Battle of the game consoles

url: http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/battle-of-the-game-consoles/2007/03/18/1174152859094.html
Hyeon Chung

It's all-out war between Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's new PlayStation 3. Charles Purcell tackles the question from neutral territory.

One day your grandkids will ask: "What were you doing on March 23, 2007, Daddy?" And your answer might be: "Why, I was out buying a PlayStation 3 along with the rest of Australia, son."
Yes, it's that time again, when the entire country will grind to a halt to gaze in awe upon Sony's newest technological marvel. Despite fierce opposition from the Xbox and the GameCube, the PlayStation 2 proved it was king of the gaming jungle. But will the same be said of the PlayStation 3? Sony has already given its competitors precious months to secure market share after they released their respective consoles before Sony.
Nintendo has made a brave fist of it with the Wii, but the true battle of the consoles now is between Xbox and PlayStation. The question is: just how good is the PlayStation 3? And does it have the features and content to take down Bill Gates's pride and joy?
For this face-off, I am comparing the most powerful of the two systems - the $999, 60GB PlayStation 3 (the 20GB will not be available at launch) and the $649 Xbox 360 non-core version.

[The console]
Frankly, anything is an improvement on the black behemoth that was the first Xbox. The Xbox 360 is a smooth white device much more pleasing to the eye.
The PS3 is a sexier, more futuristic proposition, however. You might marry the 360 - and keep the PS3 as your mistress. As with Henry Ford's early Model T cars, you can have any colour in the launch PS3 as long as it's black. The PS3 has just one cord to plug into the power point, rather than the chunky brick attachment that comes with the 360.
The PS3 has a front-loading slot for discs as opposed to the 360's tray loader. It also has more ports than the 360 for items such as memory sticks and the PlayStation Portable. I was impressed by how quickly and easily you could transfer music and media from the PS3 to the PSP.

[Controllers]
The PS3 controllers are modelled on the previous generation. The Sixaxis wireless controllers use motion sensor technology as an added feature to the controls, something I observed while playing the downloadable games Flow and Super Rub'a'Dub. You move the whole controller rather than press any of the buttons to control the duck in Super Rub'a'Dub (but the shark still got my baby ducks - no-o-oo). The Sixaxis controller uses Bluetooth to talk to the PS3. You can use up to seven controllers at a time, against the 360's four. There is also a button in the centre of the controller that acts as a central hub and main menu button.