Ok so Santa (aka my girlfriend) is looking to get me a new console for Christmas. I love my Wii but wouldn't mind seeing what all the fuss is over the other two.

Can I get some good and bad points about each of the HD twins off you guys and girls as I only know a little bit about each one.

I don't want flame wars just good honest opinion from each camp.

Oh and here's some things to keep in mind

I'm not a Halo or Metal Gear fan

I'm not interested in Blu-ray or HD-DVD I will be using it for gaming

Games I enjoyed last gen on my PS2 and Xbox were: Star Wars KOTOR 1+2, Fable, Timesplitters 1+2, The F1 games, Star Wars Battlefront, Grand Theft Auto.

Also are there any differences between multi-plat games like Fifa, Assassins Creed, COD?

Thanks in advance

Given your brief preference list I would say the X360 its cheaper and can get you what you want. Also contrary to popular belief the differences in most multiplats are negligible at best. Very strange but the games you mention are all multiplat, very few exclusives so the obvious choice is the cheaper consle

PS3

Alot of Amazing Exclusives, (Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, Motorstorm ect
plus games that you and your GF can play together like LittleBigPlanet (one of the best games ever made)
even if your not intrested in Blu-ray movies, the games are also on Blu-ray which means amazing graphics and very finely tuned gameplay on Exclusives, plus you always have a blu-ray player for the future if you ever change your mind?
you can get online Free, built it wifi like the wii so no extra costs
games like FIFA and Assassins Creed 2, COD look great and play the same as any other system they are on

PS3 is the best value for money you can get and has a huge range of games that if your GF is not hardcore she can play aswell and love.

hope that was helpful

Yeah I guess I just haven't really pain attention to HD exclusives this gen. I know about Halo and MGS but I didn't enjoy either of them last gen. I've played a bit of Little Big Planet but I didn't really like the floaty controls.

I guess I need to look into which games I would be interested in. I'm a massive Zelda fan and I enjoyed Fable quite a bit.

I need some more info on each systems online components too I guess. I know PSN is free and Live isn't but apart from that I'm pretty much clueless.

If you care about playing online, I would choose the PS3 right now. You can play online for free with it.

I don't mind playing online but I'm more a fan of epic single player games. How does Live work? Do you pay more the more you play? How much is it?

From your simple requirements and game selection I would say the 360.

It has Fable II and the GTA episodes.

No real difference between those multiplatform games apart from the controller. (Personally I find the PS controller better for FIFA, 360 for COD.)

It would be worth looking at the exclusive lineup of both consoles before you make a choice though, there are tons of huge HD exclusives arriving next year, and you wont want to miss out because you overlooked one when making your decision now.

xbox 360
your prefered games say so

PSN
has all functions that LIVE has accept cross game voice chat. so if you are both playing the same game then you can voice chat if playing to different you have to use Text Chat, but they are brining voice chat out very soon.
along with everything live has you also get chat rooms so you can talk to loads of diffrent people at the same time

PSN also has the best services:

Playstation Home - Dont let people tell you its rubbish and its failed, it really hasnt! around 8 million people use it which is about the same amount of Live players who can actually play online to put it into comparision. Its great to see new games and meet up with friend before game launching, its also good to just kill half hour

Vidzone - Watch thousends of music videos online for free, i love this service and this alone puts PSN above anyother online Service

Video Store - you can Download thousneds of movies insted of buying them on DVD/Blu its great, plus if you want a night in you can rent loads of flims aswel so no need to go out to blockbuster, the Movie store has more films on it then any other platform

Playstation Store - AMAZING! the games you can download are sooo good like Flower and the Pixal JunK series, its got the most inative and amazing games on it

Netflex - i wont go into it unless you live in the US?

the PS3 really does do everything and is such a good value for money. The online is unmatched when it comes to the scale of things you can do. Plus....Wifi is built in AND its free to play online! on the 360 (not bashing it just pointing out) its an Extra £100 on top to get wi-fi and get online

PSN also has around 20million people that can actually play online, there are alot more people on the service to play with

sorry about all the spelling mistakes, im typing fast lol

Ok so it sounds like the PS3 is better value out of the box but I might be interested in more of the 360 exclusives.

Does anyone know if there's a KOTOR 3 in the making because that could make my decision very easy.