For a person who never game before but looking to start, an impulse buy would be the cheap PS2 and its cheap huge library. If the person is worried about looking for something "hot", it would be the Wii. It also depends on their patience level if they are willing to wait around for one to become available. If not then, the 360 arcade model would be the next bet which is available and has a fairly large library. The games are not cheap though compare to PS2 and Wii and it may deter people from it. But at this point if they have gone this far for a game console they have asked someone for help or they may have done research on the gaming market. In the end, they are going to choose the best console that is a fit for them.
I'm just saying...
