Buy Your Games Consoles in Complete Confidence

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Buy Your GameConsole

Whether you’re young or old, male or female, single player or fun-seeking family, there’s now a video games consoles to suit practically every need, taste and budget. The range and diversity of gaming systems, never mind the games themselves, is bewildering, and a daunting prospect to the uninitiated.

The raison d’etre of any games console is, fundamentally, gaming. Is a huge range of kids’ games a priority? Here are our tips to help you buy your games console in complete confidence:

Beware the bundle

In addition to standalone game consoles, most retailers will offer bundle deals whereby a number of games is thrown in for less than it would cost to buy them separately. Are the games the type that you or your family will enjoy? Extras include additional controllers for multiplayer games, subscriptions for online play, and special leads to enjoy the best audio-visual quality.

Shop around

UK retail is the most competitive market in the world for video games software. Relentless promotional activity means game prices can vary wildly from shop to shop, week to week, so doing research in advance and checking prices online or over the phone can save you money. Productsifter’s computer games top fives (Best Games, Best First-Person Shooters) are a great starting point you can trust if you know which genre you’re interested in. Additionally, Gamerankings.com and Metacritic.com collate review scores from a wide range of online and print publications, and are useful for gauging the general critical reaction to games.

Try before you buy games console

Most specialist games shops have in-store demo units, so don’t hesitate to ask staff if you can take a game for a test run. You can also rent games just as you would DVDs from chains like Blockbusters, or online clubs like Swapgame.com.

Understand age ratings

Many parents are rightly concerned about the risk of their children being exposed to inappropriate content. Every video games released in the UK receives a PEGI rating – the Pan-European Game Information standard - which isn’t legally binding, but offers a clear-headed guide to the content and its target audience.

By Johnny Minkley (games expert)