X-Box or PS2

Which is better? X-Box or PS2?

Depends, but I like the PS2 for the broad selection of games and free online play.

well, at my house we have both ps2 and xbox. things i notice are that xbox graphics versus ps2 are much better. the xbox runs faster than the ps2. Online play, while ps2 is free, and xbox is a yearly fee of like 50 bucks or so. I will say that is a swaying factor. But...i have had so much fun playing my xbox online its not even funny. plus, with an xbox you can store music on the hard drive and while you are playing in games, you can load up songs from your hard drive and play them while playing the game. ps2....no. I dunno, like i said we have both, and i like both, but i would go with a xbox over ps2. but thats just me

Jeeze now thats a way to start a flame war.

Okay. I'll try to go through the most important stuff as quickly as possible.

XBOX PROS::
The X-Box has the better hardware which is capable of more than the PS2. The quality of the hardware is much higher than the PS2's in my opinion. It rarely breaks or has issues. It has four controller ports, a built-in harddrive. It has XBOX live which is a great metaserver that beats out everything the PS2 has in terms of online play. DVD Playback. It's price may be dropping (according to CNN) very soon.

XBOX CONS::
People associate the name with Microsoft and instantly think its a bad thing. I am a Mac user and I have to say that this is the only quality product from Microsoft. It has a smaller software library. And, a lot of people bash it for being the first gen of console from Microsoft. Xbox 2 might be out in 2005 w/ backwards compatibility.

PS2 PROS::
Huge library. And the largest fanbase at the moment. The library is full of great titles and genres. It's controllers are designed for medium to small sized hands.

PS2 CONS::
Horrible hardware from a standpoint. This thing has major problems with its components regularly. There are almost 6 times as many reports of break downs than the Xbox and the Gamecube combined. It's visual quality is usually low or is on par with the Dreamcast. Plus the reported specs are theoretical, and can't be reached. Its polygon rate isn't 66 million its more like 6 million to 8 million. The system's design is old, and some of titles have problems with performance. It's online support is lacking and only goes on a game by game basis. It has no harddrive, and upgrades and add-ons are expensive. Only 2 controller ports. (The thing only has a 4mb buffer for the cpu and gpu. Thats insanely low)

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The reason that the PS2 now has such a large marketshare is because of Nintendo and Sega's biggest failures to date. Back when the 32-bit generation was starting, Nintendo pulled a stupid stunt with the virtual boy. This was an abysmal product that was linked to sicknesses, and no expandablity. Plus you could only have one person use it at the time. Sega shot itself in the foot with the 32X which flopped horribly. Then the Saturn came out, it was respectible at the time it was released. But a lack of quality titles and its high price tag ($600 at the beginning than $400) killed it. The Playstation had its win handed to it. Thats why the PS won the 32-bit wars.

By that time Nintendo had released the 64-bit Nintendo 64 it had several major flaws. It was cart based and increased the production cost by $20 and was smaller to boot. It's major feature was its speed, but it didn't prove useful. Now at the time the Nintendo 64 had a very awkward code base. It made developing games harder than the others. Let this be stated: the PS did not have a 1 million polygon rate. It was a range between 150,000 to 300,000. That 1 million polygon rate was another theoretical limit. It could never be reached.

So a while went on, and then Sega released the Dreamcast. This was a great system, it was fast and its gpu was on par with the PS2. The only major flaw was a small video game library. This is what bit Sega in the ass. The PS2 was released and was backwards compitable with the PS1, it gave it a major boost. Of course Microsoft released the Xbox.
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In my opinion, its about what games you want to play. If you are asking for purchasing advice. I'd say evaluate which games you want most. Wait a month to see if the prices drop and go for it.

I agree with Sphtman. Choose which games u will play and then pick. But still I prefer Xbox. Or why don't u try GameCube too.

Wow. THanks for the advice. I think I like some of the PS2 games better than X-Box.

Actually X-Box is much better now especially since you can modify it to d/l games from the internet. You can also add a bigger hard drive and copy games straight from the x-box game discs to the console. Don't ask me how it's done, one of my friends is doing for like $50 for everyone he knows that owns an x-box.

ya i agree with xbox with being the best....

xbox has more ram and the processor is like 250MHz faster. almost all of the good games are cross-platform now anyways. that said, xbox stands on top with the hard drive. remember, every 8 meg memory card is 25 bucks. 2 of those is the cost of a new game.

unless you are a die-hard mario fan, avoid game cube. majority of games are targeted towards 6 year olds, so most people won't enjoy much.

and if youre planning to wait for PS3, you'll be waiting till 2005, son.

both are good.....from a game standpoint, ps2 is better, as it has a HUGE game selection...all the ps2 games, AND all the ps1 games.....and it also has NOTHING else needed to play dvd's (dunno if thats gonna be a considering factor for you) xbox, however, has better graphics overall, and personally, for most games at least, i like the xbox's controller better (im probably the only one that likes the OLD xbox controllers still)....so it depends if your willing to sacrafice graphics for game selection...i have both, i like both, and i do also have a gamecube and i like that, but the game selection on that is lacking...even compared to the xbox........so they all have their advantages and drawbacks..

Not so quick jmychnshk. Here are the specs for the three top consoles. The order is from Xbox, PS2, GC.

