Through the years my husband and I have gone through our share of video game systems. Together we have owned the original Playstation (which we gave to my parents for their vacation home) and the original XBox, which we used, on and off, for many years.

Then, we received a Wii from Nintendo and I thought we had found the perfect family-friendly video game system. But even as we enjoyed playing Wii Sports and Mario Party, I found my husband and then 6 year old son kept returning to the old XBox. And, when given the choice to buy Lego Star Wars for the Wii or the old XBox my son chose the latter.

Which is why, when given the opportunity to receive an XBox 360 from Microsoft, I said yes, even though I wasn't convinced we NEEDED another video game console in our house. Seriously, how many does one family need?

For a while we had both systems stored in our entertainment unit – until we had friends come to visit and we moved the Wii into the basement for the kids so the grownups could play with the XBox. And we haven't moved the Wii back upstairs.

So how did the XBox ultimately win the battle over my living room? Here are just a couple of reasons:

• Traditional gaming – For all the focus on alternative controllers like the Wii-motes, there are many times when my husband and son prefer the traditional gaming remote (although it's way better now that the controllers are wireless).



• Games for grownups – With the XBox, Microsoft also provided us with a couple of games including Scene It (a movie trivia game) which appealed to us parents, and our friends.



• Connectivity – Through XBox Live, we were able to connect with friends through the XBox, which allowed us to play Rock Band with friends while the kids slept comfortably upstairs. Using the headset which connects into the controller and instruments, we could also talk with our friends.



• Movies – With XBox Live and a Netflix account we are able to stream movies through the unit. Which means we have been able to a) get the movie we want, when we want it and b) watch more movies than we did through our traditional Netflix or Blockbuster subscriptions.

I didn't realize how much we've come to rely on the XBox as a source of entertainment (beyond video games) until it began to display the dreaded "red ring of death." As I understand it, this is a fairly common problem which is caused by overheating of the system, and is usually only solved by sending it into Microsoft for replacement.

Faced with the prospect of facing a future without our XBox, my husband and I decided we would have to spring to replace it. (In the end he was actually able to take apart our XBox, make some repairs, and get it working again).

My other complaint is, for Steve and I to both play Rock Band online, we each had to purchase an XBox Live Gold account which cost $49.99 each. I would have preferred to register one account for the unit and saved a little money.

As for the Wii, it's living comfortably in the basement and is the "go to" game for the kids when mom and dad need some quiet time. Or to play many hours of Rock Bank.

Obviously, what's right for our family may not be right for yours. So what system do you use? Wii, Xbox, PlayStation?