I considered between the two. I could only afford one system, I chose the 360.
I have played Xbox games at family and friends for as long as both systems have been out. I've done the same for Playstation as well since it came out, the first one. I have absolutely never understood why so many people think that the controller style is better than the Xbox style. Forgive me, but they're damn-near identical. Except for the placement of the left control stick and d-pad. I'm thinking these claim on BOTH sides of controllers on either system either being better or worse are both rather... uh... well... biased. It's a really a matter of preference. Where do you like the left control stick? That's about it. That and how well it grips. Personally, I find the Xbox 360 controllers easier to hold and they feel better in the hand. PS3 controllers feel more bulky and less fluid. All this... "360 controllers are bad for fighting games" thing that has spread around, well... I have maybe 20 fighting games for the 360. One full game, and 19 something or that on the Genesis Collection. Rough count, give or take six or something. I had zero trouble with using the Xbox controls with it. Given that the two controllers are nearly identical, and added with the fact that the Xbox controller actually has more functions, I'd say the situation was reversed. The Xbox is better for fighting games.
I think the idea that it isn't comes from people that are already too attached to fighting games on the PS3. Since I've been mainly a Nintendo and Computer gaming boy for most of my life, and have haphazard exposure to the other systems, I would hazard to say I have a neutral perspective on the two systems. And without bias, I can say that on the purposes of gaming that the Xbox 360 is superior in every respect. In being a multifunctional platform, I guess the PS3 holds the title there as it runs Blu-ray. But one of the reasons Microsoft doesn't, is because they believe that movie streaming is going to replace it. They believed that when the 360 came out, before it was popular. Now here we are, where it's everywhere. Looks like their prediction is true. So I don't think we exactly miss much with the 360 not supporting Blu-ray. If you absolutely must play them, it's not gonna kill you to buy a separate player for it. TVs today are perfectly capable of having multiple video sources to choose from.