The Xbox 360 had the luxury of a year’s head start over its competition, the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, and that served Microsoft well. For any serious gamer the thought of waiting a year may be just too damn long, and they certainly gained market share in view of this, at least in North America and Europe. But now that all the shiny new consoles are out, is the Xbox 360 starting to show its age and look a bit shabby?

To start with, each of the three consoles – the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii all has their own dedicated fan base that won’t change their minds for anything. These diehard fans do matter, simply for the fact that their spend on gaming is probably worth a fair few families of the casual gamers. And without doubt all these consoles significantly outperform their predecessors.

The two games consoles that are the easiest the do a straight comparison with is the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. They are both intended to function as more than simply a games console – they play DVD’s and music, connect with the internet, display photos, and allow chat. Sony will however be in major trouble if Blu-Ray loses out in the high-density DVD war with HD-DVD. Microsoft has also an edge with their online content, having had the ability to build up a considerable and frequently-updated stock over the last year. They’re now providing movies for download via the Xbox Live Marketplace. It is likely that Sony will eventually catch up with this, but for now, Microsoft holds the edge.

The start with, if you put aside what’s actually inside the consoles for a moment and look at how the consoles perform instead of how they should, the PlayStation 3 isn’t really a year ahead of the Xbox 360. If you do a side by side comparison of cross-platform games this will tend to favour the Xbox 360, which has the ability to offer better lighting effects and less of a tendency to flatten and blur textures. Although, having taken this into account, the PlayStation 3 still has longer loading times.

The Xbox 360 is well and truly a Microsoft product. In the attempt to get the console out quickly wasn’t the best way to ensure reliability, and as widely reported a small but still significant number of the original releases crashed to ‘blue screen of death’. Also, during the recent Fall update, where Xbox Live use were required to download to access the service, causing about one percent of consoles to brick.

The PlayStation 3 console has offered the Sixaxis controller, Sony’s half-assed attempt to respond to the Wii-mote. Whilst this will enable your to tilt the controller to affect your on-screen movements in games such as Tony Hanks, you still get much better control from using the conventional D-pad. If you compare the Sixaxis to the Wii-mote there is a simply object lesson in the difference between a rushed gimmick and an innovation.

So on to Nintendo’s Wii, starting with its bad points. It doesn’t support HD-TV display, and not equipped to play DVDs. If you only looking for your game console to play games, than this should not really be much to worry about. It’s just a game console and that’s that. It’s not by any means as graphically impressive as its rivals. The wireless controller needs to run on batteries rather than being rechargeable.

But hold on. Nintendo have attempted to attract the family and non-gaming market with the impressive play abilities with the Wii-mote. Yet still be able to keep the hardened gamers in view of its difference in game play. Even though being different, Nintendo are also better at being the same – the Wii has been designed to be backwards compatible with more of the old console games than with either the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360. This is particularly appealing at that, offering software emulation for a impressive 30% of Xbox games.

It’s always going to be a hard call to make, which is the best console. But if you word the question differently, will the Xbox 360 sink without a trace since the release of its newer and shinier cousins, the answer is NO. If you preference is serious, mature-rated games with lots of online content, your choice will have to be between the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, and then to go with your preferred choice, usually whatever you had before, Sony or Microsoft. But if you now looking for family gaming, or something to play with a bunch of mates, then the Nintendo Wii should definitely be your new best friend.

Darren Lintern