Nice review. I particularly like the fact that you mentioned the crappy controller. I am surprised and pissed off that Sony hasn't changed their damn controller; and no, adding dual shock and six axis does not count as changing. They have had the same design for 3 console generations! Get with the program Sony, not all of us have little Japanese hands.

Also something I disagreed with you on: the console design. It is big and bulky, not to mention it looks like a grill. I look forward to seeing the PS3 slim (we all see it coming).

@ kn

I love the dualshock design, and my hands are by no means small.

My favorite controllers (excluding the Wiimote) have been the dualshocks and the gamecube controller.

@ makingmusic476

I think the controller layout is much better and the default size suitable for more varying hand sizes. Personally I don't mind the original Sixaxis being light at all, actually it makes me forget about the controller more so. Rumble if implemented well can add to the experience, like vibrating to the beat of the gun, but it can also be implemented badly so it becomes more of a distraction to me.

With regard to people with smaller hands they usually seem to prefer the Playstation controller, my girlfriend and my kid sister both got muscle cramps from using the 360 controller too much. So the 360 controller doesn't seem very suitable for small hands, I can manage but my gf can't which gave me an unfair advantage while playing games like DOA4 against each other.

@ kn

Have you tried customizing the XMB yet? How does it compare to customizing the dashboard on the 360 (something I haven't tested when I had one)

I use the Air Paint theme for my main account, with background removed to give a nice blue colored flowing background (I like it better than the default black flowing background). For other accounts I have a very nice Uncharted and Killzone 2 themes installed.

Have you tried the picture viewer yet? I think the slide shows are cool with the ability to play your playlist music in the background and the abilities like zooming into pictures when on manual.

@Kn

For charging controller, I pick up one of those charging unit by Nyko.  They look pretty too light up at night.

Another quirk was the remote, I used universal remote (Logitech) and it's a pain sometimes not to be able to turn off the system but 2.40 add shut down console function into the XMB so that's kinda help.

(BTW, is there a way to exit from movie to XMB using controller buttons ?)

Just press Square, then when you get to the Album option, you can just assign the things to an album. I only have two, as I don't like to have too many, Demoes and PSN Games.

Screen Tearing happens when there is a frame-rate slowdown and hiccup such that the current frame and next frame end up on the screen at the same time.  A line will end up on the screen horizontally somewhere and the graphics won't line up.  If you were walking through a doorway, for instance, the top half of the doorway and bottom half won't quite line up as you are "closer" to the doorway in the second frame and it is "bigger" on screen.

There are currently about 150 Xbox Live Arcade games

There are currently about 20 xbox originals (some very good ones!)

For demos, I can't tell you but I believe there are more demos than live arcade games....

I suspect PSN will catch up and for every new release coming -- especially multi-plats -- I expect demos will be congruent on both systems.  The key is that there are a LOT of demos and xbla titles on the Xbox 360.  They aren't all good -- some are even total crap -- but there is a big selection none the less and selection is a good thing.

@ MikeB -- you are right in that controller shape/size is subjective. I don't hate the PS3 dual shock, but it certainly isn't my favorite, either. I'm going to try the controller condoms and see if that improves my grip. The problem, to me, is two fold with the Dual Shock 3. First, each "side" of the controller is a cone-shape that tapers down too much (IMO). I tend to drop it when holding it with one hand because of this design. If I have any amount of sweat on my hands, the controller tends to "squirt" right out of hand. I can't explain it any better, but I just don't feel like I'm holding something that was meant to be held. The condom will certainly help here. The second issue I have (I'll have to get creative to fix it) is the L2 and R2 buttons are rounded and hard plastic. Any amount of hand sweat and they become slippery. The 360 triggers are literally like triggers -- rounded -- and that isn't a problem. I'd like some kind of rubbery cap on them. Note to third parties. Accessory idea -- L2 and R2 trigger gummies....

As far as customizing the XMB, I probably won't explore it. I just don't have much spare time AT ALL and I'm doing good if I can just sit down for an hour for uninterrupted play time.