Most gamers know that there’s a console war going on and there will always be a console war. The longest running contestant is Nintendo with there year and years of game consoles and handheld consoles along with tons and tons of games with Sony following suit with a newbie on board, Microsoft. Due to the fact that I don’t own a Wii and that I barley get the chance to even play on it, I’m not going to review it as a whole but I’ll touch based on it for reference.

The current console war that’s going on is mainly between Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 from which they’re trying to fight over who got the biggest dick, err… I mean best graphics and processing power. Microsoft got a head start with the 360 by releasing the console in 2005 where the PS3 was supposed to be released in that same year but was delayed due to “technical reasons” but was finally released in 2006 and Sony is so proud of themselves for holding back because they were able to pack so much more in that one year… or did they?

Originally, the 360’s release offered 2 versions; the Core package which only comes with the 360 console, 1 wired controller, and SD/HD cable, everything else you have to get separate, and you also got your Premium package which comes with everything that the Core package has but instead of a wired controller you get a wireless one and a headset and a 20 gig drive.  Now there’s still only 2 packages, the Arcade package that comes with 512MB of internal memory and what not and your Elite package which comes with an HDMI cable and 120 gigs of hard drive.

The PS3, on the other hand, originally released the console with 4 different versions, all of which varies in hard drive space and that in order for you to play PS1 and PS2 games you would need the 60 gig model.  Now there’s only actual 2 models that’s in production which is missing a lot of features that was originally in the first 2 or 3 versions.

So what’s the point of telling you all this so far? To show that there were many options and that there’s still options for those 2 consoles. Unlike the Nintendo Wii where there’s only 1 version, the PS3 and the 360 always had multiple choices to choose from, but that’s not what I want to get at.

So what am I getting at? You’ll see soon enough.

The way I, personally, look at game consoles are the games but now that it’s the age of the internet and online gaming it’s also important to be able to quickly connect with friends to join in the battle of greatness epic gaming. This is where the Microsoft Xbox 360 shine at. In the original Xbox, they’ve attached the Xbox LIVE after the fact and it didn’t work all the great having to exit out of the game to add someone you just played to your friend’s list, etc., but they’ve designed the 360 around the Xbox LIVE and now it’s tightly intergraded in with the console. Being able to see the menu while in game is also the best thing that Microsoft did for the console allowing you to quickly add more friends to the list or simply join a game with a friend, doesn’t matter if it’s in the same game or not you’re currently playing as if you’re jumping to another game it’ll simply tell you to put in the next game and once you do it jumps you straight into the action.

The Sony PS3 fails at tight intergradations of friends, friends request, etc., though. You’d think with Sony’s previous consoles they would think that because there’s a lot of people out there who has lots of friends who wants to quickly connect they would of made it more tightly intergraded but that was not the case but instead you get a slapped on job where voice chat sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

Also when the 360 was released it introduced us to Achievements. Now, I’m the type of gamer who just enjoys a few games here and there and don’t really care about Achievements but it’s there and kind of nice depending on what kind of achievements are there. It’s also tightly intergraded with the online Xbox LIVE site so whatever you get in game with update right awhile to show your friends who’s browsing the web or in your gamer card.

Again, the PS3 failed in this category as well with it’s slap-on Trophies because they want to mimic the 360’s success of introducing Achievements. After a few months, Sony slapped-on there own gamer card as well, problem is that in order for you to update ANYTHING in relates to what shows online and what shows in your actual gaming profile on your PS3 you would need to go online yourself and click an Update button. Thanks a lot, Sony.

Now with so many strong points with the 360 they also have weak points. The 360 uses a standard DVD-ROM drive and so can only put out what a DVD can shuffle. This is where the PS3 shines because of there Blu-ray player built in, game creators has a broader room to work with because the Blu-ray discs holds up to 50GB of data for a dual layered disc, they could pretty much fit Final Fantasy 7 and 8 on 1 disc with room to spare! Also with the Blu-ray player built in allows for the new Blu-ray movies to be used with.

But now here’s another problem: loading times. The 360’s loading times are blazing fast due to the fact that it’s using DVDs but because the PS3 is using Blu-ray discs, the loading times are kind of slow to the point that Sony had to allow most games to install chucks of it’s game data to the hard drive and taking more time to load initially and even after the game finish installing it still takes awhile for the game to load. Now, they say that the load times are faster with the PS3 Slim but since I have no plans of getting the slim because I like my PHAT, there’s no way for me to actually test it but that’s besides the point.

So who’s the winner? Honestly, I think they’re both great systems with there weakness and advantages. I, personally, mainly use the PS3 for PS3 excusive and RPGs while everything else is for the 360 for the sure fact that it’s easier to join in a game with a buddy on the 360 then it is on the PS3.

I was disappointed at first because it doesn’t do cross converting and I have having issue with HDMI (although I think I know what my problem is) but I was happy to find out that my remote allows me to change to the actually input of where the action is.  Although I’m still trying to figure out how I should connect everything up I found that I still have the use for my A/V switch.  I thought I’d still have to use a total of 3 remotes but found out that the A/V switch is actually part of this remote!  You know what that means, right? :)

I’ll get you pictures soon but here’s how I got everything setup so far.

The theater system is a 7.1 surround sound system, almost all the wires reached but I’ll have to find myself a new cable for the surround back left (that’s the one in the far back on the left of the TV’s viewing area) as that one is currently strung along the ceiling in plain view but off the floor so no one will trip over it.  I need the longer one so I can go around the room with it so it’s out of way and out of sight.

I have the PS3 sitting on the second to top shelf of this one rack from which is connected to a Pelican System Selector Pro 2.0 A/V switcher via component cable, my XBox 360 is sitting on top of my cable box which is located on the second to last shelf of this rack which is also connected to the Pelican switcher via component cable.  Whenever I mess around with HDMI more I’ll do away with the A/V switcher but until then, this is how it is.

Anywho, the cable box is connected to the A/V Recever via component cable for both video and audio and the PS3 and 360 is using optical cable to the A/V Recever for there audio.  Interesting and confusing setup, no?  But that’s where the beauty of this Logitech Harmony remote comes in!

At first I thought I was going to have to continue using 3 remotes.  One for the A/V switcher, one for the PS3 for playback of movies, and the new harmony remote.  But then I noticed that my A/V switcher is, in fact, on the list!  Also what caught my attention was the fact that the remote can also automatically set the correct video input on the TV for you, I nearly shit my pants when I saw that, it was just so awesome to know that and have plans for that as well to take advantage of it :)

On the intenial test of the system, before programing the new remote, I was kinda confused.  Sure, the setup in terms of connecting all the wires were easy enough although a bit of a pain but trying to get everything programmed right is still another thing that I have yet to get done.  Currently my DVD option is my cable box and the DVR/VCR is my A/V Switcher.  Whenever I get around to it I’ll get it setup correctly so that the cable box option will be, in fact, my cable box and the DVD option would be my switcher unless I decided to give HDMI another chance at it’s life (all the cables are still in placed, for the most part, just need to give it another whack).

But once getting the new remote programed everything seems so easy!  Just one click of a button turns off the unused devices and turns on the devices that I am going to be using and changed the options on the display for additional options like the X, Y, A, B buttons for the 360.

Anyways, this is just the beginning, I hope my new toy, my new love, will lead me through the way.  And prepard for a review for the surround system and for the Harmony remote (yes, I know the remote I’m using is the “latest” one out there but still a damn good remote).