MMORPG? FPS? Sandbox? What are all these funny words you guys keep throwing around?
RPG
Role-playing game. You get to pretend to be someone else with more fun skills than your own. Like fireballs or an enormous sword. Lots of RPGs, though not all, are set in fantasy worlds with a lot of medieval elements. Final Fantasy is a very popular and lengthy RPG series. Often you're in charge of a group of people whose skills you manage; for example, you'll have a warrior, a mage (magic user), a healer, etc., and you direct them all in working together against whatever enemies the game throws at you. MMORPG
Massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, like Everquest or World of Warcraft. These are role-playing games that you play with lots and lots of other people online. The pros? You get to play with whoever you want. You can form groups and do things together and interact with all kinds of people in all kinds of fun ways. The cons? All those aforementioned other people. Plus, these games tend to require a lot of time. You can get sucked into spending more time on a MMORPG than you do in a full-time job. To be fair, if I were allowed to fireball people who annoyed me in my job, I'd probably want to spend a lot more time there too.
Real-time strategy
Strategy. You know, thinking and planning and stuff. Strategy games let you play general. Real-time means you play at the same time as your opponent(s). See below.
Turn-based strategy
In a turn-based strategy game, on the other hand, you take turns. You are allowed to make your move, or a certain number of moves, and then you wait while your opponent makes his moves.
FPS
First-person shooter. Call of Duty or Unreal Tournament are good examples. Your view of the game is essentially the same as if you were doing it in real life, i.e. you don't get to see your own character.
MMOFPS
Massively-multiplayer online first-person shooter. Like FPS, but you get to kill a lot more people. Or be killed by a lot more people...
Third-person shooter
Same idea as FPS, but you get to see yourself. Because of the wider view, you can see a bit more of what's happening around you than you can in FPS.
Open world
In an open world game, you get to wander around the entire game at will or almost at will. Fallout 3, Crackdown, and Just Cause 2 are good recent examples. There may be areas that you aren't strong enough or don't have the tools to reach in the beginning.
Sandbox
Sandbox games let you roam around the world pretty freely and usually feature lots of people, objects, side quests, and no end of other fun. Grand Theft Auto or Crackdown are examples of sandbox games.
Sandbox games let you roam around the world pretty freely and usually feature lots of people, objects, side quests, and no end of other fun. Grand Theft Auto or Crackdown are examples of sandbox games.
Sidescroller
Sidescrollers are 2D games like the original Super Mario Brothers or most of the Castlevania series.
These games involve lots of jumping from one platform to another, usually with various obstacles and enemies in your way. Again, the original Mario Brothers games and the Castlevania series are good examples.
Consoles for Non-gamers: A Brief Introduction
PC
Let's start with this. We all know what a PC is, right? That neat little thing flashing lights and colours in front of you RIGHT NOW. Now, the difficult thing about gaming on a PC is system requirements - sometimes you need a pretty good video card or a fast processor to play a game enjoyably. This is especially applicable if you're playing multiplayer. On the other hand, you presumably already have a PC at your disposal, so there are loads of games you could be playing RIGHT NOW without much outlay of capital, everything from silly little flash games to the newest, shiniest, most hardcore games on the market today.
Microsoft XBox 360 (left) and Sony PS3 (right)
The majority of games released these days seem to be available for XBox, PS3 or PC, so you can pick your favourite, really. These are the newest generation of video game consoles and can playing anything from the newest, flashiest games on down. I'm sure you could even get Pong on there if you so chose. With an XBox you can get on XBox Live (for a fee) and compete against foul-mouthed thirteen-year-olds the world over; the PS3 has a similar online kinda deal. Or you can just gather up to three friends (assuming you have friends) or six friends if you have a PS3 (so says wiki) and play together at your house. The XBox doesn't have a Blu-Ray player but does seem to be slightly cheaper.
Nintendo Wii
Neither of us actually owns one, so I'm talking out of my ass here with the help of wiki, but in short: the Wii, another of the newest generation of consoles, has taken an entirely new and far more physical approach to gaming. Using the Wii remote, you can pretend to do just about any sport you like (preferably with the curtains closed so your neighbours don't call an asylum on you). If you're interested in that, I hear the Wii is pretty cool. Personally, I prefer being able to slouch in my comfy chair and make my character do all the work. There are regular games such as Mario for the Wii as well. It also seems to be the cheapest of the three major consoles.
Sony PSP
This is a handheld console by Sony, the makers of the Playstation. In fact, PSP stands for PlayStation Portable. Portable systems are fantastic because you can take your games anywhere; hey, you could even game in the shower (if you didn't mind constantly having to replace waterlogged equipment) or, more reasonably, the toilet, the subway, or surreptitiously at work. The downside? Small screens, and less capability. The games are generally shorter and more basic than what you could get on a Playstation or XBox, but better than cell phone games. There are old PSPs and new PSPs, the most recent being the cute little PSP Go, which wiki tells me has a whopping 16 GB of storage - a lot for a handheld console, and certainly enough to store quite a few games. You can play multiplayer with a PSP owning friend and you can also get online, watch movies or listen to music. It's a nifty multipurpose device.
Nintendo DS
Nintendo's handheld console is smaller and lighter than the PSP and it comes in lots of pretty colours! Plus, it has a stylus which you can use for some games. I'm a big fan of the stylus method of input as it's easy and somewhat more precise, for some things, than using the regular controls. As well, some games have you do stuff like blow into the microphone or shout to make things happen; this can be fun if you're sitting at home by yourself, but may cause problems if you're on the subway or in class or something. The DS doesn't have quite the same variety of games as the PSP; it tends more towards cuteness and fluffiness. It does have a lot more educational (language-learning, etc.) games available if you're into that sort of thing. It is possible to play multiplayer if your friend(s) also own(s) a DS. It can also play Game Boy Advance games.