Why Buy 360?

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine asked me how I decide what to buy for which system: the PS3 or Xbox 360.  As an owner of both consoles, this is the most vexing decision.  With most games these days appearing on multiple platforms, the question of which version to get is never easy.  A confession to make before moving on:  I am hugely biased in favor of the PS3.  Being an older gamer, the Sony brand simply means so much more, from the best JRPGs to the best action games like God of War.  Sony is where my favorite memories stem from over the years (after having been given the shaft by Nintendo, but that is a story for another blog).  With my Sony-heavy bias, my answer to my friend's question was....  well... I buy games for the 360 mostly out of pity.

Yes, that's right.  If I could, I would buy every single game ever released on a Sony platform.  With that bias in place, the only time I would ever buy a multi-platform 360 game would be when I feel sorry for the machine and decide to give it some love.  However, after mulling the question over in my head for a day or so, the whole story begins to emerge, and it's not always about feeling sorry for one system over another.

Remember how I said that the Sony machines gave me the best gaming memories?  Well, there were some painful ones.  Two of which involved having to replaced both my PS1 and PS2 simply due to wear and tear.  Having already gone through two PS3s due to technical break downs,  the last thing I need is to get a third PS3 console.  (Why I still have Sony in such high regard after this fiasco I will never know.  For the record, however, I am on my second 360).  So sometimes, getting a game on the 360 is a good idea, even if I prefer the PS3.  If I'm not running the Sony machine, it can't wear out, right?  And if the 360 happens to red ring on me again, hey, I can say my bias is justified.  Yes, that's a joke.  Ironically enough, this sometimes mean that I buy lengthy RPGs like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls on the 360.  Because the hundred hour or so playing these games will not wear out my PS3.

There are other practical reasons for getting games for the 360, one of which is the system's stability.  As a Sony fan I shouldn't be saying this but psychologically, I think the 360 is the more stable system.  Just recently, I had the PS3 crash on me while playing splitscreen co op in Lego Batman 2.  The 360 also crashes, like when I play intensive games such as Skyrim.  This actually puts the 360 in favor for the more technically intensive games.  The simpler chip architecture of Microsoft's machine translates to a more stable game experience in my mind.  It also didn't help that my first PS3 died on me while playing Fallout 3.  Anytime Bethesda comes out with an epic, it's an automatic 360 buy.  Like I said before, I'd rather sacrifice the Xbox.  For games which are PC ports, this is a no brainer.  Is it any coincidence that both the Witcher 2 and Divinity Ego Draconis are both 360 exclusives?  PC ports to the 360 is much easier than to the PS3, which is why for games like Alice Madness Returns, I once again choose Microsoft.

Then there are the free stuff, and this is mostly in Sony's favor.  Just off the top of my head, Arkham Asylum, Dante's Inferno, Assassin's Creed Revelations and Dead Space 2 both had extra free content for Sony's platform.  I always make it a policy to buy the version which gives me more, and so far, Sony's side is winning over stingy Microsoft.

Then who can forget about the multiplayer?  A good friend of mine who plays games have the opposite bias as I do and it gets in the way whenever a good fighting game shows up.  He will always buy the 360 version while I spring for the PS3 but we both want to go head to head together!  Thing is, he has friends on both sides of the fence so he actually gets both version, but he gets the 360 first, waits for a price drop or a used copy, and then buy Sony's.  In this case it works out.  Also, the games that I want to play multiplayer co op on, like Halo and Gears of War, are Xbox exclusives.  That decision is easy.  But one day, there will be a game that the two of us would like to play, and I would rather not subscribe to Xbox Live.  So far, that day hasn't come, but who knows?  Persona Arena will be yet another test of loyalty...

I wish I had a witty end to this blog but I don't.  I do have one more reason to choose one over the other though.  It sometimes just comes down to momentum.  Some games like Mass Effect requires that you stick with one console if you want to carry over saves.  In this case, why switch?  I just wish that it came out on Sony's platform first. :)