Video Game Consoles

If you already have a collection of Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo games, you should know that with the exception of the new 40 GB PlayStation 3 (*est. $400) , all systems have some backward compatibility with at least the most popular older games. So if you already have a games library, you'll probably want to stick to that console brand unless you're ready to buy all new games. At $50 to $70 for each new game title, building a new game library is an expensive enterprise.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 can play older Xbox games, but each game requires its own software emulator (which can be downloaded from Microsoft) and there are reports of glitches with some older games. In addition, backward compatibility requires the Xbox hard drive, which is included with the Xbox 360 Elite (*est. $450) and Xbox 360 Premium (*est. $350) , but is an extra cost accessory with the Xbox 360 Arcade (*est. $280) . Microsoft maintains a list of games that are known to be compatible on the Xbox website (see Best Research for more information).

The 80 GB version of the PlayStation 3 (*est. $500) can handle PS2 and original PlayStation games, although the new 40 GB version of the PS3 will only play original PlayStation games -- not games for PS2. The Nintendo Wii (*est. $350) can accept GameCube games, plus its Virtual Console feature lets you play downloaded games from even older systems like Sega Genesis. All three consoles allow you to purchase games and download free trials from the Internet.

Nintendo Wii is the best family console

With its last-generation game console, the GameCube, Nintendo was pretty much stuck playing third-fiddle to Microsoft and Sony. But owners loved the GameCube, and the console was particularly kid-friendly with great proprietary games starring Nintendo exclusives like Mario, Pokemon and Zelda. The GameCube is still available in a "limited" platinum edition (*est. $100) .

For the Wii (*est. $350) , Nintendo took a completely different direction from Xbox and PlayStation. Rather than spending development dollars on hyper-realistic graphics, Nintendo invested resources into developing its new wireless, motion-sensitive controller. The controller looks more like a standard remote control, with a wand-like shape. Instead of mainly pushing buttons, you control gaming maneuvers by moving the controller around in different ways. For example, to play a tennis game, you actually swing the controller over your head to simulate a serve. To play an action game, you use the controller like a sword or fighting stick, stabbing and jabbing in the air. A secondary controller, the included Nunchuck, connects to the primary controller so you can use both hands -- for instance, in a boxing game.

Before you get too excited about the motion-controlled sensor, it's important to note that hard-core gamers should steer clear of the Wii. In most reviews, testers note that the Nintendo Wii isn't meant to challenge the most skilled gamers, who will be frustrated with its not-very-accurate controller. Slate magazine's Eric Sofge is the Wii's harshest critic. Sofge, a self-confessed die-hard gamer, is frustrated that the controller isn't that nuanced -- it doesn't demand a lot of finesse from the user. Even small kids will find themselves hitting home runs and bowling strikes.

Other reviews agree that the Wii isn't the best choice for solo first-person-shooter games, or for epic fantasy games. For those types of immersive games, the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 is a better choice. But reviewers counter that the Wii isn't meant to be a high-end gaming system -- it's meant to involve viewers, getting families and friends off the couch and waving around the controller. In this respect, testers say the Wii is entirely successful -- games are simply fun to play. PC Magazine's Jim Louderback echoes most reviewers when he writes that although graphics look "terrible" compared to Xbox and PS3, playing games on the Nintendo Wii is "maddeningly addictive" and "intuitive."

A year after its release, the Nintendo Wii’s popularity hasn’t faded, and Nintendo has struggled to keep up with demand. If you are lucky enough to find a Wii at a store, it is the cheapest of the next-generation consoles at $250. Otherwise, it sells on the Internet at a price comparable to the Xbox 360 and even the newly-released 40 GB PlayStation 3.

The Nintendo Wii ships with a set of simple cartoonish sports games. You can develop a custom cartoon character to represent yourself in the games, called an avatar (Nintendo calls it a "Mii"). Reviews say this feature is a little corny, but fun. An SD card slot lets you view photos on your TV through the Wii. The Wii connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi to download updates. You can also get weather and news, and you can leave messages for other players. You can download legacy games for the system's Virtual Console. For some multi-player games, players can pass the controller around, but some competitive games, like boxing, will require an additional wireless controller (*est. $40) and Nunchuck (*est. $20). For playing older games, you can get a Classic controller (*est. $20).

The Wii right now doesn't play CDs or DVDs, and online gaming also isn't a possibility right now. The Wii comes with a composite video cable for connecting to a standard TV or HDTV. The system can also play games in smoother 480p (about DVD quality), but you need a separately purchased component cable (*est. $30). A LAN adapter, for connecting to the Internet with an Ethernet port, is also an option. You don't need to be online to use the Nintendo Wii -- Internet is only needed if you want to download legacy games or get online updates.

