Read All About It
If you are the kind of person who likes to read before doing, check out 'The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon--The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World'. It's very detailed and has a lot of information about the games and the industry. If you want to see visually how games have changed, try 'High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, Second Edition'.

Start Off Small
First, start with the classics. The 'Namco II: Ms Pac-Man with 5 TV Games' doesn't require anything other than a television, and you can play Ms. PacMan, Pole Position, Xevious, and Galaga. These games were made famous in the arcades of the early 1980s, and will get you used to moving the joystick around and pushing one button.

Once you've played the classics, it's time to step it up to 'Game Boy Advance SP- Flame'. Why the GBA (as it is affectionately known)? Because it has only one way to move and two buttons. We want to start you off slowly!

With your GBA in hand, you can go pick up 'Super Mario Bros. Classic NES Series for Game Boy Advance', a classic that came out with the original Nintendo console. A generation of gamers grew up on this game, getting used to jumping and throwing fireballs.

Next, move your way up to one of the best first person shooters (FPSs) ever: 'Doom'. It led to many of today's hottest games (Halo, Half-Life, and its direct sequel Doom 3), and will get you used to shooting, strafing, and generally wreaking havoc.

Start Collecting the Classics
Now you want to buy more of the old games, but you don't want to have to stalk yard sales or flea markets. Luckily for you, many game companies have been rereleasing classics onto today's most popular consoles. Some of my personal favorites are:

'Intellivision Lives!': The granddaddy of many major consoles, this game includes over 60 of the original games, as well as interviews with the original programmers.

'Atari: The 80 Classic Games': A major competitor of Intellivision, Atari continues to forge new ground in releasing games today. This compliation includes over 80 games to test your skills.

'Activision Anthology': Activision made a lot of the Atari 2600's most popular games. You can get them all in one collection, and enjoy classics like Pitfall.

'Midway Arcade Treasures': Midway was (and still is) a major player in the game industry. Classics like Defender, Joust, Gauntlet, and more await on this release.

'Street Fighter Anniversary Collection': 2D fighters were the rage in the early 1990s, and are still some of the best multiplayer experiences available.

'Mega Man Anniversary Collection for PlayStation 2': Capcom released the original side-scrolling adventure on the Nintendo, and spawned an entire genre of copycats. This collection contains many of the classics, as well as a few bonus items.