To PS3 or Not to Be. Wii Wait In Line?

If you haven't showered in a few days, there is a good chance that you're probably waiting on a line trying desperately to score one of the new next generation console releases from Sony and Nintendo.

This week brings two very exciting releases for the gaming community. Tonight is the release of Sony's PlayStation3 (PS3; below, left) and Nintendo releases Wii (right) on Sunday, in hopes of both unseating the XBOX 360 who has held the "next generation" title unopposed since May 2005.

People have been doing the usual ritual of waiting in line for days at their local retailer, hoping to snag a copy. Earlier in the week, campers at a Best Buy in Burbank were shooed away after staying in line for four days. A line at the Circuit City in Union Square is also getting some press, because the location is rumored to have 100 units. Reports of the homeless being paid to stand in line while exploitive is almost genius. Or you can be one of the first 400 to show up at the Sony Party with host Ludacris tonight and score a chance to purchase a PS3 at midnight.

However, we think that Gaming Out Loud said it best when discussing the camping out process:

"Let's face it; you're standing in front of an EBgames at 2am on a Saturday night waiting for the Wii. You suck at life."

But what are your plans for these systems? Will you be trying for a copy upon launch, and if so what advice do you have for other people in the same boat. Are you going for one system in particular, or both? We played both systems for a bit at DigitalLife last month, and we admit the decision is quite hard. Do you go for the family friendly Wii, with it's unique control system and family focused content - or do you go for the huge (in both physical size and market dominance) Sony PS3, with it's more adult focused games, and cutting edge technology like Blueray and 1080p resolution.

And we do fondly recall back in the years of our youth fighting over Adventure on our Atari 2600 with our sister. But we've never ever even considered waiting in a line for one, never left work for days, and joined the unwashed masses to be the first kid on the block to own the latest and greatest (maybe it's the fear of having a SVU jumping a curb or valuing our marriage too much.) We'll be here, waiting for the dust to settle, and drooling from afar.

Photograph of Playstation fans camping outside a Best Buy in the city by Mark Lennihan/AP