The SNES and 360 are generally believed by the gaming world (meaning nerds and magazines) to be the superior systems of their times, with many genre-defining, classic games and all the right innovations. The SNES brought six-button controllers, photorealistic graphics, Mode 7 and the Super FX chip. The 360 brought the Live Arcade, Achievements (though I don’t care about them, they have been widely imitated), and most importantly, Gears of War. Though the 360 red-rings, Microsoft took a bath on it and allowed free replacement, a service that Sony never even considered when their early PS1s and PS2s burnt out.

The MD and the PS3 have both made painful mistakes, like the MD’s myopic three-button controller, the Sega CD and 32X, the PS3′s expensive Blu-Ray drive, lack of vibration feedback, mandatory installations, and the elimination of backwards compatibility. Still, they are both worthwhile systems with excellent exclusives. Uncharted is a fun and challenging Gears clone, Little Big Planet is a terrific game creation tool (even though the community has turned into freakin’ YouTube), and Infamous is great if you ignore the story. I also appreciate that you don’t need to buy expensive accessories to use wireless networking or to charge the controllers.