With Black Friday and Christmas approaching, eager shoppers are gearing up for great deals on the latest video game consoles. While no new systems are slated for release this year, the myriad differences between the three main consoles – Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3, and XBOX 360, each of which contain their own unique set of features – can often make the decision process difficult. Do you like lots of small games or a small selection of popular games? How about online capabilities? Here are the things you should consider before dropping your hard-earned cash on a video game console.

Price

If price is a major factor for you, then the Nintendo Wii is the console for you. A new Wii bundle, which includes a game, costs approximately $150. By comparison, an XBOX 360 with a 250 GB hard drive costs approximately $300 new, while a Playstation 3 with a 320 GB will set you back $350. Of course, the price increases if you purchase one that contains accessories or a larger hard drive, though this is true for all of the consoles. The price is, in a way, related directly to the amount of features available, such as Blu-ray capabilities and online content (see below).

Game Selection

Each console caters to a specific type of gamer, though there are a number of overlapping titles and genres for each. The Nintendo Wii is billed as a more interactive system, with a good portion of the games requiring multiple players to fully enjoy. The Nintendo Wii currently has over 1,000 titles, while the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 have approximately 800 and 700, respectively. Many games are released on the 360 and the Playstation 3 but not the Wii, such as the popular “Batman: Arkham Asylum” and the forthcoming “Dead Island,” and due to the darker nature of some of these games, the Wii is considered a more popular console among families with young children.

Given their backward compatibility – the ability to play games from the console’s predecessors – each game console has a number of games, both new and old, to choose from. The Wii is capable of playing all Gamecube games as well as Gameboy Advance games with special accessories; the XBOX 360 can support 478 original XBOX games, though this requires an XBOX 360 hard drive to do so; and the Playstation 3 supports backward compatibility for all Playstation games and Playstation 2 games, though the ability to play the latter has diminished with later versions of the consoles.

Online Capabilities

Being able to play games online is an important factor for many gamers, and thankfully, all three of the major consoles offer online connectivity. While the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii offer a free online network, a connection to XBOX Live, the 360’s online network, costs about $50 per year. There does exist a free version, though it doesn’t include multiplayer capabilities for most games, and in those that are supported have limited functionality.

Each online service offers a number of different options to enhance the gaming experience, though all three include a virtual store where you can purchase classic games. The Nintendo Wii allows you to download games using their virtual console service, which offers not just classic Nintendo games, but games from other systems such as the Sega Genesis, the Commodore 64, and the TurboGrafx 16; the XBOX 360 allows you to download games from other systems as well, as well as classic arcade games via their XBOX Live Arcade service; and the Playstation 3 offers downloads of Playstations, Playstation Portable, Arcade, and TurboGrafx 16 games.

In addition, the popular movie rental service Netflix is available on all three consoles, which allows you to stream movies to your TV using their Instant Watch feature. Each console offers a wide selection of other services as well, such as streaming television and downloadable movies.

Depending on what you’re looking to do with the console, each one offers a number of unique services to help draw in potential buyers. At present, the most popular options are the Netflix availability and, in the case of the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3, the selection of multiplayer games has remained a major factor in what console to select.

Accessories

Each console offers a variety of unique accessories, though one that stands out from the rest is the inclusion of a Blu-ray player on the Playstation 3. It has consistently been rated one of the best Blu-ray players on the market, making it an easy choice for those seeking to kill two birds with one stone. In addition, the Playstation 3 also offers 3D capabilities, an added bonus for those with a 3D television.

Unique to the XBOX 360 is the Kinect, a controller-free peripheral that allows you to interact with games in an exciting and unique way. The Playstation 3 offers the Move, a specially designed controller similar to the Wii’s controller setup, and the Eye, a digital camera that functions similarly to the Kinect.

Each system offers a variety of unique controllers, many of which, such as instruments and keyboards, that are only compatible with specific games. Other accessories include headsets, additional storage, and remotes.

Known Issues

In early 2012, the Playstation Network was hacked, resulting in an extended period of downtime and the compromising of millions of accounts. In response, once the network was back up, Sony offered members a number of incentives as a way of apologizing for the downtime.

One of the common problems associated with the XBOX 360 is the “red ring of death,” a general hardware failure indicated by three of the four lights on the front of the console being lit up at once. Newer models indicate hardware failure by the center button turning from green to red. In most cases Microsoft can repair the issue, though a recurrence of the issue is common.

The Wii, however, has been relatively devoid of issues. Given its status as an interactive console, there exists the potential for injury, such as the controller flying from your hands and an elbow injury similar to tennis elbow.

So which console should I buy?

In the end, you’ll most likely be happy with any of the three consoles. However, die-hard gamers would most likely benefit the most from the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360 due to their devotion to online content and multiplayer gaming. Meanwhile, younger children and, if approached in terms of its interactive capabilities, college students, would benefit in the frenetic fun brought out by a game of Wii Tennis and other immersive games available on Nintendo’s current system.