Inthe past, the labour of trying to decide which games console to buy was avastly different affair to how things are today. Things were so much easierback then, don't you think?

SonyPlayStation or Sega Saturn? Was that even a real choice? PlayStation 2 orMicrosoft Xbox? Again, that was a no-brainer wasn't it?

ButPlayStation 3 vs. Nintendo Wii vs. Xbox 360? Now there's a tough one for you. It'sa case of unbridled future-proof power and dynamism, versus pureno-holds-barred family fun, versus sheer power and a plethora of fantasticgames. So which one to choose?

Ifyou listen to the masses, the Nintendo Wii is definitely the one to get. It'soutselling the other two consoles by such a margin it's almost embarrassing.But then this isn't really much of a help to most people because human beings, who are almostunique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are alsoremarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

Fanboys have it easy

Thingsare a lot easier for the fanboys, of course. After all, those committed-typesperceive their favourite brand of gaming to be the best, and that's that, endof story.

Butthe fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of agas-covered planet orbiting a nuclear fireball 93 million miles away and thinkthis to be normal, is obviously some indication of how skewed our perceptioncan be.

Sofor the rest of us 'normal' people, what games console should we buy?

You'dhave thought a year ago that the PlayStation 3 would be the dominant force in2007 gaming. But this has turned out not to be the case. In fact if you'vetrawled through the web over the last year, it's actually quite hard to findany neutral person saying anything positive about the PS3 at all.

PS3 power

Themain complaints about the PlayStation 3 have been that its too expensive andthat there aren't many decent games available for it. And while the promise ofmore games does make it a more attractive purchase for the future, if it lookslike a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider thepossibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on ourhands, right?

Wrong!The PS3 has finally had a price cut and the new 40GB version now costs the same asthe Xbox 360 Elite. That brings it right into play. New games like Kill Zone 2, Metal Gear Solid and the non-exclusive Assassin's Creed are on the way and so for the first time, the PS3 can beconsidered a real option for the serious gamer.

Sowhat about the Xbox 360? It's sold over 12 million units worldwide so far, soit's pretty popular. And there are many brilliant games available for it. Butwhat of all these hardware failures that we're hearing about? It's costingMicrosoft a billion dollars to fix all those broken Xbox 360s. They'reoverheating and breaking and many people are starting to get annoyed by theconsole's apparent complete lack of reliability.

Canyou trust that when you buy a 360 you'll get one that isn't destined to fail? Microsoft is making changes to its production linesall the time so if you buy a brand new Xbox 360 these days, you'll find thatyou won't get any of those old hardware failures. (Fingers crossed).

Xbox system failure

Andas for the Nintendo Wii, it's the only console which is yet to have blotted itscopy book with any serious black marks. It is what is it. It does exactly whatit says on the tin. And it's just so fun to play with.