PS4 or XBOX 720?

@McShank: PSN games, which is what I was talking about, as in small, downloadable, XBLA competitive games, are lacking in number, though certainly not quality. The selection of games on XBLA is HUGE. Plus, having a trial for every single one is a HUGE thing, something that is possible because of the way that XBL is monetized. PS+ is cool, but only lasts as long as you... keep paying for it... And the games only last as long as you can keep them around on your HDD. With XBL, if I get a game on XBLA, I can always download it again as long as XBL exists, I have a console, and I am connected to the internet. That is worth the extra money of paying for the games that I actually want and not hoping to get lucky. It's why I love Steam so much: it's crazy easy to just buy a game, and then download it whenever the fuck you want. Much better, for my preferences, than a random jackpot of stuff. That's cool, and ya know I might make use of PS+ to experience games I normally wouldn't have taken the plunge on, but if I like that game I'm just going to buy it to help support the creation of things I like.

And I don't mind paying for the things I enjoy. It's a positive experience for me. I support good things, and I own it. PSN is shitty in a lot of ways that XBL is great. XBL is a much more robust thing, and at like 6 bucks a month, I do not mind paying for it at ALL. PSN has to give away games to make it worth paying for, at that point it's just you doing gamefly through Sony, with way less choice. That's the ONLY good thing about PS+, and there aren't a lot of things that I think PSN does better than XBL. Now, I like my PS3, and PSN is capable and has some great stuff going for it. I won't deny that PS+ is great, because that would be silly. I just don't think that XBL is bad just because you have to buy games. That's how things work in the real world. You pay for something, and you get something. Acting like you aren't paying for the PS+ games is silly. You're paying for them, like it or not. And it's a game console, they added that stuff on because of the fact that XBL makes enough money to add all of the cool services they added on, so I can see why they charge money for them. And next generation I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Netflix being a free feature for all console owners, because of it's position with the other competing consoles. Those features exist because people were wiling to pay for XBL, and it makes sense to make them continue to be that way without significant cause to change that. Most of the services on XBL that are behind that paywall are features that were not part of the console at launch and requires a lot of development and costly agreements with content providers to even come into existence, and none of them relate to gaming. And, most of them aren't available on other consoles at all, let alone for free. Netflix is the only one I can think of, and I would like to see that be a free, standard feature on the next Xbox but I understand why they aren't doing that.

Depending on how well the PS3 does in the next year, there might not be a PS4. Sony really is in the financial shitter, before the release of the PS3 the company was worth around 100 billion. Now it's worth 13 billion. (Nintendo is worth around 16 billion or something like that)

As with every generation prior the games are what sell me on a machine. I don't care which is out first, has the best price or the supposed best features/services, I'll buy the one that has the most games I want to play first and then inevitably end up getting the other at some point.

@MordeaniisChaos: You are misinformed. Anything you buy off of PSN (even at discount price) can be deleted and re-downloaded as much as you want. Only things that you get free through PS+ are no longer available to play once your subscription ends. But even then, as long as you don't delete it from your HD, you can play them again if you ever re-subscribe to PS+.

Sony has and always will be the wiser choice.

I don't understand what this means. The way you word it, I'm interested in learning about both. I don't see what I'd have to choose. Otherwise, there is no information, so I have no idea.

I've always felt that if you're a PC gamer, there is almost no reason to own an Xbox 360. Sony and Nintendo have infinitely more exclusive games than Microsoft does, so I will probably just stick with PC / Wii U (just because I love nintendo games) in the future.

@mitsuko_souma: No, I know that. I'm talking about PS+, obviously. You misunderstood me entirely. I know exactly how PS+ games work, and I know exactly how purchased PSN games work. I just don't see as much value as you in the PS+ free games deal. Which is the benefit you were claiming over XBLA. Meanwhile I have things like Party chat, better (and more commonly used) in game communication, a huge list of content providers, and access to the excellent media stores on XBLA, which I think are particularly good, a huge library of games made just for the downloadable format, a growing (pretty large at this point in fact) selection of retail titles available for full purchase and download, even older original Xbox games.

They both have their strengths, and weaknesses. I just like XBLA more than you do.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

@mitsuko_souma: No, I know that. I'm talking about PS+, obviously. You misunderstood me entirely. I know exactly how PS+ games work, and I know exactly how purchased PSN games work. I just don't see as much value as you in the PS+ free games deal. Which is the benefit you were claiming over XBLA. Meanwhile I have things like Party chat, better (and more commonly used) in game communication, a huge list of content providers, and access to the excellent media stores on XBLA, which I think are particularly good, a huge library of games made just for the downloadable format, a growing (pretty large at this point in fact) selection of retail titles available for full purchase and download, even older original Xbox games.

They both have their strengths, and weaknesses. I just like XBLA more than you do.

Well then just don't get PS+. PSN used to be much worse at everything than Live, but now it is nearly its equal. Live is still a little better, but requires a rip off subscription just to play online. PSN is free. I have no idea what your point is.

Xbox. I don't see Sony making any crazy gambles with the next system because they simply can't afford it. So the PS4 probably won't be much more than a better, faster PS3. Microsoft on the other hand is way more likely to do something crazy and stupid, or crazy and innovative. Also, if nothing else we don't know what the next Xbox is going to be called but it's a fairly safe assumption the next PlayStation is going to be PS4.

@mitsuko_souma: The library of content on PSN vs XBLA, the primary thing that is free on both, is much different. On top of that, anything to do with downloading on the PS3 is FUCKED. On my Xbox, it takes about 3 seconds to update a game if it's just your standard patch. On the PS3? It takes 10+ minutes, it's fucking silly. Especially when more than one patch needs to be applied. The PSN is totally lacking in content that is on XBLA, even if it is behind a paywall. Existing for a price is better than not existing at all.

PSN is not equal to XBL. The only real benefit is free multiplayer, which is huge for some, but at the same time a lot of online stuff on PSN just isn't very good at handling certain things online, especially communications.

Acting as though a service is without the flaws it has isn't going to make it any better for anyone who can see through the holes. It's not awful, but it has a LOT of progress it needs to make before it's an equivalent service. It's just as functional, not as useful or fully featured though.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

@mitsuko_souma:

Acting as though a service is without the flaws it has isn't going to make it any better for anyone who can see through the holes. It's not awful, but it has a LOT of progress it needs to make before it's an equivalent service. It's just as functional, not as useful or fully featured though.

How am I acting as if it has no flaws? I am merely stating an opinion. I have played both 360 and PS3 extensively, and find that PSN is nearly equal to Live now. The fact that it is free vs. paying a subscription fee just pushes it far in favor of the PS3 for me.

@DoctorWelch said:

Xbox. I don't see Sony making any crazy gambles with the next system because they simply can't afford it. So the PS4 probably won't be much more than a better, faster PS3. Microsoft on the other hand is way more likely to do something crazy and stupid, or crazy and innovative. Also, if nothing else we don't know what the next Xbox is going to be called but it's a fairly safe assumption the next PlayStation is going to be PS4.

This. I think it's very likely that, should the PS4 in fact be released, it will be Sony's final video game console. Their video game division is falling apart as it is.

As previous posters has stated, I'll probably sit the next round out. The console makers seem to be going in a direction where I personally don't want to follow.

PS4, but I don't really care that much. Switching to PC changes you maaan...