Ronald Diemicke (1181) on 11/13/2006 4:27 PM · Permalink · Report

So this is it. This is the week many of us has been waiting for. NEW CONSOLE WEEK! turns on the applause sign.

I've got an invite to the Sony launch craziness here in New York at Sony's store on Madison Avenue, but I've still gotta get there early. The only question is how early I get there, which depends on if I've got the cash to lay out for the system. However, after all of the info that has come out from the Japanese launch, I'm a bit more excited than I was for the system.

Various sites have reported that the hard drive is exchangeable with any other size PC SATA hard drive and you won't void your warranty. Not only that, but you can also install all sorts of other operating systems and your own applications. The hard drive thing has kinda got me leaning toward grabbing a 20gb model. I don't really need the media card reader and wireless features, and I'll probably replace the hard drive with a bigger one anyway for all the cool tinkering I can do with linux.

The openness of the platform does have me extremely concerned that the Playstation 3 might turn into the new Dreamcast in terms of system lifespan and the ease of piracy.

Also, The Wii then hits a couple days later. I know that many of the EB/Gamestops are doing midnight sales, with other stores that have lines that will probably be starting days before the launch (as will the lines for the PS3).

So really the question for the holiday is - Xbox 360, Wii or PS3? Anyone have any plans to go camping for either of the two new systems? What launch titles are you picking up? What do the holidays hold for your gaming life?