Well, I was considering buying an XBOX 360, but I'm wondering if they run well on a regular (NON HD) tv?

Or would I be better off speding the $400 on a paintball gun or waiting for the PS3's?

Any other details you can tell me would be great also

From what I hear they just look like an xbox without the HD tv, but I've never played one, also PS3 is a while away and will be over 600 just for the system let alone games. Personally I would say neither, but if you want one get xbox360 for sure. It has some awesome games coming out like Gears of War and Halo 3. Plus you can't go wrong with CoD2

Both PS3 and Xbox360 will work without HDTV and it's possible that a lot of the games won't be designed specifically for HDTVs for awhile. Personally.. I wouldn't buy a 360 now with the current library of games though.

I'd wait for the PS3 if anything and if new 360 titles come out by then you can probably count on a holiday price drop too for the Xbox.

boy, those were the fastest replies ever. But, eh, I thought the PS3 would be around $300-400 like the Xbox? If that's the case I'll go with the Xbox....Have they worked out the bugs yet?

I was thinking that without the HDTV it'd just be a little fuzzy, but still have great graphics....hrm...

My brother got one... and it still looks DAMN good without the HD.

But the game selection isnt great, I would say hold off.

I will point out that, as some microsoft executive guy said, who would buy a PS3 when you can get an xbox360 AND a Wii for the same price?

PS3 might turn out to be a good system, but $600 is absurd. As I was not overly fond of any of the games for the original xbox, I'd recommend the Wii, to be honest The PS3 is a good second choice, if you love the games that are coming out for it and have the money to spend $600 on hardware that is likely to break in under a year, as both the PS1 and PS2 were full of hardware defects.

Xbox and ps3 seem insanely expensive for what they are really.

Afraid not. PS3 is slated for $499 with the 20GB HardDrive (Your files also now have an option of being saved on it, if I remember correctly) or $599 with the 60GB, which comes with WiFi and all sorts of other unnecessary stuff. I hear you can't use memory sticks with the 20GB one though and it doesn't include an HDMI port, but both decisions are stupid on Sony's part.

The systems aren't region locked though so you could import one from Japan and most likely change the settings (Like a Nintendo DS) to English if they happen to release something different over there for some reason.

I'm looking forward to getting an xbox 360 sometime after finals are over. PS3 is looking to be a rip-off, especially the $500 one. At least you can upgrade the $300 xbox later to get the full capabilities of the $400 one. The $500 PS3 can't be made better, from what I understand. 360 is going to be getting some really neat games, I'm especially looking forward to Halo 3, which alone is enough for me to want the system. At this point, if I'm not at school, at work, or doing lusternia stuff, I'm probably on xbox live playing halo 2 Speaking of which... why does no one here play it too? I've sent friend requests to both Richter and Folken, but neither have accepted, and no one else has even given me their gamer tag. Hmph!

Edit: Haven't heard anything about xbox 360 bugs recently. Surely they're fixed by now.

Personally I have a 360, and I love it. The connectivity and just universal service of trailers, demos, multiplayer gaming, communication and so on with Xbox Live is phenomenal, and the games it does have (a very limited selection at this point) are very good. I can't count the number of hours I've wasted on DoA4, Fight Night 3, Burnout Revenge and Oblivion.

However, as I've said it does suffer from a limited library, and the price for the full package (the one with a hard drive) is pretty serious, even if it's a lot less than the ludicrous PS3 price. If you have the patience, I would suggest waiting until summer/autumn this year, as by that time the price for the console may well have dropped, and it will have many more good games to its name as well.

I didn't wait to get a Wii primarily because I'm not impressed by the games usually made by Nintendo and its partners. There's only so many times you can play a random game idea with Mario or Donkey Kong tacked onto it without getting a little braindead. Nintendo consoles of recent times have also always seemed rather gimmicky to me, and the Wii seems to be expanding on this trend with the stupid name and very hit-and-miss (though innovative) controller.

I expect the PS3 will be a decent console, and almost certainly will quickly develop an extensive library of games, but the price is pretty brutal and I sincerely doubt they'll be able to approach the power and flexibility of Xbox Live and Live Anywhere (a cross-platform gaming and entertainment system between Windows, X360 and mobile phones).

Get a paintball gun... the outdoors are good for you.

Tippmann A-5 Stealth CR-15 > Xbox360 ? Hrm....Then again, outdoors, rash, fresh air, no controled envrioment...

