What they are: The PlayStation 3 and the Wii are the latest video-game consoles from two of the big players in this market. (Their biggest competitor is Microsoft's Xbox 360.) The Wii is the successor to Nintendo's GameCube, and the PlayStation 3 is the latest version of Sony's gaming console.

Each has a new feature that makes it stand out from older consoles, the Xbox, and each other. For the PS3, that feature is its Blu-ray DVD player. It's the lowest-cost Blu-ray video player available. (You can watch HD-DVD movies on the Xbox, which will cost you $300 for the core system and $200 for the DVD player.)

The Wii's stand-out feature is an innovative remote controller. It uses motion-sensitive controllers instead of the usual thumb controls. You can swing a tennis racket, parry with a sword, and even pitch baseballs with a natural hand movement instead of pressing buttons and combinations of buttons. Like many other controllers, it vibrates when you make contact with balls, other players, and in other appropriate situations.

Both systems include a one-year warranty.

Product: Sony PlayStation 3
Price we paid: $600 (60GB version; a 20GB version is available for $500)

What you get. Great Blu-ray playback at the lowest price available. We compared the PS3's Blu-ray playback to the Samsung BD-P1000 disk player's and found them equally excellent. Playback was smooth and images were sharp. We also compared Blu-ray playback with 1080p and 1080i but had a hard time seeing the difference even on our reference rear-projection HDTV.

What we liked. The PS3 was much more responsive to user commands than the Samsung. Loading disks and skipping through chapters took less time. While the PS3 does not include a remote control, the onscreen user interface was easy to use with the bundled wireless game controller. That is a good thing, since the PS3 will not work with universal remote controls. Sony plans to sell a proprietary wireless remote for $25 in the near future.

The PS3 can serve as a media hub for your home entertainment center. It is quite versatile for playing and storing music. You can rip audio CDs and store them on the hard disk in a variety of formats. You can also transfer music to the hard disk using a burned CD or DVD, a USB memory key, a flash memory card, or a Sony PlayStation Portable, capabilities that the Xbox 360 lacks. Unfortunately, the PS3 does not support playlists. We could not get music to stream off a Media Center PC or an iPod, let alone play music purchased from the iTunes Music Store.

Photos can be played directly off some digital cameras through USB or, if you have the $600 PS3, a flash memory card. SD, Memory Stick, and Compact Flash are supported. We compared photo playback of the PS3 and the Xbox 360 and found images on the PS3 to be noticeably sharper.

High-def game visuals are very realistic. Graphics for PS3 and Xbox 360 games are equally impressive. The games have a realistic look, with fluid motion and crisp details. Sony touts its support for 1080p games (the Xbox 360 can only support 1080i), but that is overrated. Most people don't have 1080p sets. Many PS3 games only support 720p, and the output depends more on the game developer than on the console.

At 4.9 ounces, the PS3's bundled controller is almost half the weight of the Xbox 360's 9.5-ounce controller. The PS3 controller looks very similar to the PlayStation 2's controller but is wireless and can detect motion. The controller's battery is rechargeable through the included USB cable.

The controller does have a few flaws. The battery is not removable, so it might get weaker over time. Battery life was relatively short. While Sony eliminated vibration so that the controller can detect motion, most games don't really take advantage of the feature.

You should be able to play most PS2 and PlayStation 1 games. Sony says the PS3 is backward compatible with PS2 and PS1 games. We tried two PS2 titles, Final Fantasy XII and Bully, and encountered no problems. Of course, your results might vary, so check the PlayStation Web site to see whether your games will work:

Sony doesn't charge monthly subscription fees to play against people online. You'll pay $5 to $8 for online access via the Xbox. But the PS3's online gaming service is missing a few advanced features, like universal feedback and matchmaking based on skill set.

The PS3 is contained within one case. Whereas the Xbox 360 has an external power supply and an optional external HD DVD drive, the PS3 includes it all in one case that is slightly larger than the Xbox 360.

