HOW TO BECOME THE ULTIMATE GAMER

Playing games is serious business, and to be the ultimate gamer you're going to need some serious equipment. Today's top gamers have a ton of hardware at their disposal, including multiple video game consoles, a couple of handheld systems, and a powerful gaming PC as well as all the necessary peripherals, game controllers, and gadgets. You'll spend a lot of cash on hardware alone before you start busting your budget with the games themselves, so you might think about getting a paper route or something to bolster your on-hand cash.

Choosing the Best Video Game System(s)

Serious gamers don't limit themselves to a single gaming system. Great games are available for all the major video game systems, and since it's the games that drive things, you need to be prepared to play any new game that comes along. This means investing in all the current game consoles Sony's market-leading PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's GameCube. Yeah, it's a pain to have all of these systems hooked up to your TV, but that's the price you pay.

You don't want to limit your game playing to your living room, which means you'll also need to invest in a couple of portable game systems specifically, Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS. The nice thing about one of these gadgets well, about the PSP, anyway is that you can use it for more than just playing games. The PSP is an eminently hackable little gizmo, capable of being used as a portable music player, video player, and who knows what all else.

All that said, we're on the cusp of a new generation of video gaming. These things go in cycles, starting with the original PONG game through the Atari 2600 and the first Nintendo Entertainment System, on through today's three major video game systems. Well, the big three game systems are about ready to be upgraded, which means that if you're a serious gamer, you should start saving your money now for the next-generation video game systems Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, and Nintendo's Revolution.

These next-generation systems will be much more powerful than the current-generation systems (and also more powerful than your average desktop PC, believe it or not), and offer a lot more features, especially in the digital entertainment realm. All will be able to play music CDs and DVD movies, and to connect to your home network (wirelessly) and the Internet. Sit one of these puppies next to your living room TV and you have a full-fledged digital entertainment hub. (In fact, Microsoft's Xbox 360 functions as a Windows XP Media Center Extender, right out of the box.) In other words, you'll be able to use your video game system to replace your VCR, CD player, and DVD player and to play games, as well.

Building the Perfect Gaming PC

The serious gamer plays more than just video games, of course; he also plays a lot of PC-based games. And the thing with the latest PC games is that they require a lot of computing horsepower, in terms of both basic processing and graphics display. In fact, playing games is probably the most demanding thing you can do with your PC, more demanding even than editing digital movies and photographs.

So the ultimate gamer has to have the ultimate gaming PC a computing powerhouse with an ultra-fast processor, tons of memory and hard disk storage, state-of-the art graphics card, and digital surround-sound processing (along with five or more satellite speakers and a subwoofer, of course). This isn't your typical $600 chain-store machine; most serious gamers buy their PCs from boutique manufacturers, or just hunker down and build their own from the finest parts available.

I won't get into build-it-yourself PCs here, other than to mention the growing trend of PC "modding." This involves taking either a from-scratch or out-of-the-box PC and modifying its case in much the way that a serious hot-rodder will customize his ride. I'm talking about custom paint jobs, see-through side panels, lots of fancy lights, colored water cooling, and the like. PC mods are very cool, and you learn more about them on my friend Yoshi DeHerrera's Mod Times website (www.yoshi.us).

I mention modding because many gamer PC manufacturers do a bit of case modding on the pre-manufactured units they sell. The ultimate gaming PC, whether you build it yourself or buy it, comes with something a bit more interesting than the standard beige or black case. I particularly like the alien-looking cases from Alienware, as well as the cool custom paint jobs available from Falcon Northwest. If you can't do it yourself, at least start with something cool out of the box!

Now, as to spec'ing that perfect game PC. You can go as wild as your imagination (and your pocketbook) permits, but here's a good place to start:

• First and most important, you need a fairly powerfulprocessor to handle today's complex game play. Think Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon64, running at 3GHz or more. Consider upgrading to an extreme edition chip with hyper-threading technology, so that multiple pipes can run simultaneously.

• You'll need at least 1GB of memory, with 2GB or more being ideal.

• You'll also need a lot of hard disk storage. Go for at least a 200GB hard disk, and consider the two-disk option one hard drive for your operating system and basic programs, with a second hard drive dedicated to games.

• The capability to handle rapidly moving graphics is essential. Today's hottest games require a 256MB video card with 3D graphics accelerator and DirectX 9 compatibility, but that's just the minimum. The best gaming PCs feature 512MB NVIDIA or ATI graphics cards.

• All this computing power generates a lot of heat, so make sure your PC has a fairly large power supply and an adequate number of cooling fans.

• For the ultimate gaming experience, go with a high-quality 3D sound card with built-in surround sound, and be sure you have a quality speaker system, complete with subwoofer.

• Big games look better on a big screen, so think about a 21'' CRT or 19'' LCD monitor.

Finally, you need something other than your mouse to control your games. You'll want to invest in a good-quality joystick or similar game controller.

Selecting the Ideal Game Controller

Back when I was your age (I know, I was never your age), back when the Atari 2600 was all the rage and so much better than plain old PONG, there were only two types of game controllers joysticks and paddles. Nothing fancy, just a joystick or rotating knob with a single fire button somewhere on the thing. None of this "press button A while holding down button B and firing button C" nonsense; life was a lot simpler back then.

But I'm just showing my age. Today, not only are game controllers a lot more sophisticated (re: complex), but there are also many different types of game controllers, each designed for specific types of games. Gamers are used to disconnecting one controller and connecting another when they switch from first person shooters to flight games to racing games; each type of game demands its own type of controller.

When you're shopping for a controller, here are the major styles to choose from:

• Gamepad The default controller for most videogame consoles, complete with a variety of buttons and the directional D-pad. It's versatile enough for just about any type of game.

• Flight/combat stick A type of joystick with 360° movement and firing buttons; it's ideal for flight games.

• Racing wheel Combines a full-function steering wheel, gear shift, and gas and brake pedals for playing racing games. (Some wheels implement the gas and brake functions as buttons on the wheel.)

And, of course, some games actually use the computer keyboard and mouse as input devices, so you have that to take into consideration, as well.

Most important, make sure you like how the controller feels and how it plays. Make sure it's sturdy enough to hold up through intense game play, comfortable enough for long gaming sessions, and has a quality feel. Then plug it in, settle back, and start playing!