This place:

http://notebookforums.com/index.php?

has good user-level info on a variety of gaming laptops.
Alienware, Dell and Sager all make desktop-replacement rigs that can handle the most demanding games.

On the 'down' side: they're pricey (I bought an Alienware Area 51-m in Nov 2004 for just under $3K).

On the 'up' side: they're more upgradeable later than older laptops. Those 3 mfg's sell laptops that can upgrade/replace the CPU, vid card & RAM, so in 3 years, instead of buying a whole new machine, just buy the new parts, and swap.

1 thing to watch for: newest vid cards for laptops come in
PCI-Express, the wave of the future (or at least the next 3-4 years). Don't settle for AGP or PCI cards, that (tho' cheaper) may not be upgradeable in the future.