But there's not many people around where I live to go and play. I may get the 360. Probably. Halo 3!

Happen to play Halo 2 on live?

Actually my Gold membership reverted to Silver recently and I haven't bothered to re-subscribe yet because I've been too busy to really play games recently.

Well, if you want some easy wins in Halo 2 on live, let me know

Buy the 360, I love mine.

Now, as for the PS3... When the 360 came out, I told my friends that everyone was going to quit their bitching eventually about the price, because the PS3 was going to be more expensive. You must remember, that Microsoft and Sony are and will be losing money on each console. They understand we don't want to pay a lot, and they aren't trying to make us take it in the rear. Today's technology is so expensive, and they're trying to keep costs down. Part of the strategy to appease us was to release two versions of the 360, just like they're going to do with the PS3. Unfortunately, it is correct that you cannot upgrade, you either by the decent version, or the awesome version.

Now, another point to remember, is that the PS3 comes with a Blu-Ray player; a player that costs around $1000 right now. If you're not familiar with the upcoming HD-DVD and Blu-Ray format war, I suggest you look it up. They've taken a next-gen console, shoved a next-gen DVD player in it, and you're essentially getting a computer with limited functions for $600. So while we can piss and moan all day about the costs, we have to remember that Sony is going to lose money on consoles, and then make it up in games, just like they did with the PS2.

The third option, of course, is to buy a Wii. Partly because it's going to be a fun and awesome system, and partially because you can tell your mother you're going home to play with your Wii.

Personally, I'm getting all three.

-Console guru

Get a Wii!

The main problem I have with the PS3 happens to be the Blu-ray player, actually. Sony has a MAJOR uphill battle to wage if they want that technology in mainstream society. Mainstream meaning your typical movie watchers and such, not us game geeks. High Def is already widely known just for the tv's that are rolling out, whereas Blu-ray is really still only known among gamers, tech geeks, and sony drones (Some people are all three. )

Besides that fact, Sony doesn't have the best history with mainstreaming their own formats in a non-gaming environment. Look at PSP movies. I happen to own a psp, and I love it, and it's great for watching movies on the go, but Sony just didn't have enough of a selection in giant chain stores to get people buying them. I'd hate to see it putter out and die (as I still enjoy buying movies for it), but the reality of it is that they're not doing so hot in that market. Also, from what I've heard, there are really only small differences for the most part between the two formats and probably won't even be noticed by the average movie watcher. Familiarity plays a big part in purchasing, and if the formats are identical, and Blu-ray has nothing major to offer over HDDVD, I just see more people buying the HD format.

If Sony can get the message out about it and make it a household word, then they've got a good chance. I'll know they've succeeded when my mom asks me if I've heard about "that Blu-ray thing"

And as much as I think, at least in the value of the blu-ray in the PS3 will fail, I regretfully admit I may buy one. The E3 demo of MGS4 looked awesome, and Sony has had a good range of games for each of their systems. Despite their sometimes poor execution, Sony gets a lot of interested software developers coming to them with good games. Xbox 360 is fun as hell to play though, and not at all a bad system. That'll be the back up system when the wife shoots me down as the words "Six hund-" come out of my mouth.

Odd, every comercial I hear on TV for a new DVD also mentions PSP.

Also, I find it ironic that computers cost less than Consoles now.

Well, the adult entertainment industry is gunning for Blu-ray, and we know how many people... well, let me stop there.

Eh, either way both forms of media are going to be the new thing within five years, much like HDTV is going to be the buzz with the rumored pricedrops later this year. In terms of success I can't really say which will do better, but if the price of Blu-ray drops it should get a larger draw from media jocks with its 50GB disc space at launch (And possibly double that if their "quad-layer" technology works) in comparison to the 30GB HD discs. Both are very High Def capable so it's really going to boil down to price of media and entertainment systems in the end.

I wouldn't be surprised if only one survived though, especially after hearing how expensive it'd be to make a player that would support both formats. Everyone's comparing it to the Beta VS the VHS (I'm sure most of you don't remember Beta. I think mine is still boxed up somewhere) and they couldn't be more right.

No clue how that's going to affect the console wars though.

Uhh... but about that XBOX... I might buy one around this upcoming holiday season depending which systems are out and their launch titles. I could play with the current games available, but eh.. my PS2 still has some life in it.