PS3 or Xbox360?

The folks at GizmoCafe.com had a chance to play with the PS3 for awhile and overall they seemed to be much more impressed with the PS3 than I thought they'd be.

The biggest question on everybody's mind now that it's finally out there is - 'how it stacks up to the Xbox360?'. We spent most of the weekend taking the PlayStation 3 through some head to head comparisons with Microsoft's gaming machine.

As expected in terms of gaming there isn't much difference between the two systems (so far). Despite the on-paper specs Sony's machine is no clear winner in terms of game-play performance. Although perhaps the right game just hasn't come out yet, I'll keep my eyes open and my gamepad fingers ready.

When it comes to comparing the two on every level PS3 is definitely the winner in pure technology packed into its 11 lb box. Bluetooth, HDMI, 3 flash memory readers, SACD, and sixaxis controllers are all great additions - but probably none of this will close the deal for anyone on the bubble about buying the machine.

Read GizmoCafe's full PS3 / Xbox360 Comparison

See the PS3 Release Video: Campers and Speculators

Blu-ray might just push some undecided consumers over the edge. PS3 could be either a high priced game console or a bargain Blu-ray even though it won't win over any serious A/V-philes.

Pluses:

• Tops console horsepower specs for current generation

• Blu-ray means you may never watch DVD again

• More tech than you can shake a Bluetooth, sixaxis, SATA stick at

• Near silent operation

Minuses:

• Game selection is lean, very lean

• Operating system needs polish

• On screen keyboard is frustrating

• Needs a Blu-ray / DVD remote control

• Boring Chassis

Even though it's been lambasted by critics for costing $600 (premium) out of the gate, that's actually pretty cheap considering all the included technologies.

I experienced no technical problems outside a couple of crashes that alarmed me at first but weren't consistent enough to worry about. So far, the PS3 release seems to be without the news of overheating suffered by the Xbox360 release.

Sony seems to have pulled off the successful console release even though shortages are likely inevitable through the new year. The trend in the current generation gaming hardware is to try and transcend what a game console brings to the entertainment table. Will we suddenly decide we like gaming machines that play back optical movie disks and perform streaming media functions for our home theater systems? Or are they just creating expensive, unwieldy monsters of modern technology that nobody wants?

That's for you the buying public to decide with your paychecks.