To Wii or PS3

Just prior to Christmas Nintendo with their Wii and the Sony PS3 went head to head for the “hot” new console of the year. The battle was over really before it had begun with the latest figures showing Nintendo outselling Sony 3:1 – which shows that playability and a low price seemed to have more appeal than graphical eye candy and Blu-Ray movies.

Dubai being a consumer playground both consoles were available the day after the release. Some stores were charging as much as 6000AED for a 60GB PS3 – similar to the launch of the Xbox 360. Post the festive season the PS3 in Dubai can now be picked up for almost half that – making it close to the UK launch price. The same is not true for the Nintendo Wii while only $249 in the US it is still consistently 2500AED everywhere I have looked. So going against the market I brought a PS3 and will import a Wii from the UK for more sensible money.

The PS3 has received a lot of criticism since its launch for being too expensive, too heavy, needs firmware patching out of the box and a poor selection of launch titles.

However I look at the PS3 as providing –

1. A quiet Blu-Ray player – the HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 just makes too much noise (great picture though)
2. A simply stunning photo album style slide show – putting to shame anything even Apple has delivered
3. 1080i/720p – is excellent for gaming on large screen displays
4. Resistance: Fall of man – is a great game and will be a classic – I prefer it over Gears of War the stand out title for the Xbox 360 right now
5. Breathes new life into my old PS2 collection

I also can not wait for the first lot of triple A titles – Tekken 6 and Heavenly Sword in particular. In the mean time anyone know where I can buy Blu-Ray movies in Dubai?