GR’s Holiday Gift Guide ’06

Last year, the 360 seemed a dubious prospect with its short list of launch titles, limited availability and confusing 'Core' versus 'Premium' models, making this holiday season a 180 degree turn for the better. With an awesome library, reasonable price tag and tons of movies, TV shows and demos available on Xbox Live!, this system is hitting its stride at just the right time.

Depending who you ask, the Wii is either a revolutionary step in a brave new direction or a Gamecube with a dangerous controller. In our opinion, it's an innovative alternative to spending a ton of cash…with a dangerous controller. It lacks the polygonal punch of its rivals, instead letting you punch at the screen, possibly even through it.

But the Wii has more going for it than random accidents and family room bloopers. Straight out of the box, Wii Sports is addictive, universally enjoyable and free, plus there's a nice selection of classic NES, SNES, Genesis and N64 titles available through the user friendly Virtual Console service.

Nintendo is back.

Yet another surprisingly solid version of a Playstation classic, Dark Resurrection is almost everything you could want in a portable Tekken.

Gitaroo Man wha-? Well, he rock battles with diabolical musicians for the fate of the world, and even finds time to serenade a lovely lady or two. It's a rhythm game with a sweet story, a quirky gem for your PSP.

Rocket Slime is about a slime named Rocket (go figure) who must engage in tank warfare to rescue the kidnapped members of the slime kingdom. It's weirder than it sounds, and offers the best versus play on the DS since Advance Wars. Get slimed.

Developed by iNiS, the guys who made Gitaroo Man Lives!, this is another wacky rhythm game with an infectiously funny plot, starring, of all people, male cheerleaders. Gimme a WHY?!

Xbox Live! isn't just how you play online anymore, especially since November 22nd, when the service began selling individual television episodes and feature length films. While the service isn't as robust as On Demand cable, it's only been active for three weeks, and remember, Microsoft has more money than God. Not to mention all the demos, arcade games and other random things a person can buy on Xbox Live! Twenty bucks can either buy your friend/nephew a fraction of a game (Thanks a lot), or a few games and maybe a TV show or movie. The future of unimaginative gifts is now.

Same basic idea as the Live Marketplace Points, except their conversion actually makes sense (100 Wii points = 1 dollar), and instead of spending them on episodes of Jericho, you can buy classic NES, SNES, N64, Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 games through Nintendo's Virtual Console service, including the original Legend of Zelda, Altered Beast, Bonk's Adventure, Gunstar Heroes, F-Zero and Mario 64, for between 500 to 1200 points. Clap if you like VC!

Perfect for the WoW fan in your life, provided you can pry their cold, claw-like hands from the mouse and keyboard long enough to actually check a stocking. When they do, they'll be pleasantly surprised to find not only a great CCG (collectible card game), but several cards that can be redeemed for actual in-game items, such as the sleek and desirable turtle mount. Trust us, it's faster than it looks, and guys pretending to be chics dig it.