What we didn't like. Starting at $500, the PS3 sets a new price ceiling for video game consoles. Games cost $60 and extra controllers, $50. But when you add the cost of all of the accessories, the PS3 is actually not more expensive than the Xbox 360.

Sony announced that only 21 games will be available for the PS3 this holiday season. Most of those games are either sports or violent action games intended for 18- to 34-year-old male hard-core gamers. We've tried several and concluded that most of them are simply graphically enhanced versions of games we've seen before. In comparison, the Xbox 360 will have more than 160 games available and the Wii will have 62 games.

While users of the Sony PSP will feel right at home using the PS3, other users could be confused by the interface. Keys aren't consistent or even labeled in every menu. Many menus are hidden. Some settings aren't clear.

When we examined the PlayStation Network, we were disappointed to find only a few Blu-ray trailers, video game demos, and downloadable games.

The PS3 comes packaged only with composite-video cables. To get the HD experience you paid for, you have to buy either a proprietary Multi-AV component video cable or a standard HDMI cable. Sony sells an HDMI cable for $100, but we found a 6-foot HDMI cable online at TigerDirect for $17. Component-video cables for the PS3 are available for $15 online from Mad Catz.

Product: Nintendo Wii
Price we paid: $250

What we liked. Thanks to the controller, the games are fun and a very different experience for video-game playing. Kids and adults alike will enjoy the physical aspects of playing with the controllers. The Wii Sports CD includes tennis, golf, bowling, baseball, and boxing. You use the remote to swing as if you're holding a bat or golf club, or jab as if boxing.

The wireless Wii remote includes a wrist strap--an important addition since you could lose your grip on the controller and cause an accident.

The Wii has extra features geared toward kids. You can create your own Wii characters, called Miis, for use in certain games. There are good parental controls, and many of the Wii games are tailored for children.

You can keep your old GameCube disks. The Wii is backward compatible with those older Nintendo games. At the online Wii Shop Channel, you can buy games for up NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), Super NES, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx systems once you set up the wireless Internet access and fill your account with Wii points. For now, you'll need to already have a wireless Internet setup, but Nintendo plans to make an adapter available for LAN connectivity in January. The buying process was very easy and each game took about a minute to download.

The console (including rear connectors) is only 10.5x6.25x1.75 inches, one of the smallest game consoles we've seen. There's a memory card slot on the front panel (for SD cards) and two USB ports in the rear. The Wii game data, downloaded games, and other data can be stored in 512MB of internal memory.

What we didn't like. Graphic quality is not like that of the PS3 or Xbox. The highest resolution the Wii can provide is 480p, compared with high-definition quality (1080i) for the PS3 and Xbox. In addition, if you want to experience games in 480p, you will need an expensive proprietary component-video cable ($20 TO $30).

The Wii remote requires 2 AA batteries, which also provide power to the remote's built-in speaker and vibration mechanism. How often you need to replace them will depend on your play time, speaker volume level, and whether vibration is turned on.

The Wii is very simple and lacks some common features you might find in other game consoles. It cannot play CDs or DVDs. The SD memory card is the only external data source for storing pictures, MP3s, and game downloads. The Wii can play only limited multimedia formats: JPEG, MP3, and QuickTime video files. Wii does provide basic editing functions for your photos, which can be posted on a message board that connects you to your Wii friends.

You'll need to buy an additional Wii remote ($40) and a nunchuk ($20). Not all games downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel can be played with the Wii remotes, so you'll have to buy a conventional controller ($20). You also need GameCube controllers to play Nintendo GameCube games.

You can't take games downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel to play on your friend's Wii, since games are licensed only to your system. But if you erase a game accidentally, you can download it again free of charge.

Our initial take. The Sony PlayStation 3 is an excellent Blu-ray player with the potential to become a very good gaming console. But the PS3's limited selection of games makes the Microsoft Xbox 360 a better choice for hard-core gamers now. Everyone else should consider the Nintendo Wii, which is more affordable and (probably) more fun.