Not all gaming consoles are worth the splurge these ones are

As a girl who’s gamed all her life — and whose first console was the PlayStation Portable (sorry, Game Boy lovers) — I’ve tried my fair share of gaming consoles.Everything from the Xbox Kinect to the Wii has held a place in my home, along with more recent options like the Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch 2.After spending way too many hours playing games like “Baldur’s Gate 3,” “Pokémon Pokopia,” all the “Zelda” installments (and much, much more), it’s safe to say I know what makes a good gaming console.From considering playable titles to space and essential hardware, I’ve found the best gaming consoles and listed them right below.You might already own some of these, but here’s hoping that I convince you to try something new.I’ve owned my Xbox Series X for almost six years now, which seems crazy to me, and there’s nothing I’d change about it — apart from the bugs in some of the games I play.I’ve also tried the Series S, which does offer a space-saving design, but I personally love owning physical copies of games and loading them into my Xbox.

In fact, the Xbox also works as a DVD player, so you can use it to play any old Blu-rays you have.Mine has 1TB of storage and streams in 4K, while the Series S can only do 1440p, and games look almost lifelike on my widescreen TV.My console seamlessly runs heavy-duty games like “Forza Horizon 6” or “Baldur’s Gate 3” with little to no issues.

One of my favorite features is being able to save games.Even if you unistall, once you’re ready to play again, you can pick up right where you started.

Refresh rates up to 120 frames per second also mean I can play first-person shooter games on the console, like “Halo,” without any lag.I use my Xbox with the included controllers, and the best part is that even though I’ve accidentally dropped them off my bed at least a dozen times, they function just fine and have no visual damage.I also love the Xbox-exclusive games — yes, I’...