Should I buy a Nintendo Wii or Sony Playstation 3 (PS3)? It really all depends on who you are and what you like. Here are some high level pros and cons of the Wii and PS3.
The Wii is for kids and families. You can get a pre-owned Wii at Gamestop for somewhere around100 making it a much better option money wise versus PS3. A huge portion of the games for the Wii are E or E 10+, so it has very age appropriate games for kids. The Wii has good graphics, but the PS3 has better graphics because it can display HD video. The unique Wii remote enhances the game with shaking and swinging movements. It also can be used to point at objects and steer a race car. The Wii shape is also thin and can face up or sideways making it easy to fit in anywhere you want it to; a little better space wise than the PS3. Many Wii games are 2-4 players which makes it fun for family night or when friends come over.
The PS3 is mainly geared for adults. Many of the Playstation 3 games are graphic and violent making it a perfect environment for avid gamers. The PS3 is more expensive than the Wii and ranges around300. Newer versions are slimmer, lighter, load faster, and have more storage. The controller is more comfortable than the Wii as well. The numchuck cord, wrist strap, and the shape of the Wii controller can get uncomfortable, were the PS3 controller fits very nicely in your hands.
The PS3 recently has introduced the Move for about100. This is an optional accessory for the PS3. Move makes the PS3 controller similar to the Wii controller where it can detect movements and motion. There are not many PS3 games that take advantage of the Move controller, so it may be worth waiting a while until more games are able to use the Move accessory.
The PS3 has a major advantage over the Wii in that it is also a Blu-ray HD DVD player. It can play regular DVDs as well as Blu-ray DVDs. It also has upconvert technology which will make your normal DVDs look better for a HD Television. The Wii is not a DVD player.Both the PS3 and Wii integrate Netflix online instant play. The PS3 has a slight advantage here as well as it can stream movies in HD were the Wii cannot. Currently Netflix does not have a lot of movies offered in HD streaming, but I suspect they will continue to offer more HD content in the future.
In summary, the Wii is better for family and kids and has a fun interactive feel with the motion sensor controllers. The PS3 has better graphics and is geared more for adults. I searched Gamestop and came up with 56 M (mature-rated) games for the Wii, while the PS3 showed a total of 368 M-rated games. That should make it very clear which system is geared for adults.
