Good advice so far.
Xbox360 for me. Go with what is most common for your friends AND your son's friends. He may want to get online and game with them some. I bet PS3 online won't be free forever... once they have enough folks hooked, they'll start charging.
I don't even try getting into public games, only private matches with my buddies.

Jeff-

Good advice here as well. I will ask him if his buddies have either.

Darren

Go with what your friends and your kids friends have more of. Both systems have their pros and cons.

Personally I own a 360. I have played with both systems pretty regularly and in my opinion the 360 was still superior for what I wanted. Big things were:

1) I already have a blu-ray player

2) I knew more people with 360s

3) the online experience is much better on the 360. the community is larger and finding and joining games is simple.

4) Xbox Live Arcade. Some of the best games I own have come from here. Shadow Complex, Pinball FX, and Castle Crashers are #1 buys in my opinion. The selection of indie titles (small developers) is awesome too.

5) Yes you have to pay for a gold membership to play online multiplayer, and yes it retails for $50. Sure it is a extra cost that people don't usually mention. I personally have never spent more than $35 to renew my 12 month membership (amazon, and target generally have them cheaper)

Also, go online and review the games catalogs of both systems. See which one has more games that are to your liking. Do not base the purchase off of one game.

I voted ps3 because if you play online people aren't as rude and the online is free.

I vote PS3, but it really depends on what games you like. GT5 is only for the PS.

I'm gonna go ahead and vote for the PS3 for a few reasons.

Granted the xbox i had was about 2-3 years old but the issues I have with it are as follows:

1) beware of the "red ring of death" or any red light on that console for that matter. if you dont know what it is, google it and read the horror stories. I'm sure they have addressed that issue with the newer models but the customer service is where they lost me as a customer.

2). I got a red light on my xbox and an error code that would come up rendering my system useless. I called customer service and they told me there was nothing I could do unless i paid them 150 dollars for their inhouse repair being that my unit was out of warranty. I asked to speak with a supervisor to which i was denied being connected to. I then sent them an email expressing my distaste for them and what had happened, to which they replied basically sorry. if you change your mind we will gladly fix it for 150 dollars. They also completely disregarded the fact that literally 1 day prior to the "melt down" i had just spent 150 dollars on the xbox Kinect (similar to wii) plus another 150 on games for the kinect (all of which are non-returnable). Unbeknownst to me, my mom bought another xbox on ebay for 65 dollars (she wanted this because the kinect was for her) which had a different red light error code and was an older unit than mine. She called them to see about warrantying it and voila, they did. So the customer service with them is sketchy at best

3) Lastly, you have to pay 60 bucks a year to play online vs free with PS3.

Sorry for the rant but there's my .00000000002 cents as Gregweld so eloquently puts it.

Good luck and have fun!:thumbsup:

I vote for the 360!

I'm not a huge gamer...my son is more than I.
I actually bought it because it has Windows Media Center built right in, so I can use it as a Home Theater PC Extender for my bedroom. :yes:

360 has better exclusives

Just get both.

Xbox 720p upscaled to 1080p
Ps3 1080p 3D Player

Everyone I know who owns both, retired the xbox.......

The online is where its at....

Hear about how realistic GT5 is compared to real world driving?

See for your self....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFFRm3dl-Hc

1000 cars 70+ tracks, night day /weather, custom track building, tuning....

There was a really sweet contest that the winner would race for NISSIAN PROFESSIONALLY. http://us.gran-turismo.com/us/academy/2011/

Ps I made to round 3 (top 512 out of 50,000 people ), needed top 32 and was out side bubble fighting for hundredths....


.02

Now how sweet would that be....