Before I begin with this analysis, let me give you a little background information. Currently, the only console I own is the Wii, and I have no intention of changing that anytime soon. Personally, the games on the Wii just appeal to me more. So I think it is pretty fair to say that I have been impartial between the Xbox 360 and PS3. However, over the past few months, I have decided as to which of the two consoles I think is better.

On face value, both consoles look very similar. Sure both consoles have a few exclusives, but for the most part, they both share the same games and run them with approximately equivalent quality. Sony's system is usually $100 more than the Xbox 360, but it also includes a Blu-Ray player. (However,I'm really not keen on this point due to the fact that Blu-ray discs are almost always $10 more than their DVD counterparts.)

One of the most important things you should look at when making a large purchase, be it a car or electronics, is the lifespan of your purchase. How long is it going to last you? 10 years? 6 months? Any micro-economics teacher will heavily stress this point. About six months ago, Game Informer magazine conducted a poll of 5000 of its members to find out the failure rates among the three consoles. The results were astounding. The poll found that 54.2% of people had their Xbox 360s fail a least one time, 5 times PS3's 10.6% failure rate. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6215590.html

A second poll taken just a month later found that over just a two year period, 23.7% of Xbox 360s failed as opposed to PS3s 10%.http://www.gamespot.com/news/6216691.html?tag=other-user-related-content;1

Then, yet a third poll was conducted in the UK that found that 60% people had their xbox 360's fail as opposed to PS3's 16%. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6240452.html

Have you been noticing a trend here? In all three surveys, the Xbox 360 failure rates was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than PS3s. Such high numbers really cause me to question whether Microsoft performs any quality control at all. I believe this to be absolutely despicable on Microsoft's part, and certainly inexcusable. The worst part about the situation is that once you have bought games for the system, you are effectively locked into replacing your system when it dies, or else you will lose out on all your game investments. Furthermore, Microsoft has never admitted to Xbox 360 failures being a widespread problem and has repeatedly ignored requests to release their own numbers on the failure rates. And yet they keep reassuring us that "The new Xbox's have much better quality!" Due to such poor quality control, I have serious doubts as to the demand for Xbox 360's successor.

By now, I think it's abundantly clear. PS3 is just a better value system. Why would any sane person make a significant investment on a device that has a such a short lifespan?! A significant investment should entail a reasonable lifespan.

Think about it.