First off, what is a console? Originally, the definition for this was a lot easier: a device designed to play video games. As the technology has improved over the last few years, video game consoles can do a lot more, and to further complicate matters, other devices can play video games as well. The question now is what the device's primary purpose is. A cell phone is a cell phone is a cell phone, but even if it can play games, it's still a cell phone and not a console. The three main consoles people will discuss nowadays are the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 and the Wii. These are all primarily designed to play video games. There are other portable gaming systems, such as the Playstation Portable or the Nintendo DS, which are intended for handheld use, but these are not consistently called consoles. There's no rhyme or reason to when they are considered consoles or not. It may depend on your zodiac sign, or Jupiter's moon cycles. The point is, if you call one a console, you may get a raised eyebrow, or you may not, and that will be the extent of it. Don't worry about it.
Genres:
RPG: This stands for Role Playing Game. These are games where the player creates a character and tries to develop them in various ways of their choosing. Players can often become invested in their characters and for this reason RPG's are notorious for being some of the most addicting games out there. There are a number of acronyms out there describing basically that they can be played online with other players. MMO, MMPORG, etc. Don't worry about remembering what they all mean, just recognize them as being online games with lots of other people. Stories are frequently Fantasy or Science Fiction in nature.
FPS: First Person Shooter. There's a gun on the screen, and a hand holding it. That's your character. You've got a first-person view of the action, and a lot of targets. Storyline is often seen as optional, especially if the game itself is really fun, but sometimes it can really help you to get into your character's head. These are typically very action-oriented and predominantly based on actual wars, or futuristic settings.
Platform. These games involve a lot of jumping. Some are more precise than others, but the one thing that's fairly consistent is that you don't want to miss your jump by falling short.
Side-scroller. You won't see as many of these games on non-portable systems anymore. Side scrolling basically means the the levels are predominantly laid out in a long, left-to-right manner where you are always looking at your character from the side. As the player advances, the screen scrolls with them, moving the "camera" to view more of the level, while the character stays pretty much in the center of the screen.
Sandbox/Open-ended. These games are growing in popularity. Whereas most games have a guided progression of gameplay, sandbox games let you decided what you want to do, and where you want to go. "The story can wait, I really want to explore this one area..." The most famous(infamous?) games in this genre include the Grand Theft Auto series.
That should be enough to get you started, be sure to check back later for more Tech Glossary terms.
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