Thinking about expanding beyond the limits of traditional video games on your console or PC? Virtual reality headsets are finally moving into the mainstream, thanks to falling prices as well as an increased availability of games & apps. Check out some of our favorite VR headsets available during the holiday season.

Be aware that sale son these devices typically pop up during Black Friday sales. In addition, some companies will bundle packages of games together with discounts up to 50 percent off.

Best Wire-Free Experience: Oculus Quest 2

Hands down, the Oculus Quest 2 is one of the best VR experiences to introduce new users to the entertainment value of virtual reality games. Available in two storage size options (128GB and 256GB), the Quest 2 is an all-in-one virtual reality headset that doesn’t require PC connectivity. It comes with two touch controllers (powered by AA batteries), a spacer in case you have glasses and offers 1,832 by 1,920 resolution (per eye).

Battery life is a bit short, at 2.5 hours. However, an hour of playtime is probably the average length of time before the headset gets to heavy to wear. There are a number of accessories you can add to your Quest 2 to make it more comfortable to wear, in addition to extending the battery life by several hours.

During Black Friday 2020, a couple of the Oculus headsets were discounted between $20 to $50 and a few discounted game bundles hit the Oculus store. Look for similar discounts this year.

Check Price on Amazon

Best VR for Console Gamers: PlayStation VR

Ideal for anyone that already owns a PS4 or PS5, the PSVR system has a large catalog of games and one of the highest refresh rates at 120 Hz. Downsides include one of the lowest resolution headsets on this list, 960 by 1,080 resolution (per eye) and a limited userbase for multiplayer games.

Games can be somewhat expensive, but sales occur significantly more often than games on the Oculus store. Some players have mentioned issues with motion controller tracking and issues sealing out light.

On the flip side, this is one of the least expensive VR headsets and often comes bundled with games. During Black Friday 2020, many bundles were discounted as low as $199. In addition, Sony is offering 3 free VR games with a PlayStation Plus subscription.

Check Price on Amazon

Best VR for PC Gamers: Valve Index

While tethered to a PC, the Valve Index offers one of the best visual experiences due to a 120Hz refresh rate (and a 144Hz experimental mode). The Valve Index also offers some of the most comfortable to wear headsets and is compatible with some lower-tier graphics cards.

The Rift S offers 1,440 by 1,600 resolution (per eye) as well as 37.5mm off-ear speakers. Look for sales on the Valve Index  around Black Friday, but it will still be expensive compared to an Oculus headset.

It’s also the only headset with access to Half-Life Alex, one of the most impressive VR games on any platform.

Check Price on Amazon

Best Headphones for VR: Logitech G333 VR Gaming Earphones

If you are looking for a good set of earbuds for your VR headset, the Logitech G333 are ideal for a few reasons. The short cable length keeps the cable away from your arms when swinging the controllers. It also comes with three options for silicone tips and and and aluminum housing.

Check Price on Amazon

2021 Gift Guide: Best VR Gear for Escaping into Virtual Reality

After Microsoft released pricing on the upcoming Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S last week, Sony has responded today with the launch price of both the digital-only PlayStation 5 as well as the model with a disc drive. The base model without a disc drive will be released on November 12 for $399 and the disc model will sell on the same day for $499.

Sony has been tight-lipped on any other differences between the two models. Considering how inexpensive a disc drive is, it’s possible that the digital model comes with less storage space than the $499 model.

Sony announce that the new consoles will be available for preorder at select major retailers on September 17. In addition, Sony is attempting to keep some of the preorders in-house, offering one PS5 preorder per PSN ID on the PlayStation site.

Besides the consoles, Sony will be selling a DualSense charging station for the controllers, a HD camera, a Pluse 3D wireless headset and a media remote with buttons for direct access to popular streaming services like Netflix.

Last week, Microsoft announced two next generation models, the $299 Xbox Series S and the $499 Xbox Series X. Both of those consoles are expected to launch on November 10, 2020. In addition, Microsoft and major retailers will start taking preorders for both consoles on September 22.

