Why do people spend hours of their life staring at a screen and then come home and stare some more for pleasure? Well after the stress of the day there is nothing more satisfying than blowing away aliens in the Black Messa research facility, piloting a 747 or making a couple of pixlelated people fall in love. But where do you begin? If you don't know your Max Payne from your Sam and Max or think RTS is somewhere you buy discounted sofas from, then fret not. Check out our beginner's guide to gaming and soon you will be fragging like the best of them.

Popular culture is all very well, but if you don't know your Buffy from your Phoebe Buffay, then you can feel a bit left out in the cold when it comes to what's hot and what's not. Now keeping up with the latest and greatest in video games is an even bigger challenge. Five consoles are presently battling it out in the market, the PlayStation brand with the PSone and PS2, is well established and now has a considerable portfolio of games but its supremacy is being challenged by Microsoft's new kid on the block, the Xbox and Nintendo's contender, the Gamecube. And for people who like their gaming portable, there is the handheld marvel the Game Boy Advance. Added to that are the older machines which are no longer on the market, but for which you can still pick up games, the Dreamcast and the Game Boy Colour. Not surprisingly, even people with PhDs in gaming from the University of Loafing (formerly the Polytechnic of Vegging Out) can't keep up. There are so many choices out there before you even get to the games. If you really want to find out what this gaming lark is all about, the first thing you need to decide is what hardware to buy.

The Big Boys

In the beginning there was Nintendo. The company who introduced the world to an Italian plumber, and the platform game, has dominated the console market for a number of years. Generally seen as a more kid-centric gaming console the titles that the company released have reflected this, with platform games and adventures being the Nintendo staple. Nintendo has a fantastic following of dedicated gamers and the GameCube launch is being supported by a host of exclusive games. Luigi's Mansion sees Mario's less famous brother taking over the Ghostbuster mantle, Star Wars: Rogue Leader--Rogue Squadron II should keep the Empire at bay for another few months and Super Monkey Ball in which you basically control an Ape in a spherical object. For older Ninty owners you can take your team all the way in International Superstar Soccer 2 or burn rubber in Burnout. For the younger GameCube owner anything until Pokémon makes it onto the format , cute puzzle-based herding sim Pikmin should keep them out of trouble.

Pokémon leads us neatly on to Nintendo's other great gaming success… the GameBoy. Other systems have come and gone, the Atari Lynx, the Neo Geo Pocket and Sega's Game Gear have all fallen by the wayside knocked down by the sheer portability and competitive price of Nintendo's handheld gaming system. The GameBoy is presently the bestselling console of all time and the launch of the Gameboy Advance in 2001 only strengthened the games system's stranglehold on the market. Nintendo are still releasing titles for the GameBoy Colour but, because the Gameboy Advance is backward compatible (ie: you can play your old Gameboy and GBC games on it), most people have opted to pay the extra for the GBA. The fact that this portable games machine has 32-bit processor (which is the same as the PSone--the original PlayStation) means that you get more pixel-pushing power for your cash, enabling developers to deliver faster, more colourful and more realistic gaming experiences.

It's relatively early days for the GBA, but even so there are some great games which really show off the system's capabilities. For the older player there is Doom Advance and the classic Nazi-bashing shooter Wolfenstein 3D, but for the younger player (or the young at heart) Mario Kart Advance: Super Circuit, Space Invaders the return of the plumber in Super Mario World--Super Mario Advance 2 and the PC classic adventure Broken Sword. Any Gameboy collection isn't complete without a Pokémon game. The addictive mix of collecting things, battling and adventuring has made the Pocket Monsters a worldwide phenomenon. After Nintendo the other Granddaddy of the console world is Sega.

Early in 2001 the company announced that it was ceasing production of its Dreamcast console to concentrate on developing games. Since then there haven't been that many major releases for the system, but like the N64 there are still enough great titles out there for the retro junkie. And you can pick up some great games for under a tenner.

Then Sony entered the frey. The first PlayStation, the 32-bit PSone came out before both the Dreamcast and the N64, and has dominated the UK console market ever since. Probably because its original incarnation saw gaming move out of the bedroom of teenagers to underneath the televisions of twentysomethings. Sony's success with gadgets such as the Walkman and MiniDisc meant that it was able to reach an older audience who had never before been targeted with this kind of product and the games reflect that. Whereas the N64 was definitely marketed at children, the PlayStation became the console for adults with titles such as the fantastic survival-horror series Resident Evil and the deeply unsettling Silent Hill, the exploits of gaming's first lady Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, football games such as FIFA and ISS Pro Evolution, driving titles such as Grand Turismo 2 and possibly the best (and longest) console role-playing game Final Fantasy VII.

