I just found out that Metal Gear Solid HD collection includes two original MG games in their MSX versions. Holycrap.

Well to throw my 2 cents into the fire, I prefer the 360. I've had all three systems, note had.

PS3 I had for 2 weeks before it completely died on me. Brand spanking new and it dies. The built in internet browser and Blu-Ray were really nice. Then it died, and I received absolutely no help from Sony. I just ended up taking it back to GameStop and demanding my money back. They obliged, never thought about buying another one. Not that it's a bad system, aside from the burn of the system death, it's just I hate that controller! Plus, many of the games just didn't resonate with me personally.

Wii, I had the Wii for well over 2 years. It eventually just sat there collecting dust. I realized quickly it wasn't been played near enough, so I gave it to my nieces to use. My brother later told me they sold it back to GameStop and bought a 360. So that's where my kindness went. The system isn't terrible, though I noticed a lot of shovel ware that was just clogging it down in the end. So many terrible games were out there that it clogged out he good ones from even being seen.

Now my 360 I've had since 360's first came out, I did however upgrade. I've experienced one RRoD, (Red Ring of Death), that killed it and I promptly sent it away to be fixed. Within a week it was back, or rather, a new 360. They decided not to fix it and just send a brand spanking new one. Which was fine since I had my Hard Drive and it took just a moment to slap it on and get back to gaming. Didn't have any further problems, when the new slim model came out, and I read some reviews, I went to the local GS and traded in my old for a new. That's what I have now. I'm not much into the Kinect crap. Never really got into the Motion Control Phase despite having a Wii. Anywho, I love my 360.

I can play all kinds of old Xbox games, I can play great XBLA games. Like the new Simpsons Arcade game, or the old X-Men arcade game. Castle Crashers, etc, a bunch of nice titles, most of them may not be exclusive but they are damn fun. Now, 360 does have it's exclusives like Gears of War, a pretty decent shooter, Halo, never been a big fan, and I think that's pretty much it. A few more show up every now and then. I can watch movies through Netflix, or one of the other random services they now have. Not to mention YouTube is finally there. Some other random things I can't remember nor really use, including ESPN, and Hulu.

All that aside though, it's what I have the most fun on. Aside from the laptop of course. The real question is, "what do you think you'll have the most fun using?"

We can give our own personal experiences all we want, fanboy or rage against a certain console/device. However, all of that is useless in the end. In the end it's your own personal decision, sure we can push you to one side or the other, but again, you should make the choice yourself. For me it's the 360, for others it can be PS3, or Wii. I have no qualms against any system or their users. Personally, I wish all this flame and hate for each system would die and we could all just get along, but since that won't happen I just have to say, "Hey that's cool man."

That aside, we've given just about all the advice we can. The choices are ultimately yours to make as you see fit. Hopefully though, we've given you some good advice to use when making that choice. If not, well, no one is perfect. That said I wish you luck on your upcoming console journey. :)

If you're speaking of the Gold requirement for online play, this is waived by MS for MMOs. Now, patching policies and the like, yeah, that may be an issue for MMOs.

Quite right in my opinion , can't argue with that.....

For a thread like this, this is pretty damned civil. Yes, some of us are fans or "fanboys" of our respective favorites but we've kept pretty positive and tried to lay out pros and cons rationally.

However, since the OP said 360 or Wii, presuming he's not considering PS3 for whatever reason (perhaps his location or some such), three more words I forgot to mention: Red Dead Redemption (complete just came out). Get a 360. If you're willing to consider a PS3 (as most people here are at least assuming you are) it's available on both platforms.

The Wii doesn't get anywhere near as many releases as the other major consoles do, but since it's already been out for a while it has a great selection of games to choose from.

Honestly you're better off going with a Wii or a PS3. Forget about the 360.

Yup, comes with the Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence package. Therefore they were on PS2 as well.

Darkside Chronicles certainly wasn't a bad game. And it had very impressive graphics for the Wii (with some better textures it could have passed for a 360 title). But it really REALLY killed a lot of the things the first did well, gameplay-wise. It was almost exclusively focused on being cinematic.

