The Next Gen War

Sony PlayStation 3

Release date: 11/17/2006

Retail Boxes:
1. Basic - $499.99
20 GB hard drive, wireless controller

2. Premium - $599.99
60 GB hard drive, wireless controller, built-in wireless networking, flash card reader

Backwards Compatibility: Good - Nearly every PS1 and PS2 game works. Older games may distort on widescreen displays.

Availability: Poor - Restricted supply is likely to mean that if you don't have a preorder before launch, you'll probably be waiting until next year.

One area where neither competitor can match Sony is sheer marketing power. Everybody knows the PlayStation brand means video games, thanks to the vast amount of money Sony has spent on pushing it since the first PlayStation launched way back in 1995. US hardware shipments total 44 million -- enough to put one in 42 percent of households -- with over 110 million consoles in circulation worldwide.

The PS3 will launch with its own online service, similar to Xbox Live but with one crucial difference: it'll be free. The PlayStation Network Platform has similar matchmaking, voice chat, and ranking to Xbox Live, but there are no subs fees (although premium games, like massively-multiplayer titles, might end up charging players). Unlike the 360, it includes a fully featured Web browser, in case you fancy browsing the Internet on your TV.

Sony's new Sixaxis controller looks similar to a wireless version of the existing PS2 unit, but has a brand new, Wii-like motion control system and revised, more trigger-like L2 and R2 shoulder buttons. Unlike Nintendo's controllers, it can't be used as a pointer, but can detect both tilt angle and motion. The new system comes at the expense of a rumble feature -- Sony has claimed the two functions interfere with each other, but others have cast doubt on the validity of this statement. After all, the Wii remote can do both without difficulty.

So why does it cost so much, and why is it in such short supply? Much of the answer comes down to its ground-breaking Blu-Ray optical drive. The Xbox 360 and Wii both use conventional DVD drives, but Sony's beast comes ready and willing to play next-generation, high-def movies, and can read discs containing five times more data than the 360's.

Top Five Game Picks:

1. Resistance: Fall of Man This outstanding on- and offline humans-vs.-aliens shooter takes place in an alternate 1950s England where WWII never took place.

2. Ridge Racer 7 Every Sony console in history has launched with a Ridge Racer game, and the PS3 is no exception.

3. Rainbow Six: Vegas The Rainbow Six team heads for Vegas, but not for a vacation.

4. Call of Duty 3 Latest in Activision's series of gritty World War II shooters, Call of Duty 3 takes inspiration from the Normandy Breakout towards the end of the war.

5. Tony Hawk Project 8 Taking place in a streaming, seamless city that's an amalgam of favorite levels from earlier Tony Hawk games, Project 8 brings the familiar Tony Hawk brand of skateboard action to the PS3.

Choose A System:

Microsoft Xbox 360 Sony PlayStation 3 Nintendo Wii

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