If you are wanting to play pirated games, then you are pretty much stuffed for this gen. Both consoles will be subjected to Network and On Disk system updates that can revert any software changes made to the consoles. One good example I can give of this was a couple of years ago when MS left a good number of UK users with paper weights after an update was pushed down and bricked their chipped consoles. (haha)

As for the games consoles themselves, many do say that the Xbox is better for multi-platform games, which if you are not a developer means that the Microsoft does not have many Top tier 1st party games. Sony has many in house IP developers who are very good at pushing the envelope of the PS3 and then the 3rd party companies have become quite adept at masking over the short comings of both machines.

I have both machines and my preference goes to the PS3. If you are wanting to be cheap with you gaming habits the I would go for a ps3 too, you can get a greater number of online services for free and without the need to pay for an online subscription. That said though, see what your friends are playing as you would be able to buy/swap/share games with them.