Basically, that's how I feel. Not because the 360 is BAD, per se, but just because it's so...bland. PC has more multiplatform games, and the PS3 and Wii have better exclusives. Unless you're a diehard Gears or Halo fan, there's not much there that you can't get somewhere else. Although I suppose that if you're on a tight budget and want a single system that kinda does a bit of everything, it would be a good purchase.

I find the view you two have expressed to be, well, wrong. It may be due to ignorance or just not liking most games but not even counting Arcade the 360 has some fantastic exclusives. Viva Pinata and Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise are absolute fabulous games. The Fable games do appear on PC (except the second one) but not on PS3 and are likewise very good. Culdcept Saga is amazing, though unpopular and Blue Dragon is a nice fusion of JRPG and western influences. Dance Central (and presumably 2) are the dancing games we've been waiting for for over a decade. Kinectimals is spectacular for kids. 360 has at least 2 exclusive fighting series. Alan Wake was an interesting game...

Uhg, you know what, it's fine if you prefer the games on PS3 but quit blowing smoke up people's asses about "only a couple shooter exclusives". The Xbox 360 list of exclusives is every bit as interesting and varied as PS3 (possibly more interesting if you like Kinect) and I swear I haven't counted but there looks to be more shooters on the PS3 list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_exclusives_%28seventh_generation%29 has an actual list, one can compare if they like. They'll have to check the list of downloadable titles elsewhere (cause that one doesn't include it), but you get the idea.

Well, then I stand corrected.

I have all 3 current generation consoles, the one i use the most is my Xbox 360, the one i use the least is the Wii.

The Wii has a few problems i have to warn you about:
First, it isnt targeted at hardcore gamers, but at casual ones.
Second, the only good Wii games are first party titles. Almost everything that doesnt come from Nintendo sucks. There are a few good third party titles which are an exception, like RE Umbrella Chronicles and Darkside Chronicles, House of the Dead Overkill, Dead Space Extraction (these 4 games will get a PS3 move supported version though, so theyre not quite exclusive), No More Heroes 1 and 2, Mad World, The Conduit 1 and 2, Red Steel 1 and 2, Trauma Center, Fire Emblem, The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandoras Tower, and i think thats all.
Third, multiplatform games SUCK on the Wii. The Wii always gets the worst version in multiplatform releases.
Fourth, if you care about online multiplayer, forget about the Wii, it has the worst online system out there.
Fifth, i dont think i needed to say that, because everyone knows it, but the Wii is a very outdated system, and its about to die very soon, there are no more big games releases planned for it and Wii U is just around the corner. Im not a graphics whore, i wouldnt be on GOG if i were, but spending money on an outdated console is something you really have to think about. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 will have a much better longevity.

I must say that if you want some great exclusive games and decent multiplatform releases, go for the PS3. The PS3 has undoubtely the best exclusive library, in my opinion, and i think that if you look through the list, you might agree with me.

If you want the best online experience, go for the Xbox 360. Live is the best online gaming system in any platform out there (yeah, even better than everything the PC has). Also, multiplatform releases are almost always better on Xbox 360.

From a pure gaming perspective the 360 is the superior console. The Wii had a lot of great ideas such as the Virtual Console, but they've largely been abandoned.

For party experience, I can't vouch for the Kinect, but unless they've fixed it I remember reading that you needed a lot of wide open room because the sensors wouldn't be able to detect with other objects in the path. The Wii is a great casual gaming machine and if you can get a lot of people playing it can be a lot of fun.

I do not recommend the 360 for this reason: It's a piece of junk hardware wise. I do not know a single person personally who has not had a 360 break down. Not a single one. Myself, I've had THREE RROD's, my DVD drive quit working, and now the machine overheats. All it's good for is streaming content...when it doesn't overheat. I've had a lot of consoles and PC's. I have never had a machine so spectacular at finding ways to fail.

Mileage varies, but I'm personally done with MS consoles. If I ever get another one it will not be from MS, nor will I buy a replacement 360, or pay to repair this one. I'd rather use it towards a PS3 considering both my PS1 and PS2 still work.

My Xbox 360 has never broken down. I have a non-slim version that is three years old. The DVD drive failed once, but Microsoft fixed it for free within a few days.

I'm sure a whole bunch of people will say similar things.

But the statistics don't lie, and again, personally, every single person I've ever known who had a 360 had it broke down. Including myself. Many times.