Throwing a party? Bring out the video games.

So your planning a little get together or maybe a big party? Having video games available to your guests has become extremely common today, in recent years the “Party” genre of video games has grown exponentially. Knowing what games to get are important, they have to be easy to pick up and play, yet challenging enough to get everyone interested and competing against one another. Here are a few games that will add a whole new level of excitement to your party.

If you have a Wii then you have plenty of options, Nintendo’s system is sometimes coined the “party system” and there is a very good reason for that. The controls are easy for a lot of games and promotes physical activity. The first game on the list dosen’t even need purchasing, Wii Sports comes with every shiny new Wii. The game, although a tech-demo can provide a lot of gaming entertainment for your guests. At the top is Wii Bowling, 4 players can play this simple yet competitive game and you don’t even need 4 controllers for everyone to play. Wii Tennis Baseball, and Golf are also good choices where anyone can play, Boxing requires two full controllers and a lot of moving around so it’s not advisable especially if you have a lot of guests. Next is Mario Party 8, this game traditionally takes about an hour for a full play however there’s a mini-game mode too so you set up a system where everyone plays one game and passes, overall MP8 is great whether your with a few friends or a lot people. Wario Ware: Smooth Moves is another title that consists of mini-games as well, which also gets a recommendation.

If you have an Xbox 360 there are no shortages of party games. You can always try for shooters like Halo 3 and Call of Duty. These games might not be for everyone at your gathering so you might want to make sure that its cool with those who want to play. If you want something simpler there are plenty of Xbox live games like TMNT, and Castle Crashers, which allow 4 players to team up. If you want something even more simple then there’s Scene It?, the game comes with 4 “buzzer” controllers so in case you don’t want to buy extra controllers which are $50, this game is for you.

The PS3 has some options with party games as well. Little Big Planet can be virtually any kind of game you want it to be, up to 4 players can team up or compete in a variety of several types of games. As with Xbox 360 there are also plenty of shooters that make for some fun multiplayer action. Then there are the music games, Rock Band and Guitar Hero can be found on all three consoles, all of these games are excellent choices when it comes to bringing your friends together. Those who heard of the phenomena of these music games but never played will have a chance to try it out, while maybe someone at your party is a pretty good singer and can show off a little to your friends. There are many of possibilities with these music games.

And there you have it, a few games that will ensure that your party guest will have plenty to remember after the night is done, and be asking you when’s the next one.