Xbox 360: having two separate hookups on the same television and the same internet...
The cost of the system plus the cost of the few games that I'm actually interested in owning on the system (which, if I make a cost-benefit decision narrows down to about Halo 3 and.....The Darkness, maybe?)....
Then you'd have to consider that basic online functionality of which I already enjoy on the PC and PS3 would require me to spend an additional $50 annually....for P2P no less. Inferior online gaming for a majority of games I already own and am playing online for free...negative.
I mean, honestly, I've looked at the system. It's still a great purchase, but the devil's-aspect of supporting a completely closed-platform environment with a bunch of proprietary bull**** is a little too much for me. Not to mention buying a product from Microsoft (something I'm precariously vowing never to do again) hurts my Linux-loving sensibilities. Open source is king, and the Xbox 360 is one of the most closed platforms on the planet....and it suffers entirely too much because of it.
Wii: The system is entirely uninteresting from a cost-performance analysis....the thing literally has decade-old technology in it for a cost that is greater than all three last generation systems combined. It would be able to make up for it if I had been able to buy one at launch, when it was appropriately (I use the word modestly) priced versus its competitors or if it had actually capitalized on its position as market leader (by a vast margin) by actually managing to score some compelling software. The only interesting stuff on the platform (enough to make one throw money in the toilet for an overpriced piece of garbage) is FIRST PARTY, which despite being absolutely on the cutting edge over the past few generations is now only excellent in terms of game design, which, I'm sorry, can be equalled out by any of the top games on any platform. I've gone my entire life without owning a Nintendo console, and I intend to continue that trend.
The online is also a complete embarrassment. I expected this console to have full or at least partial online support on a majority of its games, a vast library from all publishers of quality software....essentially, I was looking for a PS2 plus online support and motion control functionality. Instead, we have a truckload of broken multiplatform titles and ports that haphazardly tried to add motion control support to the chagrin of every reviewer and gamer in media. A typical Game Informer Wii reviews section reads like a "Worst of the Year" for any other platform. 7, 7, 6.5, 6, 8, 7, 5. Wow. Gotta say no thanks.
DS LITE: I woulda bought one, problem is that when I was searching for one, it was all outta stock for quite some time. I'd love to have it, great RPGs, platformers, side-shooters, et cetera, and good old fashioned stuff I loved as a kid like Pokemon. I'm a sucker for Castlevania and Metroid (although this first-person trend worries me). At this point, I already own a PSP and I just can't derive that much value from stacking nine systems on top of eachother. Sure, it makes it real friendly and cosmopolitan, but it's also a waste of money and space, delivering me a truckload of solid software I'll probably never play.
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