It does have some relevance because it shows that if you are a gamer, you can't just buy 1 console because you want to play something that is exclusive to specific consoles. My console library is not as extensive because there was a time when I didn't have a TV for a few years so I skipped a bunch. I do still have the Atari 2600 that we got when I was just a kid, and TVs had dials/knobs (UHF/VHF) to change the channel.
Still, your best way to make your decision is to look at each console's library. The one with more exclusives that you will want to play will be the one you buy. For me, it was PS3 because of Gran Turismo and the coming, Little Big Planet.
PSP is pretty cool but if you're going to spend most of your gaming time at home instead of on the road, I wouldn't bother. I will be bringing my PSP to San Diego since I don't own a laptop. Going online with the PSP kinda sucks but I'd rather lug that around than 5lbs of laptop at the airport.

Something you may also want to consider, not all these systems are region free. I bring this up because Europe is usually on the short end of the stick at getting games. However if you had a region free system, you could just import a game from the US and not have to wait the 6-12 months extra it takes to get a game released in Europe.

The PS3 is region free in games, but blu-ray is not. With the 360, it's up to the game's publisher. And nintendo...well...nintendo is nintendo. They wouldnt let you buy a game from a different state if they could.

wonderswan? i've never even heard of that! you are a true gamer and how do you find time to do anything like eat or sleep?

the only thing i knew wonderswan for was a remake of the original final fantasy

The wonderswan is cool, but the REAL money is in the wonderswan COLOR!

The wonderswan was pretty much known for it's ports of Final Fantasy games. I have FF IV for the wonderswan color...and that's about the only thing worth owning

Amen to that...

BTW The Wonderswan was the first hand held system that could be rotated 90 degrees (mostly useful for vertical shooting games). I can't believe I even mentioned the Jaguar and the 3DO, I have maybe 10 games total between the two! They tend to make their way out every once and a while though...

isn't the DS region free?

Yep. But I think this is a matter of precedence. The gameboy and gameboy advance where both region free, whereas none of the nintendo home consoles have been. The closest we came to that was the SNES which only had a minor physical lock out that you could break off to play super famicom games. The NES and Famicom arent even pin compatible. The N64 never really mattered as we got most of the games for it that were worth any count, with the exception of Sin and Punishment, which was released recently on the Wii VC. I don't know why they are so adamant that their home consoles remained locked.

Wow, super nostalgia time...

Back in the day I worked at a video game shop and we charged like $50 to make the SNES "region free..." Pretty funny stuff thinking back.

So you took off the top cover?

Yeah that LLC was pretty shady... I was a technician there, and I primarily spent my time fixing many, MANY PS2s. However, believe it or not, I do recall some poor fools who paid to "region mod" a SNES.

hahaha, that's awesome. Back at my home town I think there was like 20 places that "fixed PS2's, Xbox's, and Gamecubes." Which is a nice way of saying they slapped a hard Drive and a bunch of .iso images in your PS2 for 60 bucks.

The shadier and older the building the better.

Dude we were in a mall, big difference.

There are so many of these shops popping up nowadays. Trade in your stuff for "credit" and then use it to buy used and new games. I wonder if there is a universal standard for the pricing of used games and systems nowadays (besides final average on eBay).

hahaha. Yeah, there was one of those in southern Indiana too, in the mall.

I have not shopped at a Gamestop for almost 2 years. Used games sales account for so much of their business that they don't help the current industry. Plus 80% of gamestop employees are tools.

Do I really look like I have trade-in's if I'm empty handed?

DS, PSP, and PS3 are region free...as far as games go. I haven't bought Japanese UMD movies so I don't know if they run on your PSP without chipping it. PS3's dvd/blu-ray player is region coded, I believe...so no Japanese movies (but then again people just download them anyway). There is a way to "share" files from you PC to your PS3/X360 so I you keep movies on you PC, you can play them on your console which is plugged into a much bigger screen than your PC. I say "share" because I think it is only 1 way...PC to console and doesn't go the other way, console to PC.

A US PS3 will play Japanese blu-rays as we are in the same blu-ray region, however a PAL one wont. Blu-rays are region coded by option, it's not mandatory. So it just has to be taken on a movie by movie basis.

That is correct, only PC to the system. I have spent a lot of time messing with this. It works pretty good! Sometimes I am annoyed with VLC, so I will use my PS3 to play 720p/1080p video files.