I just got a wii not to long ago. After a minion was hogging up the old one.
On this brand new blue color wii, try to play a few gamecube games on it and they wouldn't work for some reason. Then thanks to manual found out what was wrong. This brand new wii i got does not have gamecube compatibility. The old wii, i picked up a few years ago, does have gamecube compatibility.

I don't buy shooters for console, even exclusive titles. So that limits the number of exclusives that interest me on 360.

For what you're looking for, I think the wii would be the best. There's a lot of choices for local multiplayer.
Four players:
Dokapon Kingdom
Goldeneye
Kirby's Return to Dreamland
House of the Dead Overkill
Mario Kart Wii
Mario Party 2(need classic controllers) and 8
New Super Mario Bros.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Super Smash Bros Brawl
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort

Two players:
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Punch-Out!
Sin and Punishment: Star Successor
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

And there are loads of two player co-op and fighting games on the Virtual console.

There is a reason that the Xbox is THE lead development system nowadays (first party and games that weren't planned for an xbox release (FF13) not withstanding)

MS is a software company and it REALLY shows in their tool chains it's been 5 years and Sony is still playing catch up on them and will likely never catch up before the 360 is EOL'd. XNA has done for the Xbox what the otherOS promised to do for the PS3 before it was first nuetered (no access to half the CELL and no access at all to RSX wtf were they thinking >.<) they have a very healthy indie scene though due to idiots in MS marketing it's not as profitable as it could be (a useful side effect of XNA is it takes very little effort to port the game to PC as your using much the same API's)

You forgot The Umbrella Chronicles. Seriously, that has to be some of the most fun I've had with co-op. There's a lot of strategy and planning your runs involved, if you're trying to get 'S' ranking on everything.

Why do people seem to think the only exclusives on Xbox are shooters? You have Halo and Gears sure but after that...

The problem with the 360 is that it just doesn't have any exclusive games that are tailored to the Japanese market which are capable of selling the system. Nor does it have unique hardware capabilities capable of the same. The PS3 has blu ray support, the 360 simply cannot currently compete in that respect.

Microsoft might do better if they slashed the price of the 360 here by at least half (the same for games) and started marketing it as a budget system as right now, it's simply not worth the cost compared to the PS3.

For example, Amazon JP lists the cheapest 360 as a 4 GB model selling for 19,800 JPY and a 250 GB 360 with Kinect is priced at 39,800 JPY. A 160 GB PS3 is available for 24,980 JPY - slightly more expensive than the cheapest 360 but significantly cheaper than the more expensive package. So no matter how you look at it, the pricing of the PS3 in terms of features offered is far more appealing.

Perhaps if Microsoft developed a hand held they also have more success here...

Regarding failures, he was putting on top of a small unit which has ample ventilation. The hardware was simply faulty.

Well, it's already been said but the 360 doesn't really have many exclusives. That isn't really a bad thing, since most of the best games this generation are multiplatform anyway, and only a few outliers are exclusives. But yeah the main exclusives are basically stuff like Halo, then XBLA stuff and shmups (Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, Raiden Fighter Aces, Cave stuff like Deathsmiles) mostly. And like already said you could probably get a bit more mileage out of a PS3 since it's a blu ray player and has most of the worthwhile multiplatform games plus a few exclusives that would probably be suitable like Little Big Planet or the Ratchet and Clank series and so on.

The Wii is a great system. I think it's a bit silly to complaina bout lack of games, since I don't think most people buy more than about 10 or 15 games a system, and most people buy it for Nintendo games and those pretty much always deliver to their audience. And as someone pointed out it offers the most different experience from PC gaming compared to the 360 which idk 90% of the library overlaps with PC, or PS3 where it's like 70% overlap.

It sounds like a Wii is a pretty good fit for your brother, if he doesn't care too much about any of the major current generation games or graphics/processing power. You said he liked Metal Slug 7, there's Metal Slug Anthology and SNK Classics vol. 1 and probably some VC games like Gunstar Heroes. You said he liked Mario Kart, there's Mario Kart Wii, Excite Trucks, Excite Bots, and probably some others. You said he liked rail shooters like House of the Dead, well there's House of the Dead 2 & 3 and Overkill, those Resident Evil rail shooters, Sin and Punishment 2, and a couple other rail shooter/lightgun games that I can't think of offhand. There's a lot of "casual" games and maybe you can find some good ones, and there's a lot of platformers like Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Return to Dreamland, Klonoa, Sonic Colors and maybe a some of the others depending on tolerance levels, etc..