Nintendo has about 200 games available right now for the Nintendo Wii, and some of the best rated include: Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, Paper Mario, Zak and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, MLB Power Pros and Madden NFL '07.

PlayStation 3 is a powerful alternative with compelling extras

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are more direct competitors. Both focus on the most realistic graphics rendering, and both can output games and video in 1080p high-definition to an HDTV. Reviews say that playing games, surfing the web and viewing your photos on a high-definition TV is fantastic. Although you can certainly use the Nintendo Wii with an HDTV, it doesn't output games in high definition.

On paper, the PS3 (80 GB *est. $500) / (40 GB *est. $400) is the most powerful gaming console, with a faster, more powerful processor and video RAM. Although both Xbox and PlayStation 3 allow for online gaming, PS3 includes online gaming for free (it costs $50 per year with Xbox 360). Sony is counting on owners paying extra for new features, extra levels and other perks, but basic online gaming is free.

The most notable PS3 feature is its high-definition Blu-ray disc playback (Blu-ray is one of the two new incompatible high-def DVD formats.) Right now, there are less than 350 Blu-ray DVDs on the market at a cost of about $25 each, but you can also rent them from Blockbuster, Netflix and other rental stores. Reviewers who have tested high-definition DVD movies say the experience is incomparable -- Blu-ray and HD DVD movies look phenomenal on an HDTV. Considering that standalone Blu-ray DVD players cost more than $500, some critics consider the PlayStation 3 an excellent value if you really want a Blu-ray DVD player. That value is enhanced even more by the fact that reviewers that concentrate on home entertainment almost unanimously declare that the PS3 is, in fact, one of the best Blu-ray players currently available. Its biggest plus is that it does a superb job handling Blu-ray's interactive features, something that often trips up standalone Blu-ray players costing considerably more.

The PlayStation 3 has also drawn some notoriety for its other abilities. It has Wi-Fi and Ethernet Internet connectivity, and comes with a custom browser for web surfing. The PS3 can also run other operating systems in addition to is own, and the console has official Linux support. Under Linux, you can run programs such as the Firefox web browser and Open Office, which mimics many of Microsoft's popular Office applications, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and is compatible with Microsoft's file formats. USB keyboards and mice can be used, as can Bluetooth keyboards.

The PS3 can also play music, but critics say its music features fall short; the PlayStation 3 will let you play CDs, and you can rip CDs to the hard drive, but you can't plug in an iPod or MP3 player. You also can't listen to your own music while playing games -- a much-loved feature included on the Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 has the ability to store photos and view them via built-in slideshow options. Reviews say the photo features work very well.

The PlayStation 3 comes in two flavors: the base model (*est. $400) includes a 40 GB hard drive and Spiderman 3 on Blu-ray disc. One drawback to the 40 GB version of the PS3 is that it only has backwards compatibility with original PlayStation One, but not PlayStation 2, games. The step-up 80 GB PS3 (*est. $500) includes a larger hard drive and the Motorstorm game. The 80 GB version of the PlayStation 3 has backwards compatibility with both original PlayStation and PS2 games. The 80 GB model also has slots for SD, CompactFlash and Memory Stick memory cards where the 40 GB version does not.

We found relatively few tests of PS3's online gaming abilities since that feature had not yet been activated when most reviews were published. Digit Magazine's Martyn Williams wrote from Japan, so he was able to test online gaming. Williams says he played a game with four players from around the world, and that the system worked without a hitch. You can type instant messages to other players and PS3 will translate messages into each user's language -- a nice touch, writes Williams. In a January 2007 article, Ben Kutchera from ArsTechnica.com praises the PS3’s online game selection.

However, unless you find the PlayStation 3's abilities as Blu-ray disc player or Linux computer compelling, most reviews don't recommend the PS3 right now. Though it's expected that the PS3 will eventually overtake Xbox 360 in game play, that day has yet to arrive. The Wall Street Journal's Nick Wingfield played PS3 and Xbox versions of the same games and found differences to be "imperceptible." In his review for The New York Times, Seth Shiesel says graphics are "not discernibly better than Xbox 360's." Even after a year on market, reports say that the PS3 still doesn’t compete with Xbox either in quantity or quality of games overall.

Shiesel notes a number of other glitches in his review, including the fact that you can't play your own music while playing games. He finds the whole system "clunky to use." The PS3 is indeed a very large console, though most reviews say it looks nice. Shiesel also faults PS3's online behavior. Downloads of game trials and other features are very slow, and while the system is downloading data, you can't do anything else. Xbox 360, by contrast, can accomplish downloads in the background while you play a game or watch a DVD.

As far as game play, reviews say it's terrific. The new PS3 controller lacks force feedback, but does include motion-sensing properties on certain games, adding to the experience.

