I think I'd rather build a little PC to plug into the TV which boots up to a collection of emulators to run games I actually want to play (and which were legitimately purchased).

Honestly, I'll wait until at least six months after the new XBox comes out.

The Wii U does not interest me in the least. (Oh look, Zelda with a touch screen controller, whoop-dee-do.) Nintendo has always been experimenting with controllers and peripherals even in the late 80s with things like the Power Glove. (They would license certain third parties to make gimmicks like this, but it goes to show they had an interest in games beyond a controller pad.) It doesn't always work, but the Wii showed that it could. But, I want a controller.

I have a PS3, and it's not nearly as interesting as my experience on Xbox 360. I had actually given that away to some neighbors, incidentally. Say what you want about paying $60 a year to play online, or everyone getting a gamerscore that's extended with achievements, or obnoxious online players, but it was more fun. It was also more fun to write something in XNA and get it to work on my Xbox...

Crap, I want my Xbox back now. >

@Hodgman/frazchaudhry - i love to play FPS(COD, Crysis) and TPS(Assassin's creeds,Hitman) games like + action games like Taken, Street Fighters(multi players) etc.

also soon many of the games will be released like Crysis 3 and Hitman so wondering to take decision asap.

@frazchaudhry - i totally agree with you to spend some time on researching and to find out the best console..

although i have no idea about the nintendo wii..

the games that you have mentioned are all multiplatform and available on both systems. Have a look at this list. of exclusive games for each system. What about online? The 360 is considered to have the superior online experience but it costs you, the ps3 online network is free and they have recently revamped the PSN.

I have a question though. Is it true that the WiiU is not as powerful as the 360 or PS3?

This depends on what 'power' you are talking about; no one system is the over all metric of a systems power.

For example, you can have the best GPU in the world but if the CPU can't push the draw calls then it won't matter much beyond 'making more expensive shaders isn't a bottle neck'.
By contrast, as with the PS3, having a good CPU (SPUs are very good at what they do, if not a pain to work with) but a GPU which is a pile of garbage means you can push all the draw calls you want but can't render them.

At some point I should probably check how much knowledge about the Wii-U is in the public domain so that I can properly point out why we are worried about the CPU on it...

I you're in a hurry, from what I've seen the 360 would be best, but if the Wii U has games you want to play that might be the way to go. And I feel the need to point out that it's relatively trivial to find 12 month Xbox Live Gold subscription cards for around $35-40 USD online.

Especially with the holidays coming up. I tend to buy gold cards for $20-30 when they go on sale for boxing day/black friday.

Anyway, I'd hold off on the WiiU till at least after the holidays if you can wait. Between 360 and PS3 it's more of a tossup. Wait for holiday sales and see which one you can find cheaper. Personally I'd go with a 360, but I really don't like the PS3 controller. That's most of the reason I don't play as much on PS3, though I do use it more for movies.