Game consoles aren't just stand-alone boxes anymore -- it's increasingly about what you can do with them online. To help you decide which is best for you, CNET.com.au puts the Xbox 360's Xbox Live!, the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network, and the Nintendo Wii's online service head-to-head in a detailed comparison to see what kind of experience each console offers.
For a quick overview, see our comparison chart below, then click on each of the links for further information. If you're having any troubles getting your console set up online, check out our feature Get your gaming console online for step-by step instructions on how to connect via either a wired or wireless broadband connection.
Intro | Wii Online | PlayStation Network | Xbox Live!
|
Wii Online |
PlayStation Network |
Xbox 360 Live! |
|
Sign-up Fees
|
None |
None |
None |
|
Online Play
|
Yes (Free) |
Yes (Free) |
Yes (RRP AU$99.95 for 12-months) |
|
In-built Internet browser
|
Wireless Only (Wii LAN Adaptor RRP AU$29.95) |
Wireless and Ethernet |
Ethernet only (Wireless Adaptor RRP AU$169.95) |
|
Web Browser
|
Yes (Opera Browser available for purchase) |
Yes (Up to six windows open at once) |
No |
|
Parental Controls
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Voice Chat
|
No |
Yes (With any Bluetooth headset) |
Yes (With Xbox headset) |
|
Video Chat
|
No |
Yes (With PlayStation Camera RRP AU$79.95) |
Yes (With Xbox Live Vision Camera RRP AU$59.95) |
|
Online Store
|
Yes (Wii Shop) |
Yes (PlayStation Store) |
Yes (Xbox Live! Marketplace) |
|
Purchase Games
|
Yes (Previous NES, SNES, N64, Sega-Genesis, and TurboGrafx16 titles. Between AU$7.50 and AU$15.00) |
Yes (Certain new-release for around AU$59.95 and arcade games for around AU$8.45) |
Yes (Arcade games between AU$5.50 and AU$17.00, with new-release games to become available) |
|
Download Game Demos
|
No |
Yes (Free) |
Yes (Free. Xbox Live! Gold membership will get certain demos earlier) |
|
Download Music Videos
|
No |
Yes (Free) |
No |
|
Download Game Trailers
|
No |
Yes (Free) |
Yes (Free) |
|
Download Movie Trailers
|
No |
Yes (Free) |
No |
|
News and Weather Channels
|
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Receive Software Updates
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Online Community
|
Unknown |
Approx: 2 million worldwide |
Approx: 6 million worldwide |
|
Playable Online Games
|
Approx: 5+ |
Approx: 30+ |
Approx: 80+ |
|
Friends List
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Online User Accounts
|
10 per Wii Remote (Mii characters) |
2 per console (1 master and 1 associated) |
1 per Gamertag |
|
Online Currency
|
Wii Points (2000 points for AU$30.00) |
Australian Dollars |
Microsoft Points (1000 points for AU$16.50) |
daf
11/10/2007 03:48 PM
clearly the ps3 offer a far betyter online survice then the wii and xbox 360 combined
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Skuta
11/10/2007 04:42 PM
Great artcile but given some have web browsers could we find out which ones have a keyboard available?
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chris manuel
11/10/2007 06:34 PM
The PS3 can have any bluetooth keyboard, the Xbox 360 has a stupid little messenger one and the wii has none. Ps3 is better online service people say the Xbox Live is better - It is a year older than PS3 GIVE IT TIME TO PROGRESS!!!
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Ryan
11/10/2007 09:50 PM
The Wii can use a keyboard via the USB port. Just because online play for PS3 is free does not make it better.
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gen_x
12/10/2007 08:05 AM
What online service? The PS3 "home" network hasn't even been released in Australia. The "Live" service provided by microsoft not only supports the 6 million people on xbox but can now also support the 200+ million people on Windows. I can absolutely guarantee you that in a years time the PS3 online service wont even come close to what the Xbox live service was given a fair and equal start time. At least Xbox live was available from the very beginning... what's Sony's excuse?