I wouldn't worry about the Wii U coming out soon. You can pick up a lot of decent to good games pretty cheaply, which should last you a while. The current controllers are supposed to be compatible with the Wii U, the system is backwards compatible with Wii games, and while it hasn't been confirmed I would assume that there will be some way to transfer wiiware/vc games bound to your console to a Wii U like there is with DSi and 3DS. The only thing is, if you're wanting Gamecube backwards compatibility the newest Mario bundle took it out to cut costs. You'd have to get the Motion Plus or Mario Kart bundle if you want backwards compatibility.

Wow, that was a quite removal, I didn't hear a single peep about that. That makes the new Wii kind of blow, I guess there's even less reason to replace the one that walked out the door (with my Gamecube, which irritates me to no end).
It baffles me too, especially if you include Arcade titles. There's just a crapton of great stuff.
Someone just needs to develop this: http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/08/22

Problem solved.

umm theres a list out there somewhere and the amounts of exclusives are about equal... xbox is even slightly ahead

I personally prefer the X360, there are quite a lot of multiplayer games with it, just a lot are 2 player only, not 4.

To name a few good ones their are:

Any Lego game,
Halo 3 (forge mode is quite fun)
Black Ops
Bulletstorm
World at War
Left for Dead (1 and 2)
Portal 2

Of course, as said, most of these are 2 player, not 4.

I have all of the three current generation consoles as well. For me, considering you live in Singapore, the PS3 is a no brainer since its games are region free.

I guess I'll do a list thing too, as I've a lot of disorganized thoughts.

Reasons (mostly) for the PS3

- The PS3 supports up to 7 Bluetooth controllers. Great for local sports games like NHL, FIFA, NFL, NBA 2K. The controllers are also easily compatible with your computer if you have a bluetooth chip. It doesn't have the same support on the PC as the Xbox 360 controller, but you'll need a dongle if you want to use the wireless version (propriety signal). The only limitation with the 7 supported devices seems to be for the Move. You can only use two navigation controllers in combination with wands, compared to the possibility of the Wii's 4. I don't know of a Wii game where the four nunchuks are required though, so it may be a non-sequiter.

- The PS3 also has light gun shooters. It has an improved version of House of the Dead: Overkill, and Dead Space Extraction

- No More Heroes has also had an improved version ported to the PS3 (formerly one of the best Wii's exclusives

- All PS3's are compatible with PS1 titles. It's probably not worth getting a model with PS2 backwards compatibility. Some of the best PS2 games are being rereleased in HD compilations, so you can end up with a better deal there anyways. (Metal Gear Solid HD and God of War HD are the big ones so far).

- the PSN store has the best sales of all three consoles. Wii virtual console (classics -- expensive, if you ask me) and Wiiware games don't go on sale at all. Xbox 360 has rare sales, but you often need the Xbox Live Gold subscription. PSN has sales for regular users and if you're a Plus subscriber, you get free games for the life of the subscription every month (if you renew you'll still have them).

- I actually prefer the PS3's UI, the XMB. It's the fastest of the three and doesn't go out of its way with ads or trying to be pretty. The Xbox 360 guide is nice, but unlike the XMB it's not congruent with the dashboard and it's slower. The only advantage for the Xbox UI is viewing achievements, which is just a bit more tedious on the PS3.
The Wii's isn't too bad (pretty much ad-free), but you can't access everything in-game.

- The PS3 has a better browser than the Wii's, the Xbox 360 has none.

- The PS3 is the best console tech-wise, if only slightly. Most games perform better on the Xbox 360 despite this, due to some hardware (Xbox has slightly better RAM) and programming irregularities. The PS3 has 7.1 surround support, is capable of true stereoscopic 3D (KillZone 3, MotorStorm Apocalypse), and has Blu-Ray. The Move has higher accuracy than than the Wii, but unfortunately motion controls seem to be on a very slow burn currently. There are still some things preferable with the Wii's controls, but YMMV.

- The PS3 is most open to third party peripherals. The hard drives are replaceable with laptop drives and the console is slightly more open to controllers than the 360. A significant peripheral are mice which can be customized to play with any PS3 game (I think the Xbox may have one of these too, now).

