The Nintendo Wii has launched in the US of America to a distinct lack of ill-will, drive-by shootings or other hyphenated misdeeds. Some stores sold out, some were well stocked enough to meet the demand and, overall, there are a lot more happy Wii campers than PS3 ones this morning.

Chances are that if you're looking to get a Wii for Christmas Santa won't have to spend the pension fund on eBay to get one. Nevertheless there does appear to be a shortage of extra Wii controllers floating about (they'll probably be the premium eBay item, so); but better to be down a controller than a console I say.

Meanwhile the reviews of Sony's PlayStation 3 are coming in... erm, negative. At $600 and hyped to the sun I don't think many have stopped to question whether or not the PS3 would actually be any good. Ohh yes it has Cell teraflops coming out of its ears, but at the same time I could install Windows ME on my Alienware if I wanted to.

Time, T he New York Times (with Joystiq editor in agreement) and others besides have stopped to say to themselves "Erm, it's actually quite a clunky machine; the games aren't that great as of yet and we may have to wait for patches from Sony to get it right." That's correct folks, no longer can console gamers sniff at the constant patching PC users have to regularly undergo - it would seem that the PS3 will need to be patched to make it work better.

Complaints about the machine and its little quirks are abound - comparisons to the Xbox 360 are plentiful, pointing out that the PS3 can't play your music in-game; the wireless controller has to be plugged in before use (work that one out); there's no rumble on the controller anymore (to facilitate the half-baked motion sensitivity Sony mocked before it became popular); you can't download files in the background (try that 400 MB demo at the cost of not being able to play your games for three hours...)

All of these complaints come with the same clause: "Unlike the Xbox 360." Forgetting about the Wii entirely, it would appear that the Xbox 360 is the more polished, user-friendly box. I still think they're both over-priced (in software as well as hardware) and wouldn't buy either unless I got a big tax-break (and even then I'd think twice); but in the "I have money to burn" category it would seem that the Xbox 360 is the lighter of choice.

I await the Wii launch on this side of the pond on December 8^th. Rob gets to sit in LA with his today. No, I don't like him either.