Sony announces PS5 price & launch date and preorder date for the digital-only and disc model

Sony’s PS+ subscription service is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month, and, frankly, it’s kind of a big deal for any company in the video game industry to continue doing the same thing for a decade. This is a cause for celebration that should, in theory, drive Sony to dig up some of the best of the best in free game downloads for the month: a way of celebrating the service’s past and showing off with where they’re at now. There’s an effort here that’s built around anniversaries of highly popular franchises, but one can’t help but still feel short-changed by the pair of selections for this particular “celebration”. Despite both being AAA-caliber titles, one’s a middle sequel that’s been around for several years now and the other’s a sports franchise entry that earned ire for its loot box issues.  Let’s take a look, but before we do, don’t forget to Grab a One Year PlayStation Plus Subscription Card at Amazon.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Even though the franchise has spread out to other consoles over the years, you don’t get much more “PlayStation” than Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise. It took the reboot a little time to finally arrive on Sony’s platform due to exclusivity deals, but once it did, PS4 players could enjoy the Definitive Edition out of the gate with all the bells-‘n-whistles. This reboot of the franchise transformed Lara Croft into a more realistic, flawed, down-to-earth heroine whose talents with survival and spelunking narrowly get her through challenges, unlike the guns-blazin’ superhero from the early PS days. Shortly after the successful initial release of this overhauled Tomb Raider, with a similar exclusive release window, this sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider arrived on the scene to celebrate the character’s 20^th anniversary on the small screen, and it does so by refining every aspect of the game into a tighter, more exhilarating and fully-formed experience for Lara Croft and her journeys into perilous landscapes.

NBA 2K20

The first release of the NBA 2K series arrived on the Dreamcast in 1999, and it hasn’t missed a beat in releasing a game every year since then. 2K20 stands as the product of two decades of persistent, annual refinement of 2K’s approach to the NBA, evolving across consoles into the standard bearer of the basketball subgenre … even above EA’s NBA Live series that dominated for so long. Therefore, it seems odd that 2K Sports would elect to go down a controversial path in celebration of their 20^th anniversary. While the core NBA 2K20 game itself remains of predictably high quality, both the polished basketball games themselves and the assortment of game modes and legacy features, 2K20 introduces some loot box ideas that come under fire for being too close to digital “gambling” for its own good. Some of those mechanics get involved with real money microtransactions, while others are just quirky elements of game selection activities. Regardless of being a fine basketball game, NBA 2K20 took its eyes off the ball.

PS+ Celebrates 10 Years With Adequate AAA Titles for July

This is the kind of month that Sony has needed for their PS+ subscription service for a long, long time now. While they’ve been playful with their pairings of games being offered since they discontinued freebies for legacy consoles – usually one solid, recognizable PS4 title and another lesser-known or niche one – they’ve yet to deliver a slate of free games that might really impress its subscribers.  They’re really doing so with the franchise types on offer this month, but they’ve also been smart in selecting what gaming styles that they encompass: experiences that can be enjoyed either for their campaign or, more importantly, for their ability to be played online with others as they choose to stay indoors.  These aren’t phoned-in selections of AAA titles; these are smart, satisfying decisions that show off the kind of amenities that’ll draw in new subscribers.  Let’s go over them.

Click Here to Grab a 1-Year PlayStation Plus Subscription at Amazon

PS4

Star Wars Battlefront II

Now, that doesn’t mean that these games selected aren’t without polarizing opinions or controversy, as is the case with Battlefront II, EA’s reboot sequel of the popular Star Wars battle simulator. Most in the gaming community have at least a vague grasp on the pay-to-play issues that have arisen Battlefront II, where popular playable characters had been gated behind grind-style progression or random loot-box purchases. For the most part, the microtransaction situation has been ironed out by removal of paywalls, and the game has undergone extensive updates – and damage control — since its release and subsequent backlash.  From all that, Battlefront II has now emerged with a robust community, a wealth of accessible content, and of course a polished and exhilarating sci-fi combat simulator that makes the most of the concept behind playing on either side of the big conflicts in the Star Wars universe. The campaign is regarded as reasonably engaging, but multiplayer’s where it’s at, with numerous modes and bountiful configurations for the dedicated.

