To be honest, if a PS3 or 360 owner buys the other console, its unlikely they will be blown away with either.  There will be unique qualities that are appreciated but, to be honest, the consoles are pretty close overall.

Well, except for the exclusives.  Always cool to be able to play great new games.  Have fun and make sure, if you have the time, to give some more low-profile gems a try (like the FIRST Crackdown, any Twisted Pixel game and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts), k?

Yah - once you have both you realize that, outside of non-gaming features like Blu Ray or Sky or Last.fim and exclusives there is almost no difference between the PS3/360 consoles.

I'm definately going to give Banjo a look.  Crackdown I'm not too sure about but I'll give the demo a go.

Well, for me it was always a biggie hence why I called it out.  Previously, the lack of on-board WiFi plus some other stuff held me back from a 360.  I definately see it as a huge improvement and something that should have been there from the start.

To be far to MS, though, they played a clever game and from a business perspective I can understand it.  Initially they knew their big market was US, would be more centric to a cable, etc. and they played to that and kept costs down.  They then relied on people who wanted WiFi to purchase it seperately.  I know a fair few parents who bought 360 consoles and where very unhappy when they realised they would immediately have to cought up for WiFi... but that's pester power combined with "too late" syndrome and MS know they could get by on that.

They picked the right moment to push the new 360s, just when sales were starting to dip and just in time for Kinect and just when - arguably - the PS3 Slim was really becoming a threat with its lower cost and feature set.

So personally this isn't any change of heart for me - I always critizied on a personal basis the lack of WiFi in 360, just as I felt the PS3 should always have included a cheap headset.