You know, I took a stab at the dark buying a SF4 TE with being uncomfortable playing arcade fighting games, and it really does improve your control to the point where you can do things that you wouldn't have done before.
As for my thoughts on the Wii over the PS3, if you have a lot of friends who aren't super hardcore into video games, the Wii is clearly a better purchase for social reasons - you're looking to spend a lot on controllers too in this situation, which makes it no different from buying a PS3, and possibly more expensive so cost isn't the core of my view.
I've personally derived a lot of fun from Wii titles like Wii Sports, Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Fire Emblem, and even from Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. There were other games too, but I seem to have a hard time remembering from poor sleep in this hot & humid Baltimore weather. The VC also has a crazy number of good games if you're nostalgic - I'm currently on the FF4: The After Years & DKC 2.
My PS3 on the other hand has been largely unplayed except for PS2 games. Resistance wasn't so bad that I remember except the PS3 controller is weird for FPSs. Resistance 2 though I just quit at one point when they throw these ridiculous enemies that can kill you in 1 hit and audio is the only cue. I haven't played my LittleBigPlanet or Disgaea 3 yet. Super Stardust HD is amazing though if you grab that off of the PSN. Flow doesn't match the hype - not worth it IMO.
I also used to have & play Virtua Fighter 5 but...it's on the 360 as well, which goes to one of the big drawbacks of having a PS3 if you have a 360 and money is an issue - there is a huge overlap between PS3 & 360 games, and multiplatform games are better off in general on the 360 due to a generally larger userbase online, and that 360 games don't eat up as much of your hard drive as PS3 games tend to do.