- My favourite games for the PS3 so far are: Both of the LittleBigPlanets (great Co-op title), Mod Nation Racers, Motorstorm, KillZone 2 and 3

- Some PS3 titles have great support: LBP, GT5, MAG

- Friendlier to MMOs, due to Microsoft policies

- No online fee for multiplayer (DCU being the MMO exception)

- PS3 multiplatform often come with extra goodies due to left over space on the Blu-Ray or publisher deals: Dead Space 2, Medal of Honor, Portal 2 (comes with a PC license), Batman AA, Just Cause 2

- The Xbox controller is just worse for some games like platformers and fighters. Controller peripherals can fix this.

- No changing discs mid-game (mostly insignificant)

- PS3 games have lithium rechargeable batteries built in. A good thing unless they burn out on you completely (should take a few years at least) or if you don't have a decently long USB cord when they're all dead. With Xbox and Wii you have a choice, but the standard is disposable batteries.

Reasons for the Xbox 360

- The Xbox 360 has cross-game mic-chat for Gold subscribers (a lot of people claim to enjoy this feature)

- Some multiplatform games are just better, for whatever reason, on the Xbox 360: Red Dead Redemption, COD, Bayonetta, TES

- The Xbox has some of the best shooters and best supported games of this generation. Halo is particularly famous for 2-console 8-player LAN.

- The Xbox has a controller that feels made for shooters. (for some reason I still perform better with the PS3 controller, but I grew up with the PS2)

- Xbox Live Arcade's selection seems slightly better. There are exclusives to all three.

- Mandatory install is not required for the Xbox 360. On many PS3 games it is.

- Xbox Live's website has better support for the console

- Xbox 360 multiplatforms tend to be slightly cheaper (probably because they sell more)

- Xbox Live plays nicer with allowing multiple sign-ins

- System-wide personal audio. There are a good number of PS3 titles which allow your own audio, but it's not seamless. Personally I consider this feature broken though, as I suffer a lot of skips, stutters and crashes (of either the audio or the whole system). Perhaps I have a hardware issue though (it's always had it).

- Upconversion of DVD resolution to 1080p. Some people swear by it, others say you're better off just sticking to 480p. Can't verify, myself.

- Classic games, including some classic 80s arcade and Sega Saturn games.

- My favourite 360 games so far are COD MW2, Crackdown, and Halo Reach


Reasons for the Wii

- There are some improvements that have been made with the sensor tech. There is a add-on sensor bar which should improve sensitivity and range a lot. The Wii Motion Plus greatly improves the range of movements the Wii can pick up for certain games. Red Steel 2 requires it, for example.

- Though the new Wiis (cheaper models) being sold don't have the Gamecube controllers, they're still manufacturing the ones that do. The Wii U is not supposed to have them anymore, though. They're even still manufacturing a Gamecube controller (white) that has a longer cord than the original one.

- My favourite Wii games are SSMB, RS2, Monster Hunter Tri, and MP Trilogy.

- Has the most silly party games

- The Channels UI does look nice

- Has the best selection of classic games so far. Only place where you can get Nintendo console exclusives (though Rare titles have showed on the 360). The other consoles are gradually catching up though.

Major Console (Xbox/PS3) Multiplatform exclusives (not on PC/Wii)

- Vanquish (serious must-play)
- Dark Souls
- Marvel vs Capcom 2 (downloadable)
- Ninja Gaiden 2

Some big negatives:

- Sony published titles, as of summer 2011 require an online pass for multiplayer, an extra cost for used games . Not all PS3 games will have this, but still a policy annoyance.

- Microsoft has some asinine space limitation policies and control over it's systems. MMOs and the former Windows Live charge are big examples

- Sony removed extra OS, and changed it's game sharing policy. Formerly it was up to five devices of your choice, now it's 2 of each.

- Nintendo's online policies are particularly antiquated. Game sales, demos, multiplayer, all major headaches at best.

- Both Nintendo and Microsoft's consoles seem to be losing steam (software-wise)

Here's one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_exclusives_%28seventh_generation%29#Microsoft_Xbox_360

Notice the distinct lack of an overwhelming amount of shooters btw. Actually if you look at the Sony PS3 list above it on the page you can count at least as many shooters if not more.

Nice post !
Thumbs up !