X360 : I don't get the whole "red lights" thing, IMHO it's an overhyped issue, and nowhere close to the disaster of the PS2's DVD drive.
It's a very decent console with awesome graphics. I already said, to me, Wii graphics is enough, whether you own a HDTV or not.
I really fucking hate the path MS is taking with micropayments, but the online play is solid, nothing bad to say about it. (except some of the population, but that has largely improved with the reputation system)
In the games sector, the 360 simply has more choice at the moment and it's my recommendation. Dead Rising is awe-inspiring, on a technical level, and if you like sandbox games, it's great. The upcoming lineup is solid as well. Live arcade is so-and-so, but you'll definitely get a few hours of fun outta geometry wars. If MGS gets ported to the 360, well... Excelsior!
PS3 : It's very hard for me to find any good things to say about it, and I'm trying not to be biased. Resistance is definitely not as fun as Gears of War, Motorstorm is a very pretty, very shiny piece of shit (compared to Excite Truck, tbh, I haven't tried any racing games on the 360 other than the demo for Gotham Racing, which is pretty enough but handles "like fifteen years ago"), and the only other PS3 game I played was def jam. It's utter rubbish if you ask me.
The side stuff on the PS3 like linux is useless. If you don't have a PC, buy a PC and you'll have a gig or two of ram instead of 256. Yeah, even with linux, RAM is important. Home rates a spectacular "Meh" on my interest-o-meter, but most importantly, I found that the games lacked soul.
I would recommend that you WAIT. Save up your cash, and buy a console only if there are at least *three* games you *definitely* want. Price cut, promotional deals, etc, wait for those, and you won't regret it.
Right now, out of my personal experience, both hardcore consoles are gathering dust at their respective owner's or co-owner's house. I made the mistake of getting a 360 to try out that mech game (it's nice, but the online play is for no-lifers, tl;dr : it sucks and I hate hardcore gamers
), dead rising (got very bored with it, but burned a few good evenings on it), and gears (very good game, you can't go wrong with it)
EDIT : ++ to what darkforce said, too.