Not necessary but if you can afford one, you won't be disappointed. Besides gaming, Blue ray movies at 1080p (120hz) is no joke!! Its so clear it takes a little getting used to (so life like it seems like someone is walking a round witha a camcorder or something). you can get a 32 inch samsung (great quality for 1g or less). I gave up my Redskin season ticketmoney (sold them to a friend for a year) to get a 52 Inch Samsung 1080p 120 hz last may and it blows all fam/friends away when they see it. Brought my PS3 to llife (and I had a decent1080i I older model projection set)

Also I didn't even mention Cable or DTV in HD (if you got it) In my op 25 Inch HDTV beats a 50-60 SD TV any day of the week