With E3 2013 the wait for all the next-generation gaming consoles has come to an end. Each of the three major contenders–Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo–have unveiled their gaming consoles, aka weapons, to the gamer audience.

While Microsoft gave more game-centric information about the Xbox One, Sony lifted the curtain from its much-awaited PlayStation 4 console. And yes, we had some updates from Nintendo’s Wii U as well.

Let’s take a quick look at the key features offered by these consoles:

Price

Microsoft announced that Xbox One will cost $499, whereas Sony had a better positioning with PS4 at $399. Nintendo Wii U is available in a $349 deluxe package, and a $299 basic version. Clearly, there is a big price gap between Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony PS4, which gives an advantage to Sony. Not forgetting the Nintendo, basic version price may also attract Wii-U fans.

Hardware

Okay, both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have quite similar eight-core processors that run at 1.6GHz. The chips are codenamed Jaguar and paired with 8GB of system memory. On the other hand, Wii U has a tri-core processor from IBM codenamed Espresso that runs at 1.24 GHz.

GPU

Looks like PS4 again leads the game in GPU segment as PS4 GPU lines up to the AMD Radeon HD 7870, while Xbox One GPU is close to the AMD Radeon HD 7790. The makes PS4 GPU faster as well as more efficient. As expected (no pun intended!), Wii U lags in this category and clocks at about 550 MHz, unlike Xbox One and PS4 GPU that clock closer to 1000 MHz.

RAM

Lacking in this segment too, Wii U has only 2GB of DDR3 system memory. On the flip side, both Xbox One and PS4 come with 8GB of system, with PS4 much faster. While Xbox One has DDR3 memory that runs at 2133MHz, while the PS4 has GDDR5 memory runs at 5500MHz. PS4 memory correlates to a bandwidth speed of about 176GB per second, whereas Xbox One memory can only provide its chips with about 68GB per second.

Storage and Optical Drive

Both Xbox One and the PS4 come with 500GB out of the box. Microsoft has given in at put a drive that plays Blu Ray in addition to DVD inside of the the Xbox One. Sony has included DVD and Blu-ray, while Wii U can play nothing but games in its proprietary drive.

At E3 2013, Sony made an important announcement and confirmed two key facts about the PS4 that will bring a huge sigh of relief from gamers around the world. First, there’ll be no restriction on the ability to play used games, and second, there’ll be no need for an internet connection in order to play. This is in direct contrast to Microsoft, which recently announced that Xbox One gamers will need to connect once every 24 hours in order to play, as well as restrictions on playing used games.