I have a Xbox, you have to pay for everything, and it really sucks. But the points system is better than a cash card, although Xbox Live is probably going to get rid of points cards and move to a cash system as well.
You have to pay $60 a year for Live (yeah right, its always on sale!) if you want to use Netflix, Hulu Plus, cross game chat and youtube, verizon fios TV, and playing online with others. Youtube sucks on the 360, don't even bother, just go on your PC for it. It doesn't work for me, but I am a very specific type of youtube user, so it may work for other people. The only things you can do as a silver or free member is download things from the marketplace including demo's and connect to live.
Achievement system is very good, but it is also very love or hate. Its VERY difficult to get all achievements on most games, so keep that in mind. Every game seems to have one impossible achievement. Also you will need 4 controllers and Xbox Live Gold for some achievements. If you are a completionist then you won't want to give up a game until you have gotten every achievement, which can cause extreme frustration and problems.
No one plays anything online except for the super popular games, so if you are playing Halo or Call of Duty or Battlefield you are in luck, but if you want to play something else, good luck finding people to play with.
Pinball FX 2 is however worth it alone for XBox, I have no idea if this game is on other platforms but I doubt it, but its the best experience I have had on the console yet.
Retail-release Games are cheaper on the Xbox in general and more readily available, Xbox Live arcade has lots of sales, but you can only access those sales if you pay for a gold membership.
The Wii gets used the least here, which should be obvious, its just lacking in so many ways. But its cheap now, so if you want one used get it off ebay. A lot of the good games are down in price too. The biggest fault with Nintendo is they allow cheaters online so if you intend to play online be prepared for that, and the fact that also, as the same with Xbox, no one plays anything but the most popular games online. Digital games on the Wii don't ever go on sale, and they aren't tied to a central account, so if your Wii breaks you can never get your games back, they are lost for good. The perk here is that netflix is free to use on Wii and online is also free, so if you can live with a non-HD netflix, a Wii might be worth the investment for that alone especially considering how cheap WIi's will become after the Wii U is released. The Wii also has Hulu Plus now. I am not a big fan of Nintendo games especially Mario, but if you like them, so be it, but I find Nintendo games and their rubberband AI nothing but a frustrating experience. If you have a Wii as your only console, you will miss out on mostly everything available on the other platforms, however if you jumped in early with Xbox 360 you were most likely plagued with RROD, a really lovely situation there. But even with that being said, I would not go through another gen with Nintendo's console as my only console.... Its really only good for first party games and the very occasional 3rd party game.
Both the Xbox and Wii are lacking in RPG's, if you like RPG's I suggest a handheld like the DS or PSP, you will find plenty there.
I don't own a PS3, but from what I have seen the games seem expensive, and not as commonly found as XBox games. You will pay more on the PS3 for the same game on the XBox 360. It does have more RPG's, but not the mass amount that the handhelds have. Also has Blu Ray playback, which the Xbox does not have, nor does the Wii. The price of a decent Blu Ray player is quickly approaching the price of a PS3, so in my book if you want a Blu Ray player, you may as well just grab a PS3 and get all the extra features of it that Blu Ray players do not have. They were $199 this past Black Friday, and I expect them to be the same price or cheaper for BF 2012.
Blu Ray players seem to be a pretty big scam, as most of them are very cheap but require a proprietary wifi adapter that the maker of the player would be happy to sell you for an additional $75-80 on top of the player cost. Most player's don't come with built in wifi, so in order to not fall for this get a PS3! If you have a TV with limited ports like I do buying a PS3 as your Blu Ray player would also save ports, if you decide you want a Blu Ray and PS3 at different times.
You have to pay $60 a year for Live (yeah right, its always on sale!) if you want to use Netflix, Hulu Plus, cross game chat and youtube, verizon fios TV, and playing online with others. Youtube sucks on the 360, don't even bother, just go on your PC for it. It doesn't work for me, but I am a very specific type of youtube user, so it may work for other people. The only things you can do as a silver or free member is download things from the marketplace including demo's and connect to live.
Achievement system is very good, but it is also very love or hate. Its VERY difficult to get all achievements on most games, so keep that in mind. Every game seems to have one impossible achievement. Also you will need 4 controllers and Xbox Live Gold for some achievements. If you are a completionist then you won't want to give up a game until you have gotten every achievement, which can cause extreme frustration and problems.
No one plays anything online except for the super popular games, so if you are playing Halo or Call of Duty or Battlefield you are in luck, but if you want to play something else, good luck finding people to play with.
Pinball FX 2 is however worth it alone for XBox, I have no idea if this game is on other platforms but I doubt it, but its the best experience I have had on the console yet.
Retail-release Games are cheaper on the Xbox in general and more readily available, Xbox Live arcade has lots of sales, but you can only access those sales if you pay for a gold membership.
The Wii gets used the least here, which should be obvious, its just lacking in so many ways. But its cheap now, so if you want one used get it off ebay. A lot of the good games are down in price too. The biggest fault with Nintendo is they allow cheaters online so if you intend to play online be prepared for that, and the fact that also, as the same with Xbox, no one plays anything but the most popular games online. Digital games on the Wii don't ever go on sale, and they aren't tied to a central account, so if your Wii breaks you can never get your games back, they are lost for good. The perk here is that netflix is free to use on Wii and online is also free, so if you can live with a non-HD netflix, a Wii might be worth the investment for that alone especially considering how cheap WIi's will become after the Wii U is released. The Wii also has Hulu Plus now. I am not a big fan of Nintendo games especially Mario, but if you like them, so be it, but I find Nintendo games and their rubberband AI nothing but a frustrating experience. If you have a Wii as your only console, you will miss out on mostly everything available on the other platforms, however if you jumped in early with Xbox 360 you were most likely plagued with RROD, a really lovely situation there. But even with that being said, I would not go through another gen with Nintendo's console as my only console.... Its really only good for first party games and the very occasional 3rd party game.
Both the Xbox and Wii are lacking in RPG's, if you like RPG's I suggest a handheld like the DS or PSP, you will find plenty there.
I don't own a PS3, but from what I have seen the games seem expensive, and not as commonly found as XBox games. You will pay more on the PS3 for the same game on the XBox 360. It does have more RPG's, but not the mass amount that the handhelds have. Also has Blu Ray playback, which the Xbox does not have, nor does the Wii. The price of a decent Blu Ray player is quickly approaching the price of a PS3, so in my book if you want a Blu Ray player, you may as well just grab a PS3 and get all the extra features of it that Blu Ray players do not have. They were $199 this past Black Friday, and I expect them to be the same price or cheaper for BF 2012.
Blu Ray players seem to be a pretty big scam, as most of them are very cheap but require a proprietary wifi adapter that the maker of the player would be happy to sell you for an additional $75-80 on top of the player cost. Most player's don't come with built in wifi, so in order to not fall for this get a PS3! If you have a TV with limited ports like I do buying a PS3 as your Blu Ray player would also save ports, if you decide you want a Blu Ray and PS3 at different times.
):
k Wow, just wow.
Not even. 
