In May 2008, I decided to buy a Playstation 3 40GB console. Now at the time I owned a Playstation 2, and a standard Xbox. I rarely played either of them, and had not bought a game for them for about 2 years. My wife used the Playstation 2 as a DVD player for the bedroom. I played games about once a month on the Xbox. I usually spend most of my time watching DVD’s and had in December 2007, I bought a 40 inch 1080p LCD television. So for someone who uses his consoles so little, and rarely plays games, why did I buy a Playstation 3?

Firstly, I wanted a Blu-ray Player. Now the cheapest Blu-ray Player which did 1080p was about £230. However the best Blu-ray Player in my budget was the Playstation 3 console. Also it was future proof, with regular internet firmware updates.

Secondly, I decided to sell all of my PS2 and Xbox items gaining about £70 from my local Gamestation. Now I was not overly impressed with the amount they paid for them, but at the end of the day, I got £70 to go to my PS3 console fund.

As I was replacing these consoles, I had to decide whether I wanted a Wii, Xbox 360, or a PS3 console. Having been previously inclined to using an Xbox for most of my gaming, an Xbox 360 would have been my first choice. If the Xbox 360 had a Blu-ray player either as standard or as an add-on I would not have hesitated and bought one. The Playstation 3 was the only console with Blu-ray features and this was the only real deciding factor.

The PS3 has a number of built items which also made it more value for money despite its heft £299 price tag. It has a built in Wireless adaptor, which Xbox charge a hefty £59.99. As mentioned it has a Blu-ray drive and the Xbox 360 used to have a HD-DVD drive costing a whopping £129. Now I am not a fan of another drive sat next to the console when it already has one drive in the console. The HD-DVD format is now redundant, and therefor Blu-ray is the only way to go. The PS3 also has free online gameplay, while the Xbox 360 charges £40 per year.

If the Xbox 360 had a built-in Blu-ray drive and wireless adaptor, at about £230 (same price as a standalone Blu-ray Player), I would have definately bought one. Until Microsoft decide to embrace Blu-ray then, I am going to be sticking with my PS3.