(Former Intellivision and Atari Pong fanatic (before going Osborne/Apple/Mac/PC...)

I personally druel everytime I see PS3 graphics .... however my family is hooked on WII because the Sports and some other games involve all the members of the family and the titles are generally more family friendly.  We very briefly allowed our 7 year old to hook into PS2 before having to withdraw him due to obsession with StarWars Battlefront.  Lego Star Wars is a kinder, gentler game that seems more appropriate...  The innovations of MIIs and the remote hand controller are nothing short of revolutionary.  Our goal now though is to get our hooks on DDR and GuitarHero for WII....

Some corrections on backwards compatibility (BC):
PS3: The 60 GB PS3 (discontinued) has 100% BC, because it actually has PS2 hardware in it. The 80GB model has software BC, and is therefore not reliable, it only works for a certain % of games, check the sony site for which games are compatible. The 40GB PS3 does NOT support ANY BC, none.
Xbox 360: Any 360 with a hard drive supports BC using software, and for the games it supports, they run great, often times looking a bit better than on the original xbox. Check the xbox.com site for the list of currently supported games.

And to chime in: I have an xbox 360, and it's awesome. My favourite games of the last few months have been: Bioshock, Mass Effect, Halo 3, and Call of Duty 4. 3 of those 4 are only on the 360. The only current PS3 game that I'd want to play is Uncharted. Plus, Ninja Gaiden 2 is coming out this summer on the 360, I can't wait!

You can't go wrong buying either system, both the PS3 and 360 are great. Even though the 360's hardware has been flaky, MS's support has been superb! I've had 2 systems go RRoD on me, and got each replaced within a week for free.

Go for the system that has the games you want to play.

Quoted from Bally Boy

With all the time the kids spend playing Guitar Hero, they could actually learn to play a real guitar, I guess it's too much work.....

My 2 cents...

Dan

Yes, there isn't the instant gratification that current society is in need of playing a real guitar.

When playing GH I rarely ever had to repeat a track and often had 90%+ accuracy on medium difficulty. I think it takes most players that "get it" about three songs to really be able to get on to it and readily advance through the songs.

So what your saying is the discontinued 60 gig PS3 is pretty well the one you want if you can find it?

I finished Bioshock. Mass Effect I have but not played it yet, maybe when I get a few days off I will crank it up.

As for reliability I am currently wrestling with my 360. I get read errors with Halo3 even with a replacement disk. Always at the same levels and I was talking to tech support and they suspect the HD. Yes the HD not the DVD drive??? I pull the drive and the levels load. Funny thing is the error does not come up with any other game but Halo3. A full format did not fix the problem. So what they are suggesting is try swapping someone elses HD and see what happens. I haven't been able to borrow one yet to do that.

360:  HW problems aside, the games listed above and specifically Xbox Live really ensures it's a system to own.  I have a PS3 and I love it but it's not without its own flaws too.  Sony brought out the PS3 much later and still they couldn't figure out that upconversion is a cool thing. THE result was, I had a SONY PS3, playing on a SONY 53" hidef TV, playing a few of the games at 480p.  Why?  Because as I was an early adopter, and thus did not have a 720p resolution, only a 1080i.  Unfortunately, Sony didn't see fit to include a hardware scaler, so I had to play the games downgraded to 480p.  Let me tell you, there's quite a difference playing games on a large screen in 480p as opposed to 1080i.  Happily, I bought a new TV that supports all resolutions but it's still a stupid move on their part to not support upscaling.  As for online, it's smooth, but I ended up selling Unreal Tournament 3.  I felt it didn't make sense to play a game with tactics when you couldn't converse. It supported voice chat, but you had to stop moving and press the d-pad to talk.  IE: sitting duck. Hopefully they'll be upgrading their firmware to at least support in-game chat in every game through the OS.  It's nice that it's free, but you get what you pay for.  Xbox live=$5 per month, not a lot of cash for imho the best online experience I've had.  No systems are perfect but thus far because of the online, 80% of my gaming is on the 360.

Yep, I'm lucky to have both systems.  I'll probably get a wii sometime but it does make me nervous if the remote strap were to break and interject with my TV .

Quoted from The Loafer

Hopefully they'll be upgrading their firmware to at least support in-game chat in every game through the OS.

Oh yes.... because there are so many profound conversations to partake in online.

If it wasn't for the N word I don't think half these guys would have anything to say. Occaisionally there are people that use it correctly and pass on tactics, but unfortunately for the most part I quickly turn down the volume.

Quoted from The Loafer

I'll probably get a wii sometime but it does make me nervous if the remote strap were to break and interject with my TV .

It's not the remote you have to worry about .......it's the nine year old boys running INTO the TV   being so involved in the bowling and not realizing how close they are getting or playing tennis and hitting each other by accident on the tennis swings. Makes for great adult entertainment watching them tho

ME

Quoted from medvet

It's not the remote you have to worry about .......it's the nine year old boys running INTO the TV   being so involved in the bowling and not realizing how close they are getting or playing tennis and hitting each other by accident on the tennis swings. Makes for great adult entertainment watching them tho

ME

Right on the money.  Though I think it's MORE funny watching the ADULTs lunge from side to side to bat at imaginary balls and take swings that hit their opponent or teammate's heads.  WE ordered more Wii condoms direct from Nintendo, forget the 3rd party "skins", the Wii version are ribbed and have extra head room. (Sorry couldn't resist.)  I can browse MAACA on the WII too, which takes a bit of navigation, but the zoom feature is a very good option.  The wireless remote (and machine) concept is a winner though since it's very easy to "like" a system that doesn't ahve wires running about.  And the imaginative use (in most games) of the Wii remote and Nunchuk makes most complex games easier to play.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Oh yes.... because there are so many profound conversations to partake in online.

If it wasn't for the N word I don't think half these guys would have anything to say. Occaisionally there are people that use it correctly and pass on tactics, but unfortunately for the most part I quickly turn down the volume.

And I'd agree with you, if all I did was join existing games. But nope, I predominently play online coop games against the computer, playing with friends is the best.  So again, how the hell can you formulate any strategy without a mic?

Quoted from The Loafer

And I'd agree with you, if all I did was join existing games. But nope, I predominently play online coop games against the computer, playing with friends is the best.  So again, how the hell can you formulate any strategy without a mic?

This is a good reason for having clans. At least you can play with a bunch of guys that are more about playing the game and less about trying to be the most obnoxious person on there. Unfortunately my schedule is so random that I can't really commit to a clan. Friends lists come in handy. At least you might have one or two people that are reasonable on your team.

Yep, 100% agree.  I did play a lot of COD3 online versus and it was a heck of a lot of fun. Every now and then, there would be a git that would join in, but overall, it was a positive experience. My big problem with human vs human = I suck!  

Quoted from The Loafer

Yep, 100% agree.  I did play a lot of COD3 online versus and it was a heck of a lot of fun. Every now and then, there would be a git that would join in, but overall, it was a positive experience. My big problem with human vs human = I suck!  

My biggest issue with online play comes down to connection. If I connect to a host with a good connection or I host my performance difference is night and day. Until they can resolve issues with FPS and connection it will always comes down to connection that will determine how well you fair. The real kicker is the shittier the hosts connection the more advantage they have. Without a dedicated server, games should analyze the hosts connection and if it's poor, not allow them to host.

On Live, I once played a bunch of rounds of Settlers of Catan with a guy from California who works on political campaigns. He's met people like Karl Rove, George Bush, etc. and it was a very fascinating conversation. We talked for quite a while about the intricacies of the US primaries, and I found it to be a very worthwhile conversation.