The high profile of the machine and the fact that it is relatively easy to produce games for (the old Nintendo cartridges versus the "CD" format of PlayStation games) mean that there are now more PlayStation games than any other format (barring PC) This means that as well as some fantastic titles there is some real dross and sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference: after all, one lot of packaging with explosions, fast cars and guns is pretty like another. For kids it is best sticking to established franchises such as marsupial favourite Crash Bandicoot, dragon warrior Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Croc and new boy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Other great kids' titles include Digimon World (a better than average Pokémon clone) and for the disco queen in your life, Dancing Stage Euromix Platinum. Basically with a PlayStation you will be able to find a game to suit every taste, be it action, adventure, shoot-em-up, strategy or Pop Star Maker!

After a couple of years the PlayStation became the smaller, sleeker PSone but it still remained technically inferior to the 64-bit Nintendo and 128 bit Dreamcast. To counter this Sony launched the PlayStation 2. Sporting a 128-bit Emotion Engine which was born out of the developers' dream of making 3-D objects look and feel more real. (For more information about the PS2 read our Buying Guide here.) The PS2 is also aimed at the older generation of gamer but again more and more titles for younger PS2 owners, such as Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex , are hitting the market. Initially the main criticism levelled against the console was the lack of top-class games. At launch only the funky snowboarding sim SSX Snowboard Supercross stood out, but all that has changed with the platinum range, these are bestselling games for under £20 and contain such must-have titles as Martian action game Red Faction, beat-em-up, Tekken Tag Tournament and driving game Gran Tursimo 3.

If you like driving games GT3 is one of the most realistic, fastest and best-looking console title out there, but if you are looking to buy a PS2 (and seeing as the price has dropped considerably since launch--you couldn't choose a better time) there are now enough good titles out there to make it worth the admission price. For adult gamers Grand Theft Auto 3 may be a tad on the controversial side and automobile-related crime and mayhem might not be to everyone's taste's but no one can deny that this game is one of the best on the console for playability, graphics and sheer escapist entertainment. The sequel to Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2 will also be guaranteed to scare the pants off you, so is not for younger gamers. Other seminal PS2 titles include the paranoid first-person shooter, Half Life, sneak-em-up sequel Metal Gear Solid 2 console version of RPG fave Baldur's Gate, and fourth instalment in the Resident Evil franchise: Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. Check out Amazon.co.uk's list of essential PS2 games.

Finally, Microsoft (previously known for operating systems and PC games) decided it wanted a share of the console pie and launched its Xbox earlier this year. Not content to be an "also ran", the machine is the world's most powerful console with a 733 MHz processor, internal hardrive (so you don't need a memory card to save games) and a NVIDIA graphics processing unit. So far the criticism has been that the Xbox doesn't have the range of games available on other platforms, but those who have tried Microsoft's black box have been blown away by the stunning graphics and immersive gameplay of such titles as Halo and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, both of which are Xbox exclusives. The console also has DVD capabilities, making it an all-round home entertainment centre.

It doesn't matter how powerful consoles become, some people only have eyes for their PC. If you have just invested in the latest Pentium 4 2Ghz system, then you are going to want a few gaming greats to while away the hours and really show you what your powerhouse can do. Recent releases, which have pushed the technical envelope, include RPG hack 'n' slash fest, Dungeon Siege, first-person shooter done in the Saving Private Ryan style, Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Nazi adventure Return to Castle Wolfenstein or brush up on your Jedi mind tricks in Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (If X-wings and Wookiees are your thing then check out our list of Star-Wars-related games.) But even if you don't have a high-speced computer you can still get some classic games. Deus Ex wowed gamers with its immersive storyline, great mix of action, role play and adventure is now available as a budget title.

If you like the mind-bending challenge of a strategy title then Europa Universalis II, or Civilization III will give you enough resource management, empire building and expansionism to keep any armchair commander happy.

For the sim fanatic you won't find a more addictive game than The Sims where you have to take charge of a household of people and minister to all their wants and needs, everything from getting them a job to making them take a bath, the concept is so simple, but the game has been so popular that there have been three expansion packs released since the original game came out in 2000, Sims Livin' It Up, Sims House Party and the most recent addition to the family Sims on Holiday. But not all sim games are about the mundanities of life on earth, in Startopia you get to control alien life (you take charge of a huge derelict space station and then have to attract otherworldly creatures to live there) and in Zoo Tycoon you have more terrestrial animal needs to minister to. Of course, all of them have conflicting needs and keeping them happy is part of the fun.