The PlayStation still lags in game availability. As of this past June, Sony said that 150 titles were available; however the count included PlayStation Network online titles, as well as many non-exclusive games such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, NBA 2K8 and Guitar Hero III. The most notable game for PS3 is Resistance: Fall of Man. But several reviews prefer the similar Gears of War for Xbox 360. Elder Scrolls IV: The Oblivion is the best reviewed PS3 game with a score of 93 on Metacritic.com. However, Sony is hoping to significantly increase the number of titles in the near future, with company executives predicting 200 packaged titles and 180 downloadable titles by the end of March 2008. Among the titles set to launch soon is the highly anticipated Gran Turismo 5 (*est. $60) .

Since the next generation consoles are here, the older PlayStation 2 (*est. $130) now sells at a fraction of its original price and new, highly-rated games, such as God of War II, continue to be developed for it. The PlayStation 2 can also double as a DVD player. Just before press time, reports broke that Sony has a new version of the PS2 in its pipeline for introduction in 2008. Improvements are said to be a more compact design and lower price.

Xbox 360 offers the best game play right now

Microsoft's Xbox 360 is currently available in three versions. The matte black Xbox 360 Elite (*est. $450) includes a 120 GB removable hard drive, wireless controller, a headset, HDMI output and cable, along with an Ethernet cable and component and composite video cables. The Xbox 360 Premium system (*est. $350) includes a 20 GB removable hard drive, wireless controller, a headset, HDMI output, an Ethernet cable, and a composite video cable. The Xbox 360 Arcade (*est. $280) , which replaces the Xbox Core, comes with a 256 MB memory card (no hard drive), wireless controller, HDMI output, composite video cable and five family-friendly games: Pac-Man Championship Edition, Uno, Luxor 3, Boom-Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy.

The Xbox 360 can play standard DVDs and CDs. It doesn't natively play high-definition HD DVDs, but you can get HD DVD playback as an accessory (*est. $200). As with Blu-ray, the selection of HD DVD movies is limited right now, but more are expected.

The Xbox 360 plays games in high-definition for those with an HDTV, but it also works fine with regular TVs. Microsoft has added an HDMI port to all of this year's Xbox consoles. HDMI is a digital cabling technology that allows uncompressed streams of data to travel without loss of information or quality of sound or video. It carries both video and sound in one cable, making the process of hooking up an HDMI-ready source to your HDTV much more convenient. Also, HDMI allows a 1080p signal to be displayed. The Xbox’s HDMI port, however, only supports the older HDMI 1.2 standard, so the system doesn’t offer the lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats. This could be an issue if you plan to watch HD DVD discs via the Xbox accessory HD DVD player, but is of little concern for game players as Xbox game titles are not encoded with either Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio tracks.

Overall, reviews say that the whole Xbox 360 system is a better choice right now for gamers than PlayStation 3, and the graphics quality is excellent. Because it has been on the market longer, there's a larger library of available games. Online gaming isn't free (*est. $50 per year), but reviews say it works well.

Besides increased removable memory (120 GB instead of 20 GB) and the HDMI port, which is now available on all Xbox models, the upgraded Xbox 360 Elite is essentially the same as the Xbox 360 Premium released last year and well-known problems such as overheating and other more minor issues have not yet been addressed. The DVD player is noisy and the power brick too large, say some reviewers. Also, the Xbox 360 Elite doesn’t add Wi-Fi capability, something that both the Wii and PS3 include, and doesn’t include any improvements to its standard DVD player. Because of that, reviews say that current Xbox owners have little reason to upgrade to the Elite or Premium, though the larger hard drive and included extras, such as an HDMI cable (itself a $30 item), could make the extra cost of the Xbox 360 Elite worthwhile for first-time buyers.

The biggest complaint about the Xbox 360 is its too-short 90-day warranty. We've read reports from many furious users whose systems encountered trouble just after the warranty period ended, including system freeze-ups and crashes. While we normally think extended warranties are a waste, it might not be a bad idea here. We were surprised to find so little criticism about the warranty from professional critics. For a piece of electronics gear that costs at least $280, a 90-day warranty is far too short, in our opinion.

Handheld game systems

The biggest news in handheld game systems since our last update is Sony's September refresh of the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Alternately called the PSP 2000 and the PSP Slim & Lite (*est. $170) , reviews say that there are a few significant improvements over its predecessor, but that current owners will find it hard to justify an upgrade to the new model. The most significant improvements include increased RAM (to 64 MB from 32 MB) allowing for faster game loading times. Another plus is video-out capability, which allows you to display PSP audio or video on any TV with an extra-cost cable. The new PSP 2000 is also around one-third lighter and 20 percent thinner than the previous model.

