With each of the three major game consoles entering middle age, PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 can be considered in the prime of life. Wii, on the other hand is starting to look a little haggard despite its boy-next-door charm.

Moreover, while each boasts merit entirely dependent on gamer needs, real or perceived, only the PlayStation3 delivers more bang-for-your-buck than you'll know what to do with. And yes, that the system that's been sucking wind back there in last place for the last three years.


PlayStation3 (Sony; $300)
The newly revamped PlayStation 3 is hands down the best buy this holiday season. It packs in more horsepower, more essential features and more promise out-of the-box than any competing product at its new and ingratiating price point of $300.

It's essentially the same console that Sony released 3 years ago at twice the price and imprudently positioned as a home entertainment do-all, doing "all" except delivering consistently great games and many of them.

But after feasting on humble pie back there in last place in the console wars, Sony's new, slimmed down PS3 has the focus of a seriously powerful game system that just happens to throw in a lot of "all" for free, including Blu-ray movie playback, built in Wi-fi, digital home media and downloadable entertainment content by the truckload - with mass storage capacity to handle it all - match, and a line up of fresh and forthcoming games that range in quality from great to spectacular. It's not really a question of should you buy a PS3, it's a question of "what took them so long?" ...or perhaps, "a little late, isn't it?"


Wii (Nintendo; US$200, C$220)
Certainly the most widely recognized console of its generation - and the current market leader, too - Nintendo's Wii remains a tantalizing purchase consideration this holiday shopping season. It's a terrific system for families, particularly those with a goodly mix of "lapsed gamers" (i.e. parents who used to play games before life got in the way) and young kids (but not necessarily teenagers).

After all, Wii's unique, motion-centric controls allows for a glut of great games accessible to everyone - sometimes to a fault - plus a few genre defining hallmarks and some surprisingly effective exercise-come-videogame titles giving Wii otherwise unheard-of utility as an work out contraption that also plays games.

That said, Wii's remarkable blossom has been withering as of late, a victim of its own success. With Wii's sudden and surprise success came a great many rushed or intentionally-petty titles hoping to tap into this new-found "lapsed gamer" market.

Wii's lack of high definition video output, comparatively-scant processing power and limited home entertainment tie-in functionality (no DVD playback, for example) leave it to look like the middle aged console that it is, where as the two competing system remain primed for modern entertainment, keywords HDD, HDMI, HDTV, media hub, streaming media, digital downloads, tomorrow.


Xbox 360 Elite (Microsoft; $300)
Not content to cater to the core gamer scene, Microsoft has taken big, calculated steps to ingratiate all users with the Xbox 360, primarily with its "Elite" model (there's also a woefully anemic "Arcade" version) and a limited time "holiday bundle" that includes $40 worth of all-ages games (LEGO Batman and Pure).

While it boasts the most robust online feature set this side of The Matrix, a terrifically expansive and diverse slough of top notch games, and innate capabilities as an extracurricular home entertainment hub, user don't get all of what the Elite has to offer unless they pay more on top of the initial $300.

For example, unless you keep your high-speed internet modem or router in the living room, you'll need to pony up another $100 for a proprietary Wi-Fi connectivity dongle, a ridiculous price for an otherwise cheap peripheral and a feature that competing consoles contain internally at not extra cost.

Then, if you want to use the world renowned Xbox Live for online multiplayer gaming (among other things), you'll need to pay an annual subscription fee of $60.

And where the Xbox 360 does not offer Blu-ray movie playback, it does allow you to rent, buy, stream or download some high definition movies and shows, but said content is forever locked into the console itself, never to be toted to a another room in the house let alone friend's place, nor traded in or sold for pin money in a pinch.

Xbox 360 remains to most thoroughly realized game console on the market today - and the potential of next year's "Natal" technology allowing for controller-free, body motion sensing interface is off the chart - but there's a lot of cloaked costs associated with that thorough realization.
 
 

It's true: Quality kids games are hard to find. Sure, there's lots out there, but few that are both good and genuinely kid-friendly. Fortunately, GamersGate online games portal has an entire section dedicated to quality family fare. Go ahead, check it out!