to get performance out of and cheaper, has better hardware upscaling support, but as someone pointed out above it's false economy...

...the PS3 is Blue-Ray compatible, has a much quieter drive, great OS option, free online gameplay, a half decent D-Pad (360's is awful), standard hard drive that all games use and nice looks when combined with a black LCD TV.

Yes a few titles are worse at the moment on the PS3, but the differences are negligible during actual play.

I'm getting a PS3!