Sure, there are plenty more expensive hobbies out there to spend your hard earned cash on, but the cost of gaming can get pretty daunting if you’re not too careful.  With any big electronic purchase, it’s best to know how much of a dent to your pocket book it will all be with all the hidden fees and additional purchases added in.  This guide will try to give you an idea of which buys are absolutely necessary, which ones are nice-to-haves, and what you should avoid like the plague.  And for simplicity’s sake, let’s just round all prices up to the nearest dollar.

First things first, you’ll need a television.  Yeah, I know, everyone’s got a TV, but if you’d like to game on a nice big screen and don’t yet have one, you should probably factor that cost into your budget.  If you’re interesting in a high def set, check out our HDTV buyer’s guide, otherwise, any regular TV will do.  Just be aware that most 360 and PS3 games were made with higher resolutions in mind, and in some cases, the text is displayed using extremely tiny font sizes that don’t show up very well on SDTVs.  Okay, now onto the consoles..

Nintendo Wii

The Wii offers the most basic retail configuration out of the three consoles.. one box and one box only.  For $250, you get the Wii game system, one wiimote controller, one nun-chuk controller add-on, and one game, Wii Sports.  However, if you want to invite your friends over to play, you’ll need extra controllers ($40 each) and possibly extra nun-chuks ($20 each).  You might only need to buy one extra nun-chuk though, since most games don’t require the analog stick.  Otherwise, buying a full set of three additional controllers will cost you $180 more.  You might be tempted to buy a copy of the game Wii Play, since it nets you an extra wiimote, but unless you have really young children, I’d say pass.  Wii Play costs $50, same as any other game, so you’re really just buying a $40 wiimote and getting a mediocre minigame collection for $10 more.  Also, if you plan on buying any old Nintendo games on Virtual Console, you should pick up at least one Classic Controller ($20).  And if you decide to use the Wii’s backwards compatibility and play any Nintendo Gamecube games, you’ll need a Gamecube controller (I suggest the wireless Wavebird for $25) and a memory card (around $10), both of which aren’t sold at retail anymore, but are plentiful online at Amazon and eBay.

As for games on the Wii, most cost $50, with many budget priced titles costing anywhere from $20 to $40.  By linking your credit card, you have the option to buy classic Nintendo games, downloaded via the Virtual Console channel for $5 for NES, $8 for SNES, $10 for N64 titles, etc.  New Wiiware downloadable games are also available from anywhere between $5 to $15.  You might want to pick up an SD flash memory card to store any excess downloads that won’t fit on the Wii’s tiny 512MB of internal memory.  As for any other services such as online gaming and system updates, no worries because they’re all free.  It should be noted that although the Wii has built-in wifi network card, there is no wired Ethernet port, so any online connectivity will require a wireless 802.11b/g router as well (which could cost $50-70).

Additionally, the obvious mass market appeal has provided the Wii with a great deal of attention from many consumers who haven’t traditionally been interested in video games before.  This has led to a huge glut of 3rd party accessories for the system, most of which should best be avoided.  As a general rule of thumb, plastic shells that turn the remote controller into other objects are fairly useless.  This includes tennis rackets, cooking spatulas, golf clubs, guns, and steering wheels.  Nintendo does sell their own versions of some of these, but honestly, you don’t actually need them and could do the same actions without them just the same.  You might also consider buying a battery charger set made specifically for the Wii.  While it’s nice to have rechargeable batteries for the power hungry controllers, you might find it easier to just buy a nice rechargeable AA battery kit, especially since the battery packs are difficult to charge without taking off the protective controller sleeves anyway.

So, the final total for owning a Nintendo Wii ($250) with four controllers and four nun-chuks ($180), a classic controller ($20), Gamecube accessories (about $35), and a 2GB SD flash memory card ($7), comes to $492 + tax.  Optionally, AA batteries, a wireless router, and component cable costs can be factored in, if need be.

Playstation 3

If the Wii appeals to the more budget-minded shopper, then the PS3 stands alone as the priciest of the three systems.  The PS3 has by far the most confusing history of hardware configuration changes (that’s a 101 post for another day), the current versions of system are relatively simple to understand.  There are two main PS3 boxes out on retail shelves right now.  The 80GB system for $400 and the 160GB bundle for $500.  Each system comes with one DualShock3 wireless controller, one short miniUSB cable for charging controllers, one composite audio/video cable, and one ethernet cable.  At the moment, the 160GB SKU also comes bundled with the game Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.

The PS3 supports up to seven active controllers, but you’re not going to need any more than four, and possibly only two.  Since wireless DualShock3 controllers retail at $55 a pop, netting three extra will cost you $165.  Each controller comes with a built-in battery that can be charged via a miniUSB to USB cable, but the included 3-foot cable is so short, you might want to pick up an extra 10′ cable (less than $2 online) so that recharging from the comfort of your couch is possible.  The lack of a component or HDMI audio/video cable is surprising, considering how serious Sony is about the whole HD push.  HDMI cables can be found relatively cheaply online at places like monoprice (under $10), so try to avoid overpaying.

The standard price for games on the PS3 cost $60, with budget priced or older games coming in at about $30-40.  The Playstation Network (PSN) offers a large number of original games available via download.  They range anywhere from simple $5 games, to fun $10 arcade experiences, to full-sized $30-40 games.  You can even purchase digital versions of old PS1 games.  Fortunately, PSN, PS2 (if your system has backwards compatibility) and PS1 games all use DualShock3 controller just fine.

Despite the initially high barrier to entry, the PS3 comes equipped with just about everything you could ask for.  Since all PS3s come with a harddrive (HDD), no memory card is needed for additional storage of savegames or content.  The PS3 also supports wired and wireless networking out the box, so you won’t have to spend extra on getting online.  Since the PS3 doubles as a bluray movie player, you might consider picking up a Sony PS3 remote control ($20).  However, if you can get used to the awkward wireless controllers as tv remotes, you can save yourself some cash.  Finally, you might decide to get a bluetooth headset for online voice communication.  Any bluetooth mic/headset will do, and since all cellphones use them now, it shouldn’t be too hard to find an affordable one.

Bottom line, the base PS3 package ($400) with three additional controllers ($165), and the extra USB ($2) and audio/video ($10) cables will cost you $577 + tax.  Whether you buy extra add-ons like a remote controller or wireless headset is up to you.

Check out Part II of this article, where we add up the costs of Xbox 360 ownership..

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