Personally, I feel that PlayStation3 IS a bit more reliable, but not so much as to dismiss getting an Xbox 360.
Hmmm...PS3 has a failure rate of less than 1%. The Xbox 360 (depending on which of the many revisions) has a failure rate of 42% (pre-slim 360) to 16%(slim), a wise minded consumer would be smarter going with the more reliable hardware.
In any event, whatever console to get is personal preference. I have an a couple of Xbox 360s (one dead (RROD) and other one a new slim) in addition to a PS3 though I do find myself playing the PS3 a lot more often than the 360. I only got the 360 to play some of the exclusive games to that console.
ack-ack