This holiday shopping season, there's certainly a great deal to choose from when it comes to videogame systems (not to mention videogame software for each). All of them are selling well right now, but that doesn't mean you can just buy anything and be done with it. Gamers are a particular lot, after all. So if you want true bang for your gift giving buck, here's our guide to what's what, by whom, who for, and wherefore.




Part 1: Microsoft Machines
Now well established as a mainstream system, Microsoft's Xbox 360 just keeps getting better with an ever growing library of top-shelf games complimenting hardware that comes in 3 flavors. The best bang for your buck is found in the "fully loaded" Elite. There also the "nicely equipped" Pro, and the underachieving "entry level" Arcade system. Oh, and don't forget the HD DVD movie player (and a free copy of King Kong).


Part 2: Sony Systems
Sony has no less that three different game systems on the market these days. Perhaps surprisingly, it is the old PlayStation2 that offers the best value. Re-branded as a white Karaoke machine, complete with 2 microphones and a karaoke game bundled in, the old system has new legs as a "social game system" that also happens to play about 1400 other PlayStation2 games. The PlayStation3, meanwhile, recently stripped of it's more superfluous whistles and bells and reduced in price to a tantalizing $399, still lacks enough quality games to make it a viable gift idea for most, though some will love it nonetheless.


Part 3: Nintendo No-brainers
Much like last year, this holiday shopping season is all abuzz about the Nintendo Wii, mainly because it's in short supply, but it's in short supply mainly because it's a no-brainer buy. A unique and uniquely engaging game system focused more on all-ages fun, less on horsepower razzle dazzle, Wii is built for mass consumption on the cheap. Sadly, Nintendo still hasn't figured out what mass production means. Or massiver production, as it were. Like a consolation prize, Nintendo has another game platform, the similarly quirky Nintendo DS.



Part 4: PC Powerhouses
Thanks in part to Moore's Law, the modern PC is easily the most powerful game system out there. The fact that nearly everyone has one, wants to get one, or wants a new one for many purposes other that games make a Window PC a broad-spectrum gift idea (albeit a big ticket one). But for the gamer, it's got to be a powerful PC if it's going to play the latest crop of big budget, graphically intensive games. Gaming PCs come in various forms these days, and at various price points, too, but each is designed with the serious games in mind.