From what I've heard from friends with both systems, they're both good, but it depends on the style of game you are. If you enjoy playing offline/by yourself, PS3 is definitely the way to go. If you enjoy online/competitive play, 360 is the way to go. Both have a great selection of games, PS3 has Uncharted 2, God of War series, etc. 360 has Mass Effect series, Fable series, the XBLA (amazing), Halo series, etc.

Both are good choices, but depend on how you want to play. If he's all about the hardcore online gaming, definitely go for Xbox360. If he's more into play offline, high-def, go for PS3. I can't push one way or the other, but both have good and bad.

PS - I have 360, but if I had money, I'd have both.

God of War is... great. Awesome. Like watching an epic movie.

I have a 360 (and Wii), despite knowing about the circle of death. I think it was the choice of games that did it for me. PS3 is a more powerful machine though, but if you're after "gaming" I think the Xbox shits all over the PS3. There are even games on 360 that look better than PS3.
It is a shame though that the 360 has its hardware faults. I mean mine doesn't play DVDs anymore and it takes up to 5 times reloading the discs to play a game. Some don't even work at all anymore, like Fallout 3 and Halo 3. I got mine last year Jan. I was told the warranty was extended a year.
Even so, if I had to make a choice again, I'd choose 360. A lot of friends have PS3 and are pretty bored with the lack of games.

Everyone I've met that owns a 360 has had some sort of problem, but Micorsoft have been really helpful to make amends.

i personally have a 360, and i'd say go with that. we got this model for my brother's birthday almost a year ago, and haven't had this red ring of death...and he's on it all day EVERYDAY. i've heard the ps3 has great graphics and the whole blu-ray player, but if you're strictly looking for a wider online base and a pretty nice selection of games, i'd go with the 360. another factor is his/your friends. what do they have more of? i know most of my friends have a 360 and very few have a ps3. if he wants to play with his friends online, check that out also

Dave says he probably wouldn't make his choice based on online gaming, but I know he does have friends that play with the X-Box 360 online, and I know he's played online computer games in the past when his schedule allowed for it. Also, the 360 is suppose to be better with sports games (confirm or deny?), which is something he enjoys.

(360 also has DDR....but this isn't for me! :P )

If you do buy a 360, most of them are newer models. Meaning before the RROD was very common, but they have finally revised the innards of the 360 so that its failure rate is the same as most electronics(such as ps3 and etc..) which is 3%.

Also if you buy from a gamestop depending on where you live, they are giving 2 free games and a 50 dollar gift card with a 360 purchase.

my sentence makes no sense almost, was talking in my head and my hands didn't register a few words lol.

Alright to make this short, the 360's out now, are more reliable than previous models. Most likely the ones that come in a 2 game bundle are the revised hardware 360's. Make sure to get one with a hard drive, as you can install your games to it, which really helps out a lot, by reducing wear and tear on the disc drive.

If that doesn't make much sense

http://www.examiner.com/x-1280-Seattle-Xbox-360-Examiner~y2008m12d15-Easy-guide-to-find-out-your-360-chip-set

hopefully that will help you try to understand what I am typing.

Don't worry, you made sense.

I never got the rrod issue with my 360, but that's because I sold it when it was barely a year and a half old

I rarely used the damn thing, the most I ever played with it was playing the Xbox port of Conker

anyway PS3 trumps 360 and here are two irrefutable reasons why:

you might want to also consider the future of both systems, later this year Sony's planning on releasing a motion controller, almost similar to the Wii but more responsive and natural in the movements, and Sony's expected to have yet another strong line-up of games this year.

Xbox is releasing it's project Natal motion capture camera sometime around November, and what it does is pretty much make you the controller, it records your moves in real time and that controls whatever game you're playing. So if you were playing a racing game, it would track your hand movements as if you were steering and your feet angle as if you were pressing the gas and what not. But some games like shooters will be hard to track.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 360. I have never had red ring of death, my disk drive is broken on my first one and my Elite is fine =]

The thing that pissed me off about my PS3 and the main reason why I got rid of it was because a] the internet is shit and b] the controllers need recharging every frickin' minute haha
360 is cheaper and getting less and less by the minute too.
But that's just my opinion.

I have both systems and I honestly prefer the PS3. First I had the Yellow light of death on my PS3, and it was only 60$ to fix it was 2 years out of warrenty. Sadly the new ones do not do backwards compatability. This was done because alot of people complained about the price point for the system and Playstation took out some things and came out with a lower cost system. I find that the controllers can go though a few days of some quality game time before needed a recharge. Now since a majority of games are cross platform you have to look at the exclusives to each system and what you like to play. The games that sold me on the PS3 were the then announced Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, and Uncharted. Now the big bang games are God of War 3, Little Big Planet. Heavy Rain, and Uncharted 2. You also have to look into are you going to download games from the online because that allows for add on content and other exclusive games. I know that PS3 has a video store, and now supports netflix. Honestly ask friends who have them, look at gamefaqs for what games are comming out If Backwards compatability is a big issue for you then look arround the old models are at exchanges and places like that, but you might also want to check sony posted a list of games that were backwards compatable it's somewhere arround 75% of the PS1 and 2 games.

I happen to love the PS3. It seems like the graphics are more enhanced. Not to mention, you can play your blu-ray's in there. The xbox is alright. I love the xbox, because Halo 3 happens to be one of my favorite games, but I've known too many people to have problems with it. I'd rather just go over to a friends house that has the xbox and play.