So Many Game Consoles: Which to Buy?
Buy Games Consoles | Between PS 3 Xbox 360 or Wii
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The PS3 isn’t cheap, as the base model with the 20GB hard drive is $499 while the high-end 60GB model is a daunting $599. And that’s before you buy any games. Of course, if money is no object you could buy someone else’s PS3 preorder from eBay for a price that redefines obscene.
PS3 Bottom Line
The PS3 is definitely your priciest option. But is it really for you? If you need to have the absolute cutting edge in graphics, the answer is yes: The PS3 looks great, supporting resolutions as high as 1080p, plus it doubles as a Blu-ray Disc player. If you (or your kids) are hard-core gamers and fans of PlayStation brands like the Metal Gear Solid series, you’ll want it even more.
Nintendo Wii
Have kids? Get a Wii.
On a budget? Get a Wii.
Not a super-hard-core gamer? Get a Wii.
Super-hard-core gamer? Get a Wii.
Loathe the prospect of telling your friends you’re playing with your Wii? Get a Wii and some better friends. The unfortunately named Wii has a lot of things going for it, starting with a very forgiving $250 price tag.
Wii Graphics
You’re not going to want the Wii if you’re judging games by the current default metric, graphics quality. The big reason to consider a Wii is accessibility (it almost feels more like a toy than a video game console) and game innovation, much of it driven by the innovative controller.
Playing a Wii game will be a much more active, visceral affair, with players swinging the controller to play tennis in Wii Sports, slashing it to sword-fight in the new Legend of Zelda game, or gently guiding it to excise tumors in Trauma Center. The Wii simply offers experiences that no other console can promise.
Microsoft Xbox 360
Almost a year old, the Xbox 360 has one huge advantage over both the PS3 and the Wii: You can buy it right now, without waiting in line for three days.
With the $600 you’d spend on a high-end PS3, you could buy a high-end 360 and have enough money left over for at least three games and a year’s worth of Xbox Live Gold membership ($50).
Further, Microsoft has also recently released an HD DVD add-on for $199, pitting the console squarely against Sony not only in the console wars but in the high-definition DVD wars as well.
While the retail games appeal to the hard-core, Xbox Live Arcade appeals to the, um, soft-core. While Nintendo and Sony are just getting started online, Microsoft’s yearlong head start has made its online component a real selling point.
‘Wii60′: Another Option?
A shiny new 60GB PlayStation 3 costs $599, but if the money doesn’t bother you, perhaps owning both an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii–a pairing that’s come to be known in Internet chatter as “Wii60″ or “Wii360″–may be an attractive alternative.
Here’s the math: If you were to buy a $250 Wii in addition to the $299 core 360 (which lacks the $399 Pro pack’s 20GB hard disk and wireless controller), you’d spend only $549. That’s fifty bucks cheaper than the high-end PS3, and you get two consoles.
Exclusive summary by Robert Coffey
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