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I own a gamecube and I must say I have hardly ever played as the great games are pretty far and few between each other. Theres nothing wrong with the system. Its great, the games look awesome, they play just fine and keep me entertained for a hours at a time, even for games I bought a year ago. The majority of people own PS2s, it has a huge library of games so theres a chance you can find a good game for everyone who wants one, but since it has so many games theres a nice percentage of those games that are more towards mediocre. Xbox would be for the person more geared towards "mature" games, and who wants action titles and high quality graphics. Most of the games they make are being made for going online and playing multiplayer. So the older kids may not care for a gamecube and the the Xbox may not exactly be full of games the younger kids can really dig. By the process of elimination the PS2 seems to be the system of choice. Just don't buy the little kiddies the 18+ year old games. Can't stand listening to a horde of 10 year olds talking about killing people in grand theif auto games and saying its the coolest thing ever.

It seems to me that the differences between the models have been established now. While the GBA SP is cool and all the rage right now, I'm sure there will be kids who at the last minute will change their minds and want the new Nintendo DS. That goes on sale on Nov. 21 for $150. Considerably more expensive than a GBA SP on BF , but it is also backwards compatable with all of GBA games. It would be wise to make sure you do a last minute check for any revisions to the Christmas lists this year. Plus it would help avoid the whole "I just bought you a nintendo last christmas" conversation with your kids, because most likely their reply would be " this one is the NEW, COOLER one!" Then you'll be hearing that all the way till your kid's next birthday.