The big question for the holidays: Which is better, Sega's Saturn or Sony's PlayStation? Sega has been in the biz for a while with several platforms: the 8-bit Master system, the 16-bit Genesis, the Sega CD, 32X, the portable Game Gear, Nomad (which is a portable system that plays Genesis cartridges).

How can Sony match all that experience with just its first video game system ever? Each has a $300 basic unit that comes with one controller and a playable demo of a few games. The guts of each machine are different, but game programmers seem to have no problem with either. So it all comes down to the games.

And right now, the first PlayStation games rule. Sony didn't know how to make games, so it bought a company that does. It then asked companies with proven Genesis and Super Nintendo skills to make games for the PlayStation. The depth and quality of these third-party games are what separate the PlayStation from the Saturn.

Most of the first Saturn titles were made by Sega, which rushed its system and games to the marketplace to keep the PlayStation from gobbling up a large, loyal market share. These games get the job done. Some, such as "Panzer Dragoon" and "Virtual Fighter Remix," are cool. Sports games such as "World Series Baseball" and "WorldWide Soccer" are great to look at, fun to play, but don't offer a whole lot of options, meaning they may not hold your interest after you play them for a long time.

The PlayStation, meanwhile, jumped out of the blocks with homemade titles such as the 360-degree fighting game "Battle Arena Toshinden" and such third-party games as the 3-D virtual world of "Jumping Flash."

But that's the state of things now. All that could change, with Sega's awesome lineup of arcade hits that could find their way onto the Saturn. Eventually that might translate into a big advantage, but comparing arcade games such as Sega's disappointing "Daytona" to Namco's heart-pounding "Ridge Racer" for the PlayStation shows that Sony can't be counted out.

In the end, it may not matter which system you have because so many games are available for every major platform: "Mortal Kombat 3," of course, and the ultra-smooth "Rayman" for the Saturn, the PlayStation and the Jaguar.

Nintendo plans a 64-bit cartridge-based system, dubbed the U64, that the company hopes will be even better than the 32-bit CD games for the Saturn and PlayStation. U64 has its skeptics, who point out that cartridges hold far less gaming information than CDs.

And don't expect Sony and Sega to just sit there and take it. Sony already has updates in the works, with two new PlayStations planned for release by the end of the century, and Sega is putting together a more powerful version of the Saturn, which right now is called Mercury.

This uncertain environment makes it tough for companies like Atari, who started the video game revolution 20 years ago with "Pong." Atari this fall added a CD attachment that puts it in the same ballpark as the Saturn and the PlayStation, but the pioneer has found it hard to keep up because third-party producers have been reluctant to join Atari's roster.

Meanwhile, 3DO and CD-i hurt themselves at their respective launches a few years back by landing in stores with price tags higher than $500. Those three systems hit the market with nearly as much hype as the PlayStation and the Saturn, promising next-generation gaming excitement. But gamers weren't buying it.

Comparably equipped, the PlayStation and Saturn cost about $300 and they do pretty much the same things. It's like choosing between the SNES and the Genesis.

And in the Chicago area and in several other markets, Blockbuster video stores rent games for the PlayStation or a Saturn (or you can rent the systems as well) the same way they rent games for SNES or Genesis.

For many gamers, that is the way to go. You can spend the big bucks for the hardware or rent the hardware and the software for three days at a time, long enough to get pretty deep into the games. The drawback, of course, is that you can't always play the games you want when you want, because someone might have checked out "Mortal Kombat 3" before you schlepp to the store. But this try-it-before-you-buy-it plan keeps you from being saddled with a closet full of boring games.

That's important, because even though it costs game makers less than $5 each to make a full run of CDs, the prices you pay likely will remain about $60. Manufacturers say they have to pay for huge marketing and advertising campaigns to promote the games.

Whatever. The $60 is still $60. But for all the new systems can do, they can't touch a full-blown computer setup--that is, if you have $3,000 to spend. For starters, you can equip your computer with a quadruple-speed CD drive for faster action. The Saturn, PlayStation and Jaguar give you double-speed drives. PC players see some of the same titles that PlayStation and Saturn gamers get ("Mortal Kombat 3," for instance), plus games that are remade for home video game systems ("Doom," "Myst"). PCs can play disks and CD-ROMs, and there are far more game makers for IBM-compatible PCs than for home video game systems or for Macintosh users, who are feeling frustrated.

The choices are plentiful. But one thing for certain is that, dollar for dollar, the PlayStation rules.

For now.