So You Want To Play Video Games

Ever since the release of the classic arcade games that we have played in shops and arcades, which have captured our imaginations at some point. Video games have become a great source of entertainment and sometimes controversy with some of the more violent games like Grand Theft Auto and Doom among the headlines.

If you are looking to play video games in the comfort of your own home then there are many things to consider. Just like the software publishers that make the games competing for market share the companies that make the systems are also competing for your dollar.

Portable Gaming Systems

The portable gaming systems are the smallest systems that you will find and are not much bigger than a standard mobile phone. These systems sacrifice great looking and detailed graphics for the ease of portability. In this are of video game systems Nintendo dominates with their popular Game Boy and their latest system the Nintendo DS which offers two screens on which is touch sensitive which can be used with a pen like a PDA.

Not to be outdone Sony has also released a portable gaming system called the Playstation Portable or PSP. The PSP can play games, music and movies and takes advantage of compact discs and Sony memory stick technology.

Console Systems

For those that like the idea of playing video games in the comfort of your own home there are several different consoles to choose from each with their own pros and cons. Microsoft's Xbox360 was the first of the next generation consoles to be available and has the biggest library of video games to choose from.

The Nintendo Wii has one of the smaller video game libraries to choose from but is quite unique with it's motion sensing controller that looks like a remote. The Wii has games that many kids and groups would enjoy.

The Playstation 3 or PS3 from Sony has motion sensing controllers and comes with the ability to play Hi Definition Blu-Ray movies. The PS3 does not boast the same large library of games as the Xbox360 but each of these consoles do offer some backwards compatibility which allow the consoles to play older games.

Personal Computers

Both Windows and Apple Mac's are quite capable of playing a variety of Video Games with the windows PC being the one that most developers create their games for. Most of these games involve using the keyboard and mouse especially in the case of FPS and RTS style games. Arcade and sports games can be played by using a USB joystick.