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sdauz
12/10/2007 03:12 PM
Come on xbox was the best online, 360 carries it one, seriously if i want to get an RSS and news, or browse the web ill go online....LIKE i am now
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master.chief
12/10/2007 07:12 PM
you can download music videos of the xbox live video marketplace.
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Anon.
13/10/2007 05:14 PM
Ps3 and wii can use standard usb keyboard (ps3 can use bluetooth keyboards too). 360 can use messenger keyboard. PS3's online service is excellent, especially with all the free stuff. Live still beats it, but PSN is still new, give it time. PS3 also has web browser, unlike 360 (PS3 has youtube support too!). PSN is free, live is 99.95 a year. PSN will soon have its "home" network too. Basically all that can be done with 360 online is stuff to do with gaming and messenger. PS3 online offers music vids, game and movie trailers, voice video and text chat, web surfing, youtube and other features. It is also free. It is clear which network is superior. P.S: I have not included the Wii network as i know very little about it, not because i think it sucks.
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danielkwood
13/10/2007 07:02 PM
I have a Wii and an Xbox 360, however I regularly play a PlayStation 3 at work too and at my friend's house so I have had a fair go at each of them. I like my Nintendo Wii and I like the online browser but it is very limited. For example, the online browser does not have multiple tabs and does not support a lot of sites (Cnet TV for example). Also, there are not many online games on the Wii and not much of an online Wii community for these games. Being able to buy old games though is pretty cool. The PS3 is a very good console and its online features are great. Being able to download demos and music videos, online gaming and web browsing...it does it all and ts free. But...the range of online games and the PS3 online community is not very big even though it is younger than the 360, it is still behind where the 360 was this time last year. As for the 360, it is pretty cool too. Downloading demos, game trailers, online gaming, online chat is cool. It's annoying you have to pay for it and it also does not have wireless, however the huge online community and big range of online games makes up for this. I also love the Live Messenger keypad and headset combination. Being able to chat with the keypad attached to the controller is much cooler than I thought it would be and works very well. Playing Halo3 online alone says enough for the 360 online experience. So even though you have t pay for it and it has no wireless, I vote the 360 as the best online experience.
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gen_x
15/10/2007 08:42 AM
danielkwood, what do you mean "no wireless"? The 360 has a wireless adaptor which still brings the price under the PS3. Something everyone keeps forgetting also is the availability of XNA Studio's for anyone to write their own games and put them online for others to play. This has allowed a lot of game companies the ability to take old games and revamp them and re-release them for others to download cheaply. One of the best games I have ever played on the Amiga was Speedball 2 by Bitmap Brothers... Now it is being re-released and highly updated on Xbox Live. You wont find that on PS3 at any stage!
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stefanc
15/10/2007 01:11 PM
DanielKWood, where do you work that they let you play with a PS3? Mor importantly... are they hiring?
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leckie
15/10/2007 11:41 PM
The xbox 360 will allow you to use a usb keyboard, or even a wireless usb keyboard (with the wireless dongle plugged into the xbox). I do this at home and it works great, i plug the dongle into the back usb port so that is out of the way (i don't have a wireless adaptor so this port is free). The ability to link in with MSN messenger is a handy feature too... just waiting for msn video chat to arrive!
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Boost-Juice
16/10/2007 12:14 AM
Daf you have to be joking? I won the 360 and the PS3 I just bought, and I can honestly tell you the PS3 online experience is weak as hell. Also, what kinda pages is the PS3 able to open 6 of? Cause I load like maybe 2 or 3 and it always says 'not enough memory". That and the web browser is slow as hell through broadband.
