It has been a while since there were so many options for gamers. Xbox 360 is out now, PS3, is months away the absurdly named Nintendo Wii will not be far behind. Then you’ve got portable options in the PSP, Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo NS.

Price wise you are looking at (USD $):

Xbox 360 - Core System $299
Xbox 360 $399
PS3 - 20GB Hard Drive $499
PS3 - 60GB Hard Drive $599
Wii - $250 (rumoured, TBC)

So what do people think about the price? Check out the comments on Engadget.com they are very funny. Short story, is that people think the Wii is still expensive given that it will have lower spec hardware and not as many good games, PS3 is way too expensive, and some people question if Sony have actually lost the plot following Xbox 360 to market with an extremely high price point.

As for me? I just love PlayStation and have a natural affinity with the brand, I’ve been gaming on this platform for over 10 years now, however, the key to success is going to be 1) games (Xbox has got Halo 3 and GTA IV) 2) online communities. I think the second one is probably going to be more important, the vendor with decent game servers with loads of gamers is definitely what we all want.

I’m living in NZ at the moment so I’ll wait and see what the local pricing looks like before making a decision.

Check out this video of the PS3 interface, very familiar if you’ve seen a PSP.