The number of ways we can use the Internet has increased significantly over the years, people now use the internet to talk to people the other side of the world for free and watch TV episodes from their childhood. One of the growing trends of Internet use is online gaming; this comes in many forms; from online gambling such as bingo or poker to game consoles like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Most households now have broadband, a good proportion of families own some form of gaming platform whether it's a video games system or a PC. The ability to play against your friends (or enemies) over the internet is something that has caught on vastly in the past few years.

The phenomenon of online gaming started back in the early stages of the internet where computer geeks played games such as Doom in darkened basements all over America, but online gaming has evolved and spread to the living room with developments like Xbox Live, the paid for network where Xbox owners all over the world could play games such as first person shooters and racing games online, with the added ability to talk to your competitor should you feel the need to gloat after you win.

These days, Broadband connections are fast enough to handle multiple machines connecting to the internet; video game consoles nowadays either have a standard Ethernet port or have wireless networking hidden inside their plastic shells. As well as being able to play games online many of the leading companies have the facility to buy or download add-ons for games as well as full games including nostalgic fancies from our childhood being available for download.

This new method of buying and getting your video games has only been available in recent years as broadband speeds have increased, now full games are beamed straight to consoles in a matter of minutes. Of course in order to be able to do this without waiting a lifetime it is preferable to have a faster internet connection, by using a broadband speed test you'll be able to find out how fast you're currently going and check with your games console whether you are fast enough to handle fast paced online gaming without any interruptions.

If you are planning to try out online gaming you need to make sure your broadband can handle the added burden, possibly by getting an upgrade to your speed or investing in a wireless router to share your internet connection. There's a world of competition out there, it's time to prove your skills on the World Wide Web!