General disclaimer: The guy in the picture above is not me. Moving on.

I've always been an avid gamer. Or at least tried to be one! Most of us have been through the usual grind of Counter Strike, Max Payne, Hitman Codename 47, etc on our computers, playing for hours together especially during exam time! Although I wasn’t really good at any of those (not that I studied too much, either!), I’ve still always loved playing computer games. I’ve always wanted to be part of a community of gamers that still meet regularly only to play computer and console games. So I met up with this bunch of hardcore gamers of today, and decided to see how much the gaming scene has changed from back in the day... what new games there are on the market, and what kinds of equipment you need to play them. And what followed were a bunch of hardcore reality checks thrown straight in my face! Everything’s so different now from the days of yore! (Put simply, I'm really old :()

For all the uninitiated – we’ll clearly divide the 2 kinds of gaming that exist: computer and console. Computer gaming, as all of us know, has been around for much longer and expanded massively too, even with constant competition from console games. There are more divisions common to both these kinds of gaming. For starters, there’s Multiplayer and Single player gaming. Multiplayer games are further divided into free-to-play and pay-to-play games. Free-to-play are games that don’t cost money; pay-to-play require users to subscribe or buy 'points' which they can use. Free-to-play may also be further divided into completely free and pay-for-in-game-items. Here, the whole game is either completely free, or a basic version is available for free but in-game items have to be paid for. Yes, it’s all a bunch of nerdy jargon, but it’s essential to know what kind of game you want to start off with so you can play other games in the same genre and interact with players like you all over the world. Yes, gaming is no longer restricted only to your little brother who sits in the same room with the Player 2 joystick. That’s SO 1995, apparently.

Anyway, some really popular games today that fit into any of these categories are Battlefield 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Batman: Arkham City. Some of the most anticipated computer games of 2012 are Diablo III, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2.

As for console games, the main debate has always been between which of the three most popular consoles– the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 – is better. The Wii targets a broader demographic than the other two and wasn’t very well received by seasoned gamers who still preferred playing with the orthodox controller than a wireless Wii remote. The Xbox 360 has an upper hand over the PlayStation among avid gamers because of Xbox Live – a gaming community that every Xbox owner has access to. This community is far bigger and more active than the PlayStation community, and on it are available legendary games such as Halo. Besides, Xbox also has its own motion-sensing device called the Kinect to its benefit. The PS3 has its set of exclusives, too, like the Move Motion Controller, which offers a more realistic experience overall. Also, the PS3 runs on Blu-ray technology, so there is much less texture and composition loss as compared to the double layered DVDs used by the Xbox. Although Xbox loyalists stay true to their console, games like God of War 3 and Heavy Rain really hiked PS3 sales all over the world.

When all of this information hits you like a hammer, it’s tough to decide what kind of game you want to play and which console you should buy. But actually it isn’t that difficult. Read up on games online; if you like any, go through its gameplay on YouTube and see which console it’s available on. Try to find other people who like the same game and live around you, and team up with them for competitions. If you’re undecided on the console, remember: there’s always going to be the age-old debate over which among the Xbox and the PlayStation is actually better, but at the end it all depends on what genres of games interest you and what kind of gameplay you need from your machine.

So what kind of a gamer do you think you are? Still fond of old-school PC gaming? Or are you one among the many Xbox loyalists or PS3 fanatics? Which are your favourite games? Write in and let us know!

Image courtesy Wired.com