What to expect from PS3

When you start it up, you'll need to turn your wireless Sixaxis controller on as well - done by hitting its big PS logo button twice. The upside is that, like with the Xbox 360, you can turn your console on and off just by activating a controller or holding down the PS button.

Navigating the system's Cross Media Bar (which looks a lot like the PSP's standard interface) is simple. You'll need to create a user profile, which you'll use to log in to the console every time you start up (unless you've already got a game disc in, in which case it bypasses the media bar almost entirely). You can also create additional profiles for your friends or family, which means you won't have to put up with roommates (or parents) writing over your Resistance: Fall of Mansaves.

Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.