The holidays are right around the corner, and the winter's biggest shopping holiday is coming upon us very quickly: the infamous Black Friday. Black Friday falls on the day after Thanksgiving and has become known for the hellish, maniacal retail-sale chaos that drives everybody and their mother into a shopping frenzy. Lately, I'm glad to see that some larger retail stores have extended their Black Friday deals to include some days before and after that god-forsaken Friday. Let's be frank: I am NOT going to be seen again waiting in line at 4AM for some so-so USB-memory stick sale, no amount of black coffee will appease me that early in the morning. Period.

This post is for those that have been planning on going out to shop for their favorite techie, Linux-using loved one, or gaming grandkid, but you don't have a clue on what to get them. First of all, if you have the opportunity, ask them directly for some specific idea or gadget that they'd like. And parents, I really can't recommend snooping around their room for gift ideas, lest you are prepared for things that are best unseen. Otherwise, here are my recommendations when it comes to tech gifts, gaming consoles, and anything else as far as what's good and coming around this winter!

-Gaming Consoles-

In this arena, you have the big three competing for your interest, and honestly, they couldn't be further apart when it comes to differences among these gaming consoles: Microsoft's XBox 360, Sony's Playstation 3, and Nintendo's Wii are all great gaming systems to choose from. But what's important is in choosing one that's right for your gift-receiving gamer!

The XBox 360 is a tried and true console for gamers that are into the more hardcore gaming experience, and it's game library to choose from is huge and expands all the way back to 2005. Don't let the +3 year age trouble you, this system still supports games with the best graphics, highest detail, and exciting gameplay. The strong points for this console are its game library, cost, and online playability. The XBox Live network supports online gameplay across a huge number of games, downloadable content (game expansions, TV shows, movies, music videos, etc.), and it's still expanding with more features in every update. The 360's purchase price has dropped pretty well over the years from the original price of $299, and you can now buy a basic, stripped down version of the console for $199.

The Nintendo Wii is an excellent choice for family gamers, or those that are more interested in casual gaming experiences (read: not excessively violent, or deeply engaging games). The Wii excels when it comes to an in-house multiplayer experience: the games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises really plays well when you have gamers playing together. The Wii Shop Channel includes Nintendo's Virtual Console, which allows you to buy various, classic retro games that are from a wide range of systems, like the old Sega Genesis and more recent Nintendo 64. The cost of this console is a plus, too: you can find them for about $250, which is a decent deal for any family of gamers.

Now, the Playstation 3 may sound like a dud deal when compared to these two, but there are a couple of strong positive points for this final console system. First of all, the PS3 has the Blu-ray player, and that's a big thing to consider if you're buying for a huge media buff, especially when the PS3 is considered one of the best Blu-ray players available. Blu-ray is the disc format that won the latest media-war earlier this year (you can read my post about it here), which HD-DVD had lost admirably after a close fight among production studios (the XBox 360 took a hit in sales, it supported the HD-DVD format). Second, the exclusive games for the PS3 are some of the best games available, even though that library has been shrinking lately due to the XBox 360 sharing some franchises like Final Fantasy; even so, you can still look forward to some of my favorite's like Gran Turismo, and Tekken. So when it comes down to the PS3, the only thing I would really stress is to get the system that will have the games that they'd like, because they won't always be available on any other system. And when it comes to the price, maybe the inclusion of Blu-ray playability will offset that $399 price point that the PS3 is sticking with for now.

Comment Question: what is your favorite console of the three?