The next two weeks are certainly going to be hot for video game enthusiasts. The two biggest players in the console gaming ware are releasing new systems in time for the 2013 holiday shopping season.

While both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 have had updated versions released over the years it’s been 7 years since the original PlayStation 3 was released, and it’s been 8 years since the original Xbox 360 came out.

Both systems went up for preorder this summer and both Microsoft and Sony have said that they will be able to fulfill all of the preorders. We can also expect the big box stores to have at least a decent supply on launch day. The Playstation 3 will release next Friday November 15th and the Xbox One will follow suit a week later. The Playstation 3 will set you back $399 for the base model and the Xbox One will cost $100 more.

In the coming days we will get bombarded with promo videos, commercials, print ads, social media ads and cute little buttons and t-shirts retailers will wear all hyping up launch day. It’s going to be an exciting time as it should be.

Competition in the console video game space is going to be fierce this year. Two game systems haven’t gone head to head since Microsoft introduced the original Xbox and Nintendo released the Game Cube during the 2001 holiday season. SHopping that season was down because of the aftermath of 9/11 and GameCube never ramped up to the system that Nintendo hoped it would be.

Microsoft launched a 12 minute introductory video of the Xbox One this morning. Check out the video below.