Holiday Buyers' Guide 2006 - PS2

Sony's PlayStation 2, the console standard since 2000, is starting to wind down. But with the PlayStation 3 still out of reach for many gamers, this aging box still has plenty of fight left in it. New games are still planned throughout 2007, and picking up a new, slimline PS2 - a relative steal at $129 - will enable you to play a library of hundreds of the best games ever made.

After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.