...It goes without saying that computing and gaming can be a fairly expensive hobby so many will turn to the second hand market to get started or look to progress further with whatever systems they prefer to use. It's an area littered equally with pitfalls and opportunities for the buyer but how do you know just what to look out for? For those of you looking to console gaming on a budget, then older systems are definitely worth considering. Playstation 2s are becoming more common on the second hand market as more and more are upgrading to the vastly superior Playstation 3, as is the original XBox with owners again upgrading. Don't always expect a lot of games as many sellers will keep a lot of their games to use on their newer consoles but you should still be able to grab a bargain or two. Games for both are still easy to pick up on the high street at knock-down prices so they're still worth thinking about. Onto the current wave of consoles and this is where you will have to give more consideration about what system you want to buy as each has its advantages and disadvantages.

Nintendo's Wii is targeted more at a family audience as most of its games demonstrate and it takes a fairly novel approach to gaming with its innovative motion-sensitive controller. It's certainly not the most technologically advanced of all of the consoles, hence its lower price, but it has proved to be incredibly popular. Because of the lower retail price, this is the cheapest way to get into "next-gen" gaming, but more serious gamers might be put off by the family bias in the catalogue of games available.

Since it's launch the XBox 360 has proven to be a smash hit despite confusion over the different models available. It's a very powerful system with the most extensive range of games available of all of the latest machines at present. There have been some technical issues with the hardware and reliability problems experiences by some users and there does seem to be an over-reliance on PC-style games but for the hard-core gamer this shouldn't be a problem. If you're on the lookout for a second hand model, your best bet here if you are looking for a machine as cheap as possible is the "Arcade" version of the XBox 360 which comes without a hard drive (which you could add yourself later), but if you're more serious about gaming, then you are better off spending the extra to buy one of the other models.

The Playstation 3 is still something of an enigma to many. It suffered from a rocky start due to an incredibly high retail price, and a poor selection of games, hampered further by high game prices. This is changing now following the price drop and game releases seem to be coming out on a par with the XBox 360. The one concern that owners did have was that many early games were almost identical to those on the XBox 360, despite the PS3's superior capabilities. This is starting to be addressed now so players will start to see the real difference between the machines... not to mention the fact that the PS3 is also a rather nifty Blu-Ray player!

As these hardware differences really start to become noticeable, you may start to see some XBox 360 owners making the switch to the PS3 (as was seen in the high street following the PS3's price drop in late 2007) so this could start to see more second hand XBox 360s appearing on the market...more

Should You Upgrade to an XBox 360

...The XBox 360 is going to be one of the most sought after gifts of this upcoming holiday season. However many people want to know is it worth upgrading now, or should you wait, here are some factors you may want to consider.

The base price for and XBox 360 is $300, the most common accessories are the 20GB hard drive ($100), wireless controllers ($50) and headsets ($20). Many vendors are offering packages with a variety of options with prices of $500 or more. While some of these options depend on your gaming style and preferences the hard drive is t...more

Five Must Have Skills For video Game Testing Jobs

...teracting with different types of computers and video game consoles.

Testers must also have great communication and written skills. Testers will have to be able to track bugs, file reports, and be able to communicate exact methods used in order to find certain bugs or flaws in the games they are testing.

Serious video game testers really have to be able to work long hours. At some testing jobs it isn't uncommon that some tests will go anywhere from 8 hours t...more

Nintendo Wii - Its Successes and Its Failures

...n do anything.

The first thing that you think of when someone mentions the Wii, is the very original approach Nintendo took with regards to the "control pad" or, more accurately, the "control remote." The creative team acknowledged that they couldn't match it with the big guns when it came to a regular console, so they began thinking outside the box to offer an affordable console that was also unlike anything we'd seen before.

Unfortunately, such a move was always going to be met by criticism for various reasons. Many are of the belief that game developers are struggling to work out what to do with the unique ...more

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