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>> What's up Prize Fight fans? I'm Brian Tong and we've got a slug fest for the ages. It's a throw down showdown for game console supremacy between Microsoft's XBox 360 Elite and Sony's PS3 Slim. We're bringing out the big guns. Our judges for this fight are CNET Reviews Senior Editor John Falcone, associate editor Jeff Bakalar, and you know who. Now, we'll take all three judges' scores and average them out to the nearest tenth. The final prize fight score will be an average of all rounds, using the same decimal system. Sony's PS3 has yet to win a Prize Fight, and a battle this big is going six rounds deep, so break out your boxing gloves. Round one is all about design. Both consoles are going for the more subtle, black, matte finish. The XBox 360 Elite design is identical to the original 360 and feels a little dated. There's nothing wrong with it, but its huge power brick, Houston, we have a problem. Now, the PS3 Slim has gone on a diet with a lot sleeker form factor. Piano black edges and metal accents make me want one, even though I already have a PS3. The Slim strikes first with a 4, and the 360 Elite gets a 3. Next round is features. Both consoles bring a standard 120 gig hard drive, but when you match up the 360 Elite to the PS3 Slim, you realize how much it's missing. The Slim has Wi-Fi, out of the box, Bluetooth brings compatibility with more third party devices. You can install your own hard drive and it's still rated one of the best Blu-ray players. Now, you won't find any of these features on the Elite. The PS3 Slim hits hard with a perfect 5 and the XBox 360 Elite gets another 3. So after two rounds, Sony's off to a strong start, leading 4.5 to 3. Round 3 is online services. If you're looking for the gold standard of online gaming, Microsoft's XBox Live is where it's at. It's going to cost you $50, but the ease of use, amount of players and access to services like Netflix, Last.fm, Facebook and Twitter, make it a complete package. Sony's Playstation Network costs nothing, and we've got to give them credit for that, but it's not nearly as developed, and I'm still waiting for cross-game chatting. You'll have access to Netflix, but you'll need a physical disk to use it at the moment. Its built-in web browser allows you to watch YouTube content, but Hulu's been taken away and Playstation Home really isn't worth mentioning. The judges here all agree, Microsoft gets a perfect 5 and Sony gets a 3. We did mention these are gaming consoles. Well next round is all about the games. Both consoles have killer exclusives. The Elite flexes its muscle with "Gears of War," "Left for Dead," and "Halo." The PS3 has finally caught up with its "Uncharted," "Metal Gear Solid" and "Rachet & Clank" franchises, but when it comes to downloadable titles, the XBox Live arcade brings a huge library of casual and classic games, and originals like "Shadow Complex." The Playstation Network's offerings aren't as robust, but there are standouts like "Fat Princess" and "Flower." The 360 has also been able to lock down more exclusive downloadable content for its games like "GTA IV" and "Fallout 3" while the PS3's major DLC exclusive was a joker in "Batman's Arkham Asylum." You can still play most original XBox titles on the Elite, but the PS3 Slim has no backwards compatibility at all. A game library will always be an arms race, but our judges give the Xbox 360 the edge with another perfect 5 and the PS3, gets a 4.3. So after four rounds, the PS3 Slim leads by one-tenth of a point. Two more to go. Next round is graphics performance. The 360 Elite and PS3 have pretty much been on par with each other, but we've recently seen titles that finally take advantage of Sony's cell processor. Even if it's subtle, the Elite has a slight advantage when comparing same third party titles. But then, when it comes to exclusives on the PS3, like "Uncharted 2," the PS3 Slim shows there's no equal. John and Jeff called it even, but if we're talking about "the best" graphics, I'm going with the PS3 and it gets the edge, 4.7 to 4.3. The sixth, and final round, is value. Once Sony decided to bring the PS3 Slim's price in line with the XBox 360 Elite's, it changed the game. Both consoles are $300 with 120 gig hard drives, but if you look at all the extra features packed into the PS3 Slim, and then try to match them on the XBox 360 Elite, you'll be spending $80 for a wireless adapter, $50 per year on XBox Live, and you still won't have a Blu-ray player. In the final round, the PS3 Slim gets a perfect 5 and the XBox 360 Elite gets a 3.7. So let's average out the scores and after six back and forth rounds, and two previous losses in this Prize Fight ring, the PS3 Slim takes this battle, 4.3 to 4 and can finally call itself the Prize Fight champ. Both of these are great gaming consoles, and you can't go wrong either way, but Sony has made great strides over time, to put it over the top. I'm Brian Tong. Thanks for watching. We'll catch you guys next time on another Prize Fight.
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