And they say that owning an XBOX is cheaper than a PS3, but if when you factor in you'll probably end up buying 3 XBOX's to one PS3 it's not looking so good is it....

Even without buying 3 xbox's it costs more now. A elite cost around £200 + £40 for XBL and then £15 for a play and charge kit. That already costs more than a ps3. PS3 £250 with all of this already included!

Possibly a bit of a 'random thought' on the disk reading front but have you tried a 'cleaning disk'?  I have one that looks like an ordinary CD/DVD but with a little strip of miniature cleaning brush glued in a random looking place on the disk surface.  It always makes me wonder how it doesn't crash intor the laser as it spins but it has worked on DVD players, CD players and a PS2 (I've had this disk a long time). I haven't tried it on my XBox yet as I haven't ever needed to but I can't see it doing any harm. You could simply have a bit of dust lodged on the laser after all.
I think this: http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-9255.aspx is the one I have but you can pick up similar (possibly better) ones in loads of places.

Yeah, I gave it a thought.  It's basically been crashing since I got it a couple of years ago, so I may aswell replace it.  I'll give my semi working one to my perpetually skint housemate so he can join in the GRID and Forza fun (which normally involves me driving backwards and trying to take out Asbo Dog).

Game are doing an Elite for £199.99 with two games and a controller.  Given what Addnan's said, there's probably better out there.

Jameseh has new xbox

good deal?

sounds as thoe this xbox has just droped of the back of a lorry as it passed PN tower 


i see now sony have droped the price of a ps3 after over charging for years, your now going to use that one as ammo. if wasnt for the xbox controling the war sony would of never lowerd the price.

so where's the xbox fanboys  for making your crimbos that bit cheaper this year, oh i forget the kids have sense and ask for xbox's not ps3's

Yeah but MEN buy PS3's 

Plus no-one needs an elite, the Premium is fine.

I've been playing Forza with 4 other mates the last week or so, and we've just started playing cat and mouse more than the circuits.  It's so much more satisfying when the aim of the game is to stop cars {by any means}.  Usually ends up with a big heap of cars on a bend, and then one person sneaking through and winning.
We had 4 human cats, and 4 CPU mice, that makes for good fun trying to stop the mouse when you don't control where it's going.

Well thats the price you pay when your DOMINATING the market and good service is highly expensive,Ive had my xbox premuim coming on one year and no hastles with it,came with games,joypads,free gold membership,free silver membership,giving the ps3 shoddy online gaming xbox 360 wins by a long shot,thanks to real men like me,and kids all over the world who pay for a quality service,need i say more?

What shoddy online gaming?  I have aps3 and online is great

Got the Elite with 2 controllers and 2 games for £199.99 minus £2.50 GAME discount!

Works a treat   Long weekend of Forza with Parr coming up!

To be fair, we've already got a PS3 and 4 360's in this house

Upon its release, the PS3 was heralded as redefining what a computer games system should be able to offer its user. Becoming more of a home entertainment machine rather than merely for video games use. At face value its advanced features appear to be hugely advanced from its predecessor, the PS2. HDMI capability, wireless online gaming, and sixaxis wireless controllers all greatly enhance the gaming experience. But one of its flagship elements, the ability to browse the internet, appears to have fallen greatly short of expectations.
Web Browsing Issues

The primary problem lies with the setup of the browser itself. Unlike the layout of your conventional Explorer or Firefox browser you would find on any PC or laptop, the PS3 does not have an address bar at the top of the screen. It can be accessed instead through a sidebar menu, operated using a keypad which is difficult to navigate at speed, due to its messy layout and and the jumbled way you have to move between characters. It is extremely frustrating, and it can take an age to enter a lengthy URL.
Unreliable Internet

For a web browser on such an advanced machine, the number is times that it cannot complete the action of finding the correct page is simply unacceptable. Also, for pages with a number of videos or high resolution pictures, it can simply take an age to load, particularly through a wireless set-up. It cannot be expected that the PS3 can allow internet access as quickly and fluently as on a conventional PC, but the browser is sluggish to say the least, and often when is does successfully load, being able to view the entire page is hopeless due to the clumsy selection key which allows you to zoom in and out, but seemingly never to the desired distance from the page.
Software Issues

But even these problems could be ignored if the PS3 browser was not woefully out of date when downloading software. Downloading software updates such as Mozilla Firefox are possible, but not to the casual gamer who simply wants to improve their internet capability. They require moderate levels of understanding of computing to access. Also, esssential PC software such a Java Updates, Adobe, or Flash Player cannot be downloaded by the individual, rather they must wait for a software update from Sony. This means of number of online video sites cannot be watched, leading to a frustrating search for ones that do (You Tube appears to be one that works consistently).
Behind the XBox

As a result, it is generally considered that due to this failure (among others), the PS3 is a long way behind Microsoft's X Box in terms of advancing gaming. Their online store is also far superior to that of Sony's, even incorporating classic arcade games into their system that can be purchased very cheaply by the gamer.