Otherwise, the PSP 2000 is essentially identical to last year's PSP. It is compatible with online and peer-to-peer games, and can double as a media player capable of playing MP3s (loaded on a Memory Stick media card) and video (either on proprietary discs or on a memory card). You can also watch streaming video via Sony's LocationFree system, but that requires an accessory base station, such as Sony's LV-V30 (*est. $240) . The controls are similar to that of PS2 and PS3, and accessories include a camera and a keyboard. The screen is larger and has higher resolution than screens on competing handheld game systems.

On the downside, battery life remains fairly disappointing at less than three hours per charge. We've also seen lots of complaints about Sony's Universal Media Disc (UMD) format. Writers and blank media are hard to find -- making Memory Stick a better option to transfer video and other files from a computer to the PSP 2000. Pre-recorded video on UMD has not sold well, according to reports.

Among those that have looked at the PSP 2000, CNet.com says it "retains all the impressive media and online features of the PSP as well as its deep lineup of great game titles that offer better graphics than the Nintendo DS." In a review of the older PSP model, G4tv.com's Shane Satterfield calls the handheld’s screen "bright, sharp" and "practically flawless." He notes that the price of the PSP positions it as a toy for adults versus a typical portable device designed for a kid raking together allowance money. Satterfield balks at the cost of games and movies on UMD discs.

The Nintendo DS Lite (*est. $130) is a dual-screen handheld console capable of wireless gaming -- both short-range gaming and Internet gaming via Wi-Fi hotspots. The multiplayer capabilities allow you to play with up to 16 other gamers. There are two card slots for games: a slot for DS games and a legacy slot for backwards compatibility with older Game Boy titles. The standout feature of the Nintendo DS is its two screens, one of which (the touchscreen) acts as a controller. The Nintendo DS Lite is both lighter and slimmer than the original DS (which it updated in 2006), and the screens are now vastly brighter -- a huge improvement, say reviews. However, the single screen on the PSP 2000 still rates higher, though reviewers do like this handheld for the unique games that take advantage of the dual screens.

CNet.com praises the Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP (*est. $80) for its enormous library of games (over 700, since it is backward compatible with the original Game Boy). The Advance SP is a bargain compared to the Nintendo DS Lite and Sony PSP 2000. Like the DS Lite, the Advance SP has a much brighter screen than earlier versions, say reviews. Reviews say the Advance SP is a good choice for kids, though perhaps not for teens or adults.

Nintendo's Game Boy Micro (*est. $70) is physically much smaller than the Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP, but the two are functionally nearly identical. The Micro has just a two-inch screen (measured diagonally) compared to the 2.9-inch screen on the Advance SP. Although its small size makes it easy to carry and lighter in weight, some owners say it's simply too small, and that games are not as enjoyable on such a small screen. The Game Boy Micro is compatible with Game Boy Advance SP games, but not with earlier Game Boy games.

According to experts, the PSP 2000 is the clear winner over the Nintendo DS Lite. It has a better screen (which means better looking games), and its Memory Stick slot allows you to play an array of audio and video file formats, and view photos. Built-in Wi-Fi works well for online gaming, and experts like its analog stick and directional-pad gaming controls. Reviews say the Nintendo DS Lite touchscreen isn't as easy to use as it could be. Of course, the PSP 2000 costs much more than the DS Lite, which reviews say is also a fun system if you just want to play games and aren't bothered about Wi-Fi or multimedia support. Reviews say the Nintendo Game Boy Micro and Game Boy Advance SP do not really compare to the Sony PSP when it comes to graphics complexity, but some prefer their small size and cheaper prices.

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

# of Picks	Model (With Retailer Links)	Details from Amazon.com
10	Microsoft Xbox 360: Arcade (*est. $280) Premium (*est. $350) Elite (*est. $450)	details details details
9	Sony PlayStation 3: 40 GB (*est. $400) 80 GB (*est. $500)	details details
9	Nintendo Wii (*est. $350)	details
5	Sony PSP 2000 (*est. $170)	details
3	Nintendo Game Boy Micro (*est. $70)	details
3	Nintendo DS Lite (*est. $130)	details
1	Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP (*est. $80)	details

Although the three major game consoles get approximately the same number of top recommendations, reviews say the PlayStation 3 isn't yet a must-have system unless you are also interested in its other capabilities. Of note, critics say that it is one of the least expensive and most capable Blu-ray high-definition disc players now available. The console's abilities as a Linux computer might also hold attraction for a few. The Xbox 360 is a more mature system, with a wider library of games and equally excellent graphics. It too has high-definition playback abilities, but playing back the HD DVD discs it supports requires an extra-cost accessory and reviews of its performance in that regard have not been particularly positive among home theater experts. Reviews almost unequivocally like the Nintendo Wii as a great, fun family system. Its graphics quality is far below that of Xbox or PS3, but Nintendo put the focus on fun and value rather than graphics realism. As for handheld game systems, reviews generally prefer the PSP 2000 for its sophistication and multimedia features.

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