PS3 launch: Why we're hot for PS3

We'll be able to play online for free
It might not sound like a big deal, but remember that you can't actually play any online games on Xbox 360 until you've stumped up the cash for an Xbox Live Gold account. PS3, on the other hand, offers free multiplayer online gaming from the moment it sucks in a broadband signal.

That's not to say the PS3 will have an inferior service - fortunately Sony has jettisoned the irksome, awkward setup from PS2. We've found getting online to be just as simple and easy as with Xbox Live.

Then there's Home to think about, which as we've already pointed out requires absolutely nothing from your poor bank account. Microsoft will have to come up with something quite spectacular to tempt us away from PS3's cost-perfect service.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.