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chris manuel
20/10/2007 06:53 PM
Why is the Xbox 360 so expensive the elite version has no wireless built in. No Next-Gen Disc format built in. No Power unit built in. It dosnt do 1080p. The Ps3 does all of these and it is only about $250 more. The Xbox 360 Also has a noisey fan and a high console failure rate. You can also use and brand SATA harddrive in the ps3 up to 500GB but only up to 120GB on the Xbox 360
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FCTCNaota
22/10/2007 04:01 AM
i am teh advarage playsttation fanboy, xboxx and wii onlines play suxx, ps3 are great an ar th bestest
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gen_x
23/10/2007 01:13 PM
chris... get your facts straight mate. It does do 1080p, thats the whole point of having the HDMI port. We don't WANT the power unit built in... do you know how hot those things get?!?!? The high console failure rate is now gone since the 65nm chip and the PS3 only has 256MB of video ram compared to the 512MB of the xbox. We are talking consoles whose main claim to life is GRAPHICS! You would think they would spend some money putting a decent amount of vram in there
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Mr Montana
23/10/2007 07:21 PM
Everybody knows the PS3 is far better, who wants to pay for online play.. does the 360 have a card reader?? how many USB ports does the 360 have?? and does the 360 have bluetooth?? and 360 does not even support blu-ray what a waist of space!!
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jp
24/10/2007 01:27 PM
I totally support the PS3 network and agree that it still has a long way to come. When the games come, the users will follow. Feature -vs- Cost wise I think the PS3 wins out. As for the 500GB hard drive capability that won't be possible until a 500Gb 2.5" hard drive is actually available. For now the highest capacity available is 2.5" is 250Gb
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gen_x
25/10/2007 08:45 AM
Mr Montana, Did you know that you can put both DVD and HD-DVD on the same disk? Thats something you can't do with Blu-Ray. The last thing in the world I care about are how many USB ports it has or if it has a card reader... I have no need for them. What I do care about is a network that is CURRENTLY running and already supports over 200 million users (over 4 million directly on xbox live). I dont want to wait forever to get that community after forking out so much money. I also don't want to fork out that much money for a device that only has 256mb of video ram... worse than most of the current gen graphics cards. Even my friggen laptop has more v-ram in it than the PS3!!!!!
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benj
31/10/2007 05:53 PM
These things are so expensive that whoever choses one, becomes an advocate for it. I have a 360 that runs on an adsl1 connection and online gaming works great. I am happy with it and that is all that matters. fanboys on both sides have a little too much time on their hands.
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Timberwolf131
03/11/2007 08:47 PM
@ gen_x It really doesnt matter how much graphics ram the PS3 has. It is the oldest graphics manufacturing trick ever, have a crappy Video card and bump up the graphics ram and people will immediately think that it is better. Ever wondered why an nividia 8800GTS with 256mb or 320mb costs more and absolutely kills an nividia 8600 GT? Besides, everyone knows that the PS3 has better graphics than the 360. Its quality not quantity, except with the nividia 8800 Ultra, that kicks, but thats off topic.
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Spartan
05/11/2007 06:04 AM
The author of this article incorrectly reported the 360 as not having downloadable Music Videos and Movie Trailers when in fact I have a few downloaded from Live!. They may not be as prolific as the PS3's downloadable content, but you still can get them.
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chris manuel
05/11/2007 06:49 PM
So I suppose they didnt include built-in WIFI or Next Gen Drive because they got too hot as well??? The PS3 is obviously the most powerful
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Pumba001
25/03/2008 06:36 PM
chris manuel. ou are pathetic. the xbox 360 is a far superior gaming console to the ps3. i bought the xbox 360 so i could play good games with excellent graphics if i wanted a blueray player i would go buy one, which i wouldnt because they are a waste of money. and why does anyone care about how many pages the console can surf when you all clearly have a computer and internet. the point is the consoles are primarily made for gaming not for scrathing your **** with as you watch full hd movies which are a waste of time and money and only wankers who are trying to comensate for something buy the equipment neccessary to watch them.
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J..
17/05/2008 03:31 PM
Looks like someone from C-net didn't do a alot of research. As mentioned before, you can download movie and music videos on 360, and $99 for Live? It only costs $80. I must say, not paying for online is great! but in the long run this gives the 360 a great advantage by making it bigger and better continuously.
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DannAy :D
25/05/2008 09:23 PM
I recommend the playstation 3. I have had 2 Xbox 360's and they have both got the RROD[Red Ring Of Death] Which is hard to fix. In the end I purchased a ps3 and it isnt as faulty as the 360. It is more Stable and reliable. Thats all i look for....
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