I don't know where it would be best to post this question, but I have just purchased an xbox 360 and ps 3 and need help understanding the consoles and the games. Can anyone help out or direct me to a good, active site for video game play? Thanks.

You can probably ask your general questions here. If you have _specific_ questions you could also check out Arqade. Be warned: Arqade is a StackExchange site, which is not a forum. They have very specific rules about the kinds of questions you can ask, so make sure you read their Help Center and getting-started type pages if you are unfamiliar with the place. It might be an interesting thing for you to simply peruse, if nothing else.

Thanks. So here are my general questions:

1. I am playing games like The Last of Us, and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. What's the deal with the narratives/cut scenes? They are interesting the first time, but is there a way to skip straight to game play?

2. How do you figure out how to play these games? I was running around the island in Creed for 30 minutes unable to find the enemy. How do you figure out the tricks for moving ahead? Just watching youtube videos?

3. For the original Halo game, I put it in and had a hard time figuring out how to simply get it started. There were all these options. I went with multi-player and fortunately it allowed me to play on my own. But how am I supposed to figure out what to do? I was just shooting aliens constantly.

4. There seem to be a lot of extras in these games. For example, what's the deal with saving games and downloading characters? Can I learn how these games work and get the basics by just popping in a disc and hitting play? Or am I missing anything essential? If I went through all these menu items it would be a complete rabbit hole!

5. Is there anything I should NOT do with the consoles? When I quit, I open the ps3 door and the disc is still spinning. Will this hurt it?

6. How long does the xbox 360 controller have to be charged before it will be full and can it be overcharged?

Thanks!

1. I am playing games like The Last of Us, and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. What's the deal with the narratives/cut scenes? They are interesting the first time, but is there a way to skip straight to game play?
2. How do you figure out how to play these games? I was running around the island in Creed for 30 minutes unable to find the enemy. How do you figure out the tricks for moving ahead? Just watching youtube videos?
3. For the original Halo game, I put it in and had a hard time figuring out how to simply get it started. There were all these options. I went with multi-player and fortunately it allowed me to play on my own. But how am I supposed to figure out what to do? I was just shooting aliens constantly.
4. There seem to be a lot of extras in these games. For example, what's the deal with saving games and downloading characters? Can I learn how these games work and get the basics by just popping in a disc and hitting play? Or am I missing anything essential? If I went through all these menu items it would be a complete rabbit hole!
5. Is there anything I should NOT do with the consoles? When I quit, I open the ps3 door and the disc is still spinning. Will this hurt it?
6. How long does the xbox 360 controller have to be charged before it will be full and can it be overcharged?

Thanks for the help.

Where ARE these tutorials?

Tutorials may or may not be available depending on the specific game. In some cases the tutorial is accessible from a main menu at the game's startup. But it's not unusual these days for the "tutorial" to be part of the first experiences that you are presented with. Sometimes the player is just placed in a relatively safe place where it should be possible to experiment and get used to the controls. One other way to get some idea of what you're supposed to do is to see if there's an option in the game to review and set the controls.

Part of the whole experience of a new game is learning what to do. There is sometimes a bit of an expectation that you have some prerequisite knowledge or an assumption that you'll be comfortable exploring options and menus available in the game to find out what you want to know. Keep in mind that it is just a game and you shouldn't be afraid to experiment a bit to get the hang of things. If you really need to you can always start over.

The first time I played one of the Halo games either there was no tutorial at all or I pressed buttons too fast to notice any messages that were presented to me so I had no idea what was going on and I was left to my own to figure out how things worked. Wasn't long before some alien came up and killed me from behind. Eventually I got the hang of it.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. But I have to say I am not okay with having no idea what to do in a game. In AC I was running around on the island for 30 minutes getting nowhere, with no clue where to find the enemy. Halo made no sense at all. I wasn't told where I was and what my purpose was. It wasn't even clear from the starting menu how to play a normal game!

But I have to say I am not okay with having no idea what to do in a game

Then be very grateful you weren't trying to play video games 25-30 years ago. Not only did the games not have any tutorials, there was also no internet to fall back on.