PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii?

Posted at 4:45 pm March 30, 2010

Tags: Consumer Electronics, Games and Hobbies

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By Alexander Villafania

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MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA – All three gaming consoles are now readily available locally. So which one do you buy? Or rather, if you have enough money to splurge, which one to buy first?

Sony has finally launched the PlayStation 3 in the Philippines – two years since it was made available to the rest of the world. This would be the first time that a major game console had an official launch here.

But then, the PS3, along with other consoles games have always been traditionally sold through gray markets; the devices are imported by independent distributors and resellers. One of the major resellers is Datablitz, which has been selling PC and game console items for years. Often, they sell products just a few days after the actual launch of the products, sometimes even during the launch day itself.

In fact, the console gaming business in the Philippines has been lucrative for years, even from the days of the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment System.

The popularity of game consoles is so huge that fans of different consoles have put up their own mailing lists or forums, such as the PinoyXbox for the Microsoft Xbox, PinoyPS for the PlayStation, and Pinoy-N for the Nintendo.

In recent years, many malls especially Robinsons and SM have toy shops that sell game consoles, even putting up separate stalls within the toy shops to sell all gaming related products. Prices have also gone down due to competition.

Whereas before, the PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 were sold at dizzying prices of P35,000 and above, now people only need to shell out between P15,000 and P25,000 depending on certain packages. Even a basic package of the Nintendo Wii can go as low as P9,000 and that’s already brand new. Many of these units are being sold in Sulit.com.ph and eBay.ph.

And speaking of packages, it’s always a huge question for first time buyers to choose which console to get. Even gamers in PinoyPS, PinoyXbox, and Pinoy-N have equally, sometimes savagely defended their consoles.

There are a number of “guides” that give potential first-time buyers what to choose. TipidPC.com has a short forum discussion on the qualities of the consoles, as well as several forum topics related to selling and repairing units. A similar thread in PinoyExchange can be found.

Even non-gaming and technology forums also have discussions on what to buy, such as the PhilBoxing Forum and Motorcycle Philippines.

But to lessen all the burden in choosing which console, check out the comprehensive review of all three current gaming consoles by GameSpot.com. With a lot of quality games out there, there’s no bad choice whatever the game console is, as long as you have fun.