I am only going to cover the main options, namely Xbox, Playstation, Gamecube and PC.

The Xbox 360 is the latest offering from Microsoft who are a relatively new name in the world of gaming consoles. This system is the most powerful available at the moment. There are a reasonably wide variety of games on offer and they are mostly of good quality. One of the selling points of the Xbox 360 is that it has a hard drive, this is a new development in console gaming. This allows for more complex gaming options and other uses such as downloading music. A real plus point for many Xbox gamers is the on-line gaming options. A wide variety of on-line, multilayer options really adds to the game play and last ability of the titles you can buy for this console.

The Playstation 2 is designed by Sony who have been at the forefront of the home gaming market for some time now. This is a good gaming system but is older than the Xbox 360 so does not offer as many features. The graphic ability of the PS2 is good but the main bonus to owning one is the sheer number of games available. There are more different titles on offer for the PS2 than any other system, so if choice is what you want this could be the way to go. However the new Sony PS3 will be launched quite soon so it may be worth holding on until then.

The Gamecube is produced by Nintendo and is a very good console. Nintendo seem to be more innovative than the other console manufacturers so if you like new ideas then this could be for you. The selection of games is not as large as for the other consoles and due to a lack of popularity in the US and Europe, some game developers have stopped producing games on this format. This is definitely a point to consider but the quality of some of the Gamecube titles is very high. There are people who would recommend buying this system just so that you could play the new Legend of Zelda games.

If you are considering getting a PC for your gaming needs then you will need a significantly larger budget. Mid to high end PCs that are designed for gaming do not come cheap. However the games are often cheaper to buy than console games and of course there are other uses for a PC than gaming alone. In general the real strength of PCs in regard to gaming is their ability to deal with much more complicated games. If you are into strategy or role-playing games then you will find the widest choice of this type of game in the PC format.

The thing to do is decide exactly what you want from your gaming platform and then choose the one which most closely fits your gaming needs.

Rich Heaney is the webmaster at Game Tester Guide. Find out how to become a video game tester today at http://rjheaney.com/gametesterguide