Does anyone use their system for video games? My hometheater setup will be in my basement. It is 14x19 with low cielings. I plan on getting athena audtion series.Should I get a preamp/power amp combo or the new receiver?

Quite a few people have game consoles hooked up to their home theater systems. It is particularly beneficial as consoles offer more and more support for surround sound (Dolby 5.1) and widescreen video. The XBox360 and PS3 will only make this more true. I'm a bit behind the times on my console gaming, so the fact that I have a Dreamcast hooked up to my 990 is probably not a very useful data point.

It sounds like your basement should work well for a home theater, and I've heard good things about Athena's speakers. At 8 ohms and with reasonable efficiencies, a receiver like the upcoming Model 1070 should handle them fine, but the 990/7125 combo (at a little more than twice the price of the 1070) would give you all the power the speakers should need as well as the flexibility of separates. It's hard to say which would be the better choice, since it depends not only on your budget but on the 1070 itself (which, while apparently getting very close to hitting the market, is still something of an unknown).

From time to time I do. I use PS2. I can't keep it hooked up to the system as that is the main TV everyone watches. I have to keep it on a TV in the basement as the games can get kind of annoying in the background. It works great when I do have a chance to bring it up. I find I have to get used to the different sound, though. It's just so different from the blare straight out of the TV I feel like I have to become reaquainted with the game.

I play xbox thru my system, which is a 950/750 with Definitive technology speakers. The sound is outstanding cosidering xbox games are 5.1. I am moving soon and my system will be set up in the basement. If you have the money I would go with seperates,much more flexibility and power to draw on, but, If not I don't think you would be disappointed with the new Outlaw receiver, whenever it's released..

I have an Xbox, GC and PS3 (and a PC) hooked up to the 990/770, with Klipsch RF-3s in a 7.1 config, I love it!

Soon to have an Xbox360, PS3 and NRV hooked up =)

Come to think of it, I've had consoles hooked up to Outlaw stuff for a while now...1050, 950/770, 990/770...I sense a pattern...