CPU: 733MHz, 295MHz, 405MHz PowerPC | Both the Celeron, and PowerPC are easy to program for, PS2 isnt.
GPU: nVidia Custom 250MHz, 147MHz Proprietary, 202.5MHz Flipper | Both the Xbox & GC have powerful GPUs.
Total Memory: 64MB, 40MB, 43MB | Xbox's ram is unified and can be accessed twice as fast as the others.
Polygon Performance: 125m/s*, 66m/s*, 6-12m/s | The Xbox & PS2's Polygon Rates is theoretical. Its not going to be reached by any game.
Particle Performance: 125m/s, 150m/s, and 120m/s | The PS2 wins the particle performance.
Compressed Textures: Yes (6:1), No, Yes (6:1) | Allows the system to store and use more textures at once.
Storage Medum: 2-5X DVD & 8GB HD & 8MB Mem Card, 4X DVD & 8MB Mem Card, 1.5GB GDROM & 4Mb & 64MB Mem card.
Audio Channels: 256, 48, 64 | This is how many separate sounds that can be created at once.
3D Audio Suport: Yes (64 3D Channels), No, Yes (Unspecified) | Nintendo hasn't discloused all of its 3D Audio Support.
Broadband Enabled: Yes, Future Upgrade, Optional | The PS2 has an ethernet adapter at a high price.
DVD-Playback: Remote Control Req., Yes, No | PS2 wins for the second time.
Maximum Resolution: 1920x1080, 1280x1024, 1920x1080 | PS2 is beat down in resolution and clarity,

The Xbox almost always wins in the hardware department. The Gamecube is always close behind. I wouldn't throw the GC option out the window. I am thoroughly happy with mine. Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Metroid Prime, and others major game series that you can't find anywhere else. But personally I prefer the Xbox over all.

I mean just check out Halo 2's latest multiplayer screenshot. http://halo.bungie.net/images/site/halo/screenshots/halo2/h2_mp_01.jpg The PS2 could never achieve that kind of quality with its old hardware. Nintendo is having trouble busting out of the kiddy level. But they do have a few games that you can't find else where. Beside the Resident Evil series exclusives 0, 1, and 4 look awesome and play just as awesome.

the number of the games that youcan play in the ps2 its huge, taht a very important thing to me
Plus, dont make Bill Gates even more rich hehehe

The x-box is indeed the most powerful system, with the gamecube close behind and then the PS2. I myself have a gamecube, I'm a die hard Nintendo follower, always have been and always will be.

One thing you also have to consider is how much first party support do the systems have? Nintendo by far has the MOST first party support, meaning Nintendo themselves bring out games for the gamecube. Think of Mario, Metroid and Zelda, these are games you won't find on any other system, which is why i bought the Cube.

In the future I plan on buying an Xbox, mainly for certain games, Yes I'm the kinda guy that will buy a system for a certain game, but Xbox has some very promising games coming out this year. So in my opinion I'd go with the xbox.

But it's still up to you...

The PS2 game list is hube, but almost all the new games cames for all 3 consoles-Spawn Armageddon, Soul Calibur....

Green_Arcangel: Bill Gates and Microsoft make no profit from Xbox. The production cost of the Xbox is well over three times what they sell it for now. Microsoft's Game Division will only make a small profit from the software that is sold, and even that doesn't make up for the losses. They only plan on making a profit from Xbox 2.

But remember its all about the games, and how "future-proof" the console is. So make a list of the games you are interested in and weigh them against each other.

User25bg: Yeah but unfortunately Spawn Armageddon is horrible. Soul Calibur 2 is by far the best on the Gamecube because they get Link. Xbox gets the short end of the stick with Spawn. They should of made it Master Chief, I mean sure one hit from him would kill anyone.

im a nintendo fan . but i sold my gamecube for a ps2,, i think nintendo is losing it. the only thing i will miss is the zelda series. i prefer all the old consoles.. better gameplay.

Quote:

Yeah but unfortunately Spawn Armageddon is horrible.

Why, what's wrong with it? I'm a big Spawn fan. I got bunch of Spawn comics and I'm thinking about buying the game for Gamecube soon.

Just to save time and myself from carpal tunnel syndrome. Check this link then check the video. They are a lot more forgiving than I am. http://www.techtv.com/xplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3596719,00.html

[OT: WMV is the worst codec ever! Microsoft should be disband for this horrible media format]

Wow some very good information condensed down to usable size, I have had all the consoles over the years and I have found the x-box the best hardware, the ps2 best library of games, this becomes very important with teenages in the house. The best advise I could give someone who is shopping check out what your friends have, use them and make your choices after that.

just to add dont want to say what is better because ps2 had the first half of the xbox/ps2 history and i loved ps2 when both consoles came out but now it looks like xbox is comming back and taking over a bit.

and remember that the xbox can have a larger hard drive up to 300 gigs with can store a lot of games and no swaping disks.
with xbox you can play online through a program called xbconnect(xbconnect.com i think) for free. Also you can put a proram called xbox media center that can play mp3s/movies/pictures/shoutcast internet radio so you should really look at what you want from a console.
BTW to add a new hard drive to the xbox you need a mod chip prices varies ($20-$50)

but i love watching all my downloaded video's on tv/xbox