If you’re still looking for a gift for that special gamer in your life, then you’re in luck: We’re here to help! From extravagant accessories to virtual stocking stuffers, we have some suggestions that other people most likely have not acquired for the object of your benevolence.
First, we’ll start at the higher end of the scale. There are quite a few excellent console bundles out there, including a swanky looking Xbox 360 with two controllers and Modern Warfare 2 for $429 CAD. On the PlayStation 3 side, there’s… well, there’s nothing. The Drake’s Fortune bundle doesn’t seem to be carried in any stores from the look of their websites, except for EB Games, which at $399 is not a good deal by any means.
Sliding down the money scale, we have the super comfortable Steelseries Siberia v2 Headset (check out our review here) for $120. If he or she is a fan of World of Warcraft or other Massively Multiplayer Online games such as Aion, then you should consider the SteelSeries World of Warcraft Gaming Mouse or the Razer Naga MMO Gaming Mouse for $100. I know Richard is a big Razer fan, but I play with people who use the SteelSeries one and can’t live without it. If they already have a gaming mouse with a lot of buttons, then maybe the Logitech G15 keyboard is the right gift. I personally use one of these and they are fantastic! The LCD display is very useful for identifying who is talking through chat programs and displays some vital information during the play of every game. Plus it has what every gamer needs: More buttons.
Getting into actual games that other people may have missed, Brad recommends Knights in the Nightmare and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor for the Nintendo DS, both priced at $40 CAD. They’re both popular Japanese role-playing games that have been localized for English-speaking fans. More mainstream blockbuster titles that have a high chance of pleasing the recipient (but also higher chance of gift collision) include Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC, PS3, X360) for action fans, Dragon Age: Origins (PC, X360, PS3) for role-playing fans, and Tekken 6 (PS3, X360) for fighting game fans. Each of those should run you anywhere from $60-$80 CAD.
Finally, if you’re looking for some good deals to stuff some virtual stockings, Richard is pimping a Machinarium and Samorost2 combo for $10 USD, which includes both games as well as the soundtracks in MP3 format. Steam is also hosting a large selection of sales. For under $10 USD you can give Torchlight, Trine, Titan Quest: Gold, as well as some nostalgic titles like Star Wars: Jedi Knight Collection and Deus Ex. Even more ludicrously, you can give the innovative Braid, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (voted as the best Canadian-made game by GameNorth staff), the sleeper hit Puzzle Quest, Stalker and Stalker 2, and EA’s vertigo-inducing Mirror’s Edge all for $5 USD or less.
So go make that special gamer happy this holiday season and let us know if you’ve received some cool game-related gifts we’ve missed mentioning here.
