PS3 Slim $299 - comes with Wifi.
Xbox Pro (soon to be replace by repriced Elite with no included HDMI cable?) $299 - add wifi $100.

Blu-ray is great, but I think a stronger sales point for Sony would be to push the fact that wifi comes standard and not as an expensive add-on. I'm amazed that I have never seen any consumer-oriented marketing from Sony trying to capitalize on this difference.

Now Sony just has to introduce a faster firmware update process similar to MS's, and revamp the web browser to be more accepting of media plugins used on various websites. Games aside, I think the PS3 offers a broader package of services (even without netflix and at no additional "Gold" membership cost) than the Xbox. The "New Xbox Experience" and all the avatar window dressing leaves a lot to be desired. Of course now I can shell out MS Points for fancy new avatar garb!

Now if Sony can just figure out an effective strategy for painting the PS3 as the premiere gaming and home entertainment platform.

Except that retail interest for the PSP Go is far from enthusiastic. Regardless, if there were "download only" games for a dual stick PSP, Sony could appease retailers with the voucher system they used with Patapon 2 or with PSN "points" cards. After all, there are still people who don't have or use credit cards and would therefore be unable to purchase games through PSN.

Owning both consoles, I prefer the XMB UI to the NXE UI any day. I can customize how my media is organized, and the XMB does not subject me to the tons of advertising-oriented crap that I have to wade through on NXE. It ain't broke, so don't fix it. It's kind of like the navigational options on an iphone/touch: it is far quicker to find an artist or album through the text menu than flipping through hundreds of album covers in their fancy "flow" UI.

I've been a PC Gamer for a while now, but when I played consoles I was a PS guy. When MGS4 was released I finally decided to pick up a console, and went for the MGS4 bundle so I could have backwards compat. for my old ps games. Inside of one month, my unit had to be rma'd due to a faulty blu-ray drive. This was not a fluke occurrence; after doing several searches online I found there have been a number of people who have experienced this same exact problem (regardless of sku), yet it never gained the epic publicity that MS has for RRoD and disc scratch problems.

Fanboys or not, you have to admit that quality in manufacturing is practically a thing of the past, regardless of brand. Get your gear out to market and sell it as fast as you can, worry about fixing it later. Same seems to go for a lot of games these days as well.