This weekend my wife surprised me with a Playstation 3 for my birthday, as she knew I wanted one.

The decision to get a Playstation 3 was a hard one. Why? We already have more video game systems than we have inputs on our HD Plasma - Wii , Playstation 2 , and XBox 360 . The punchline is that I prefer PC games (My favorites: Battlefield 2142 and Call Of Duty 4:Modern Combat).

How did this come to be?

Well, the problem is, although many of these platforms play the same games and have similar graphics, there are some games - and features - which are specific to certain consoles, and along the years either I or my wife has had a reason to want one or the other.

First it was the Playstation 2. I don’t buy video game consoles when they come out, I buy them when there is a game I *really* want to play that I can only play on that system. I can’t remember what the PS2 game was which triggered this, but I think it may have been Burnout.

My favorite games for the PS2 have been SSX3, the entire series of Burnout games, but most recently, Guitar Hero III.

Accessories I have found essential for the PS2 include wireless controllers, memory card, and the DVD remote.

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Next came the XBox 360. This was triggered because I had an HDTV and wanted to play games in HD. At the time I was really enjoying playing SSX3, a snowboarding game, on the PS2. Ironically, the game played much better on the PS2, even if the graphics weren’t HD.

My favorite games on the XBox 360, again, have been the Burnout games, but also Gears of War. As I am now a Guitar Hero fan, I am REALLY interested in Rock Band.

Accessories I have needed for the XBox 360 include the wireless adapter, media remote, additional controller, headset, and XBox 360 Live Subscription.

Prior to getting the PS3, I also used the XBox 360 to watch HD-DVDs/DVDs (the optional remote is essential), and to watch HD videos I had created with my Canon HG10 HD Camcorder on my computers hard drive over the network - a GREAT feature - for me, at least.

 
 

Next came the Wii, which I never expected to get. I recognize Nintendo as the maker of many of the best video games of all time, but I am more partial to more adult games, like shooters, than the all-ages games Nintendo is famous for, like the Mario and Zelda series. Plus, the Wii does not have HD graphics.

We spent a weekend at my best friend’s house who had a Wii, and everyone there was having just the best time playing Wii Sports. It is one of the best party games ever, and we like to have friends over. It was actually my wife that went out and got it.

My favorite game on the Wii is easily Wii Sports, I also have enjoyed playing Resident Evil III, although other popular Wii games, such as Zelda and Warioware, just aren’t my style. For all intents and purposes, all we ever play is Wii Sports on it, and I don’t regret it in the least!

I am interested in trying We Ski, which uses the Wii Fit balance board), and Mario Kart for Wii (which can use the Wii steering wheel).

Accessories I have needed to get for the Wii have been an additional wiimotes and nunchuck controllers (I actually have 4 in case we want to play doubles tennis!).

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Finally, I had no intention whatsoever of getting a Playstation 3. There wasn’t a single game which was PS3-only that I wanted to play, or wasn’t available on the XBox 360. Plus, it is expensive. It was redundant.

So what happened?

Well, as we have an HDTV, we had purchased the $170 HD-DVD drive add-on to the XBox 360 to watch HD movies. As you may or may not know, HD-DVD went the way of Betamax, and now the drive is a giant paperweight.

If we wanted to watch movies in HD, we would have to get a Blu-ray Player.

The problem is, Blu-ray Players are expensive. At Christmas, I had bought my father-in-law an HD-DVD player for $150 on Ebay, and Blu-ray Players were still $400 - and the well-rated ones still are.

However, the Playstation 3 comes with a Blu-ray Player *built-in*, and costs $399. So, the decision is pretty easy when moving to Blu-ray - either pay $400 for a stand-alone player, or $399 for a Playstation 3 and get both a top-shelf video game system AND a Blu-ray Player.

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And so, this is how I wound up with ALL the video game consoles.

The question is, which would I recommend?

That’s a tough question, and the answer depends on what kind of gamer you are. Also, as you have read, I had very specific reasons for wanting each console.

If you have kids under 8, I would heartily recommend the Wii. It has the best games for children of that age, and great games for the whole family. It also has one of the best party games ever in Wii Sports, which amazingly comes with the console.

However, there are not a lot of Wii titles we have tried besides Wii Sports that have really caught on with us. Keep in mind - the Wii has no HD graphics, and limited extra video features (I think it can show pictures off an SD card, that’s about it). Older kids will love the Wii also, but will probably get frustrated with the lack of HD (if they have an HDTV) and broader title support.

The XBox 360 is more expensive, but a very powerful and flexible system with probably the best support for internet play. I have a relative in Silicon Valley who drives his entire home’s entertainment system with XBox 360, with remote Windows Media Center - its an amazing setup, but most people won’t have the patience, computer chops or spare PC hardware to really make the most of it. Downside: again, no Blu-ray support.

By and large, the PS3 and XBox 360 are very similar, despite what fans of one or the system might tell you. Whatever you do, don’t choose one or the other for game graphics, because although the PS3 is technically more powerful on paper, the differences are negligible and vary widely from game to game. Of course, the PS3 ’s selling point for me was the ‘free’ Blu-ray Player .

On a final note, although I like watching movies in Blu-ray better than DVD, in all reality the quality difference on most current consumer HDTV’s is small, and sometimes I cannot tell which is which depending on the movie and scene. The larger your HDTV and the better its resolution (for example, 50″ 1080p), the more difference you will see.

Netflix now has Blu-ray inventory, so if you enable Blu-ray for your Netflix account, they will send you the Blu-ray version if it is available, and the DVD version if its not. Personally I am not a big fan of buying movies, I prefer to rent them (thank god I never accumulated an HD-DVD library!). They cost the same to rent on Netflix, but Blu-ray titles are more expensive than DVD.

As I mentioned previously, the decision to go ahead and buy a console is really usually driven by the games which are available for it - so you should visit a site like Gamespot or GameRankings.com and look through the available titles for each platform and watch the video reviews, but give more weight to the rating users give the title in the rankings, and to game genres you know you like playing.