megapixels doesn't always relate to quality. There is the body of the unit, the lenses, etc. It just means it has more info per unit of area. If you plan on blowing pictures up, then get more megapixels. But just because a camera had 10megapixels doesn't always mean it'll be a nicer 5x7 pic than what a 3megapixel camera can give you.

Dizaster is right though. I bought my wife a 6mpixel Nikon SLR for Christmas, and it'll destroy a "regular" 10-12 megapixel digital campera easily. 6 is plenty for hobbyists, even pros, dependng on their intent. The lens is a factor of course. You can get a nice 6 megapixel camera like ours and then get a nice 55-200mm lens and zoom in 10-12 times. Try ding that with a 10megapixel digital... it;ll never happen. And then you can get ridiculously awesome lenses...

Getting back to what I was saying, you can have exceptional clarity yet lose trueness and warmth. For example, vacuum tubes have been around forever but every guitar player in the world will tell you no solid state amp beats old fashioned tube amps. This also relates to cameras. An old film slr will produce grainy photos upon magnification, but their is still a trueness and warmth in the shot that a digital won't give you. It's hard to describe. You have to see it...

But anyway, SLR is the way to go, if you can shell out a few extra hundred bucks. You won't regret it. You'll be set for life due to the versatility. But if it's just for pictures of hot chick in bars, you can pick up a good 8-10 megapixel camera for a couple hundred bucks these days.