Our Opinion: If students plan on spending money on a new video game system, they need to make the most of their dollar by choosing a Wii over a PlayStation 3.

This generation was raised playing Duck Hunt.

Now, instead of ducks, youth are hunting war soldiers and enemies with very realistic graphics.

Oh, how times have changed.

Wii, Nintendo’s new video game console, takes the classic games we all know and love, adds some new ones — and redefines the way in which they’re played along the way. What’s not to love?

The hand-held game controller, which looks like a remote control, reacts with a motion sensor so some of the games are almost like virtual reality. Hey, you have to get some form of exercise while sitting on a couch for hours at a time trying to beat a video game. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

It isn’t nearly as realistic as the PlayStation 3. Whose graphics are even cleaner and more realistic than the PlayStation 2, and the system is capable of playing the trendiest addition to home entertainment — Blu-ray Discs.

But all that comes with a pretty substantial price tag — up to $600. That’s a lot of money for a college student.

Wii is priced much more reasonably at $250. That figure is much more realistic for the budget of a college student and is less likely to trigger irresponsible spending with credit cards. Video games are a great way to relieve stress, but there is no need to go into debt over them because that will only create more stress in the end.

We aren’t saying PlayStation 3 isn’t worthy of all its hype or killer price tag, but Nintendo has put a lot of thought into truly making a new unique system by reinventing itself, rather than expanding upon past success.

Wii — like its predecessor, the GameCube — doesn’t serve as much of a home entertainment system as PlayStation 3. But do you want your gaming system to play games or serve as a multi-tasking console that does everything but walk your dog?

So, you can spend $250 on a gaming system that is truly unique. Or you can spend up to $600 on upgrading what you probably already have.

What it comes down to is revolution versus evolution. We say revolution makes more of a bang.

We like Wii.