We're tired of waiting for the PS3 to get the games it deserves.

For hardcore gamers, there's really only a choice of two consoles (the hassle and expense of a PC has never sat well with us when it comes to gaming and the Wii is just too damn family-focused). What happens when you can only splash your cash on one of them and you feel like ultimately you made the wrong decision? Being among work colleagues discussing the many incredible games they've been enjoying on their Xbox 360s, I've been feeling somewhat behind the times as well as completely alienated. As a PS3 owner I'm currently missing out on big-hitters like Halo 3, Bioshock, and PGR 4, not to mention established classics like Dead Rising (which I have played for an extended period), Gears Of War (ditto) and Crackdown. Since the PS3's launch, I've enjoyed a handful of fantastic games, most of which were multi-format releases and I don't necessarily regret my choice. I'm simply unable to shake the nagging feeling that as a PS3 gamer, I'm getting left behind. Discovering that I have to wait an extra month for the Half Life 2 Orange Box to be released was the last straw, I have to vent my frustration and convey my bitterness. I'm sick and tired of waiting for the PS3 to deliver the lofty promises that we're made from the moment Ken Kutaragi held aloft that big, slab of next-gen console. With PS3's killer apps turning out to be not all that killer (see Heavenly Sword, Resistance et al) and the PlayStation Store being the online equivalent of Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard, we're left looking impatiently at our watches for the big games to come along. And to be fair, there are some doozies just around the corner-well, about four to six months away. Home, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 are all going to be huge and you'll only be able to experience them on PlayStation 3. But what to do until the console finally gets the big, quality titles that have been so sorely lacking? Buy a 360? It looks as if this is the only (stupid, expensive) solution.

When the Xbox 360 came out almost two years ago, gamers were faced with what seemed like a tough decision. With the looming, power of the PlayStation 3 on the horizon promising a complete next-gen experience the likes of which the Bill Gates-box could never hope to muster, it came down to a simple, but difficult choice. Buy a 360, blowing your wad on the first of the next-gen consoles and hope the PS3 fails to live up to expectation or stick with your current console and wait it out for the promise of what will quite possibly be the uber-console that will blow the 360 out of the water? An easy A or B answer to a complex situation, we decided to opt for B, wait it out to hopefully feel smug that we exercised restraint, saving the pennies for the superior piece of machinery. After all, Sony's rhetoric promised incredible things for the future of gaming and on paper, it's the better console. A raft of huge exclusives, free online play, motion control, 1080p HD resolution through its HDMI output, backwards compatibility and exceptional graphics and sound that would outdo the 360 by some distance. That it looked like the Bentley of games consoles enrobed in luxurious, semi-transparent black plastic, something akin to the imposing monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey entirely convinced us that we'd get our just reward for our monk-like patience.

March 23rd and our PS3 arrives. For several months the warm glow of satisfaction is unmistakable, we feel safe in the knowledge that it was all worth the long delays and agonizing news stories about blue diodes and whatnot to experience the ultimate in gaming nirvana. Flash forward to the present day and well, we're feeling pretty stupid.

You see, the PS3 is an incredible machine delivering everything Sony said it would, except for one salient component: the games and a everyone knows that a console ultimately lives or dies by its games. Of course Microsoft have had a head start of over a year, but then the PS3 has now been on the shelves for seven months and the number of quality titles and exclusives can be counted on one hand. Okay, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but the truth remains that the 360 is home to the majority of triple-A titles and exclusives. Blockbusting games like Bioshock, Halo 3, Gears Of War, Crackdown, Forza 2, Project Gotham 4, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Condemned, Mass Effect, Fable 2, Splinter Cell 5: the list goes on and will no doubt expand even further in the coming months as Gates reaches even further into his bottomless pockets. However, glancing further into the future, there are a number of PS3 exclusives to get genuinely excited about. Unreal Tournament 3 and Haze will now lead on the PS3, debuting on 360 at a later date whereas the likes of Metal Gear 4, Final Fantasy XIII, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, Gran Turismo 5 and spy-based MMO The Agency will remain resolutely PS3 exclusive (for now). This of course is all well and good if you're prepared to wait and wait we shall. We've heard that good things do eventually come...

However, in the meantime while Landon enjoys the benefits of owning both a 360 and PS3, it looks as if I'm going to have to stick an Xbox on the credit card. Aaah. Plastic. Now do I go for the Premium or the Elite?

An Xbox 360 can currently be picked up for between £170-£300 depending on the model. Look out for some generous bundle deals. Free Halo 3 or PGR 4 for instance.

The PS3 can now be snapped up for either £299 for the 40GB model or £349 for the 60GB original. Again, shop around and you can grab yourself a tasty bundle package.