What a difference 18 months makes. When Sony’s PlayStation 3 launched in the UK in March 2007 it was criticised for being overpriced (at £425) and for having far fewer games available than Microsoft’s competing Xbox 360. However, with the recent arrival of the updated 80GB PS3 the new PlayStation has fought back to establish itself not just as a great games machine, but as a fully fledged living-room entertainment centre, writes Matthew Bingham.

Two factors justify this lofty claim. First is the PS3’s connectivity. Thanks to built-in wi-fi the machine will talk to your computer over a wireless network, enabling it to stream music, video and stills photography through to your television or audiovisual kit. It packs Bluetooth too, so add a wireless keyboard and mouse (or wire them in over USB) and you can use its web browser to surf the net.

With that 80GB internal hard disk - four times the capacity of the American launch model - now standard for the basic £300 asking price, there’s plenty of room to store your media - or you can simply copy your games to it for faster loading times. If that’s still not enough, it can be swapped for a 500GB whopper or something even larger - impossible to do with the Xbox drive’s customised casing.

The second ace up the PS3’s sleeve is its high-definition Blu-ray drive, used not just to play games but films too. At launch, there were barely a handful of compatible titles available, but since then the Sony format has triumphed over the rival, Microsoft-backed HD-DVD, leaving Blu-ray the sole choice for HD movies.

And the Blu-ray drive at the heart of every PS3 is actually a better performer than most standalone players, because regular “firmware” upgrades delivered over the internet have kept the console’s operating software bang up to date. So if you want to enjoy the full benefits of Blu-ray 2.0, including the ability to go online for bonus games, ring-tones, audio and video, for now you’re effectively limited to the PS3.

That drive is also a versatile DVD player. The Cell processor developed by IBM for the PS3 is one of the most powerful chips in the world – an array of 16 linked consoles is used by the Massachusetts University to model black hole collisions – and is capable of upscaling standard-definition DVDs to 1080p resolution, the highest of high-defi-nition formats. Other recent firmware updates have also made it compatible with DivX, the favoured online video format, so the PS3 now handles movie downloads too.

Crucially for a living-room system the console is quiet. The Xbox 360 runs hot, and the notorious “red ring of death” unrecoverable hardware crash, which is costing Microsoft an estimated £500m in replacement machines and extended warranties, is down to overheating. Consequently the Xbox’s fans have to work hard, but the PS3 chugs along with virtually no noise.

Total PS3 sales in Europe reached 5m this summer and overtook the Xbox on the Continent for the first time. But things aren’t all going Sony’s way. The Xbox still wins hands down when it comes to online use: Xbox Live is a buzzing, hugely popular community for both online gaming and downloads that leaves the equivalent PlayStation Network with a lot of catching up to do.

However, with a bullish Sony claiming the PS3 will overtake global Xbox sales in 2009, expect that situation to change.

HOW THE RIVALS MATCH UP

PlayStation 3 Price£300 Hard drive 80GB (internal) Video display 1920 x 1080 Processor IBM Cell ConnectionsAV, Ethernet, HDMI, 2x USB 2.0 Classic gamesResistance: Fall of Man, Metal Gear Solid 4

Xbox 360 Elite Price£260 Hard drive120GB (detachable) Video display 1920 x 1080 Processor IBM PowerPC ConnectionsAV, Ethernet, HDMI, 3x USB 2.0 Classic gamesHalo 3, Gears of War Chip set: still driven by the Cell processor, but has lost the chip that allowed it to play PS2 games