AGGREGATION AVOIDS AGGRAVATION:

Making sure your video game gifts are fun and appropriate for your kids: Several websites can help parents sort through the hundreds of titles on store shelves. (Alex Pham, December 14, 2008, LA Times)

Step 2: Hit some game review sites to get a preliminary list of games.

Gamespot.com, for example, reviews most major games that have been released. For upcoming games that are buzz-worthy, the site puts together sneak peeks and early game trailers. You can look up games by their titles, platforms and genres. At the bottom of the home page is a Most Popular feature, where readers can see what titles are generating the most excitement.

Want a shortcut? Gamespot has a holiday gift guide you can find on the home page. Other sites worth checking include 1Up and G4 TV.

Another popular place for parents is Amazon.com. That's where Mary Ann Masarech went this year to do her research. The 48-year-old mother of two decided against one game that her daughters had requested because players had found it too boring, but went with another based on the positive user reviews.

"The problem with the reviews is that you have to read between the lines to see who's writing them," said Masarech, a management consultant from Fairfield, Conn. "Are they hard-core gamers who would be dissatisfied with a game that would make my kids happy, for instance?"

Step 3: Make sure the games you pick in the first round are fun.

Once you have a list of candidates, you'll want to make sure the games don't turn into very expensive drink coasters. There are dozens of sites that review games for their fun factor. Instead of visiting them all, hit Metacritic. The site aggregates each game's scores into an average, like Rotten Tomatoes does for movies.