Nintendo's Wii is it most advanced home video game console that competes directly against Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 consoles.

Let us try to draw a comparison between the three competitors on various relevant parameters:

SIZE: The Wii is the smallest home video game console by Nintendo till date. Weighing 1.2 kg, it is the lightest weighing console compared to its competitors PS 3 and Xbox 360.

WIRELESS CONTROLLER: Wii's "Remote" is its most distinguishing feature that differentiates it completely from PS3 and Xbox 360. The Wii Remote provides the user with a degree of motion and virtual reality that is practically non-existent in either the Xbox 360 or the PS3. On the Wii game, if you are swinging a sword, you have to literally swing your Remote as if it were a sword.

PRICE: The Wii is substantially cheaper priced, compared to its rivals PS3 and Xbox 360, in all markets across the world.

SALES: According to worldwide sales data collected by the NPD Group, the sales of Wii in the United States in the first six months of 2007 were more than the combined sales of its two nearest rivals Xbox 360 and PS3. This amazing sales lead was even greater in the Japanese market. In late 2007, the FT of London quoted the NPD data to announce that the Wii had exceeded the aggregate sales of Xbox 360, which had been launched one year earlier to the Wii.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: On the technical capabilities front, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 surpass the power of Nintendo consoles considerably, such as:

CPU: Nintendo Wii hosts a 729 MHz CPU, whereas both PS3 and Xbox 360 host 3.2 GHz micro-processors.

VIDEO MEMORY: 24 MB of RAM in case of Wii, dwarfs in comparison to 256 MB and 512 MB of RAM in case of PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively.

VIDEO MEMORY BANDWIDTH: Wii carries 3.9 GBps, in comparison to the huge 20-plus GBps memories of Xbox 360 and PS3.

HDTV OUTPUT COMPONENT: Wii does not include this feature, whereas both Xbox 360 and PS3 do.

AUDIO: Both Xbox 360 and PS3 offer Dolby Digital Sound Output, while Wii offers only Analog output.

NETWORKING: Both Xbox 360 and PS3 offer Ethernet Port as a standard, but Wii offers it only as an option, to be connected as a USB based add-on.

INTEGRATION WITH PORTABLE GAMING UNITS: Wii and PS3 can be integrated with their compatible portable gaming consoles. But Xbox 360 does not support such facility.

INTEGRATION WITH PC INSTANT MESSAGING: Only Xbox 360 offers instant messaging integration with Windows Messenger Live. But Wii and PS3 do not offer this capability.

SUPPORTING STREAMING AUDIO AND VIDEO FROM PC: Both Xbox 360 and PS3 support online video and audio streaming of data from PC to the console unit. But Nintendo Wii does not offer such capability.

SUMMARY: Nintendo gaming consoles offer excellent gaming experience to the users. Whereas Xbox and PlayStation offer more advanced technical capabilities for an overall social networking experience along with gaming. All 3 rivals excel in their own right, and suit the requirements of each user differently.