Well you seem to be obsessed with video games, I thought you were one of the lucky people who get a job playing them all day.
I read this feature bout 2 weeks ago. Really entertaining to read. Yesterday at work, I was reading the History of Video Games. Really interesting, it took me bout a hour to read everything. You should really checkout GameSpot's Site. Really interesting articles on everything, from the Mysteries of the 64DD attachment for the N64, to the History of Video Games that were turned into movies.
X Box looks really fancy, but you can't go wrong with the PS2. The games are certain to be good with PS2 and even though some may go to X Box I wouldn't doubt if other greats are exclusive to Sony. Look at the Dreamcast. It was a great machine, but didn't last. Same thing with Sega CD, 3DO and other systems. You could go either way, but personally I going for the PS2. Maybe it's just my loyalty from the original PS that makes me choose so.