Gaming is more mainstream than ever, but what console should you go for? Are you a casual or hardcore gamer, do you like playing online, what about getting interactive? Well the good news is that there is a console for you out there that will offer exactly what you need, you’ve just got to work out what that actually is.

Xbox 360 Elite

Microsoft’s flagship gaming console offers a large hard drive to store games and movies on and a HDMI connection so you can connect it to a HDTV and watch high-definition movies or play games with crystal clear graphics. The Xbox 360 has been around for almost 3 years now so the games library that is on offer is pretty deep and this means there is bound to be something for everyone be it racing games, platformers or good old shoot-em ups.

Where the Xbox 360 edges out over the competition is the focus on online gaming. While it doesn’t strangely have wireless connectivity built in as standard you can connect online and play against other gamers from around the world. In fact you can play millions of gamers everyday as most people do. Additionally you can also download movies and TV shows via Microsoft’s Video Marketplace. Until recently you could also get a HD DVD drive for the console however following Toshiba’s shutting down of the format this is no longer available. Rumours circle the web that Microsoft will be announcing a Blu-ray player for the console in the near future.

PlayStation 3

Sony’s next generation console and follow up to the PlayStation 2, it’s a supercomputer in the making coming with a Blu-ray drive built-in and the option of a 40GB or 60GB hard drive. Considerably more expensive than the Xbox 360 even after a price cut at the end of 2007, the PlayStation also has a limited offering of games being only still under a year old on the market. However with a plethora of good games either just landing or schedule to land in 2008 all that is about to change.

Metal Gear Solid, GT5, Drake, Killzone 2 and a couple more should ignite some much needed interest and what with Sony winning the next generation DVD battle with its Blu-ray format against Toshiba’s HD DVD, the PS3 is positioned to eventually come out on top.

Nintendo Wii

While the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 pride themselves on being at the cutting edge of the gaming sphere with the latest graphics, demanding gaming and offering games gamers would want to play, Nintendo has chosen a different tactic for it gaming offering. Instead the Wii focuses on interactive game play, ditching the multimedia aspects, the video downloads or online communities instead for fun short games that involve the whole family.

Most of the best games on the Wii are short lived affairs and anyone looking to buy the console should invest in Wii Play, its fitness focused game Wii Fit (complete with balance board) and Mario Kart with the Wii Wheel, a wheel that you can clip the motion sensor controller into so you can pretend to drive while sitting on the sofa. The Nintendo Wii also has the benefit of being super cheap, at just 180 pounds it’s fast becoming the new board game for the connected dinner party generation.

Information along the lines of performance ratings, genre, review on the actual game play or special features of the game, the positive and negative aspects of the game, what console it plays on, who created the games, and the overall rating for the audience it is initially targeted to.

The gaming industry has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise, which has infected everyone from, every known aspect of society. From rich to poor, child to adult, everyone has had come in contact at on point in time with video games, so much now that there is a need for these reviews to act as advertising to the masses. Also for the amazing amount of different genres and more realistic video games being produced monthly, it has become so much easier for adult content, violence, and even nudity to find its way to the wrong type of audience, say children.

That type of mishap has happened before and to a grand scale. The many video game bodies of America and the world have been given ultimatums by the censorship boards that have to clean up these sort messes, and tighten their grip on what is the correct thing to do. They now have a tougher criterion when handing out these ratings for Mature, Everyone, Teen etc. And there are now stiff penalties for anyone choosing to stray from the rules that have been set by these boards.

These reviews are done by any number of individuals, websites or business that revolves around the innumerable characteristics of the gaming industry. And reviews on every single game has to provide some kind of useful information to not only the users of these games, but also the reviews work as an advertising post and putting the game out there for potential new gamers that may be interested in the games.

The majority of these reviews are done for online gaming sites, and various e-zines that relay that information to a wide number of people. Some examples of these sites and search engines are: Tech TV, Game Spot, Game Zone, IGN Games, Game Rankings, Computer Games Online, Business Week/Game Room, Gamers, Review Center etc. And these are just a few of the popular reviews that are available to the public. There are actually millions of sites on line that give out this information, and the games are reviewed by a lot of players also, so you always get great feedback on the games of your choice.

These games are reviewed by any and everyone and are for the many consoles out there; Xbox, Xbox 360, Playstation, PS2, Nintendo Game Cube, Nintendo DS, and even for the PC. Games are already being tested and reviewed for the highly anticipated PS3. I just shudder to think about it, such grandeur. Anyway these ratings are very important, it lets you know what to spend your money on, what games are right for children, if you highly awaited game sucks, or scores, or if you just want to know what the competition is up too.