Call of Duty: WWII

One of the running criticisms of the much-loved Call of Duty FPS franchise lies in how the series has continued to move closer and closer to science-fiction in its weaponry and tactics, which inherently decreases the realism while increasing the intensity. Well, Activision and developer Sledgehammer Games elected to answer that criticism by returning to the series’ roots with WWII, which drops modern shooter gameplay philosophies into the more restrictive historical context of World War II. The campaign even takes things a few steps further by removing health regeneration and requiring first aid kits for life, along with other gameplay nuts-‘n-bolts designed to ground the atmosphere in genuine wartime tension.  But, again, it’s the multiplayer that fuels enthusiasm for WWII, which has been carefully tailored so that players won’t be saddled with playing as Nazi extremists when they’re assigned to either Allied or Axis sides, and galvanized by a “division” class system that deepens the authenticity.   Then, there’s the option to take on hordes of zombies … but that’s another story.

June’s PS+ Pair of Free Games Are Out of This World

Are you getting frustrated at having to stay at home all the time due to coronavirus? Are you trying to cut back on your spending this month? We can help on both of those fronts. Here’s all the free trials being offered this month for streaming movies, TV shows, and music as well as video game streaming services and book subscription services.

Remember, as long as you cancel before the end date, you won’t spend a dime. Check out the full list below.

Streaming Video

Apple TV+: 7-day trial, $5-a-month after

• Access to Apple original programming like The Morning Show, Ghostwriter, Defending Jacob and the Beastie Boys Story.  (If you recently bought an Apple device, you should get a year of Apple TV+ for free.)

CBS All-Access: 1-month trial, $6 to $10-a-month after

• Access to CBS original shows like Picard, Star Trek Discovery and The Good Fight. Includes access to 10,000 episodes of CBS shows, live sports broadcasts and 24/7 news.

DC Universe: 7-day trial, $8-a-month after

• Access to DC live-action shows like Doom Patrol & Swamp Thing as well as animated shows like Young Justice and Harley Quinn.

Disney+: 7-day trial, $7-a-month after

• Access to Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars & Nat Geo content. Combo subscription option to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for $13-a-month.

HBO Now: 7-day trial, $15-a-month after

• Access to tons of original shows as well as recently released movies. This trial can also be found within Amazon, Hulu, the Roku store, DirectTV Now and AT&T Watch TV.

Hulu: 30-day trial, $6 to $12-a-month after

• Access to tons of original shows as well as new episodes from major networks the following day.

Netflix: 30-day trial, $9 to $16-a-month after

• Access to tons of original movies / TV Shows as well as documentaries, true crime, & comedy specials.

Prime Video: 30-day trial, $10 to $13-a-month after

• Access to tons of original shows and movies. Included in Amazon Prime subscription.

Quibi: 90-day trial, $5 to $8-a-month after

• Only works on mobile devices, Original content, episodes are 10-minutes or less.

Sundance Now: 7-day trial, $5 to $7-a-month after

• Access to true crime series, original dramas and thrillers.

YouTube Premium: 1-month trial, $12-a-month after

• Offers access to original programming as well as advertisement free YouTube videos, offline viewing, background play and access to YouTube Music

Streaming Music

Amazon Music Unlimited: 3-month trial, $8-a-month after.

• 60 million song library, unlimited skips, ad free.

Amazon Music HD: 30-day trial, $13-a-month after

• 60 million songs, double the bitrate of other services, millions of songs in 10x the standard bitrate.

Apple Music: 90-day trial, $10-a-month after

• Offers access to 60 million songs, advertisement free, accessible on iOS and Android devices. Also includes local radio stations & offline listening.

Pandora Premium: 60-day trial, $10-a-month after

• 30+ million songs, ad-supported option also available for free.

Spotify Premium: 30-day-trial, $10-a-month after

• 50 million songs, ad-supported option also available for free.

YouTube Music: 30-day trial, $10-a-month after

• Listen to music on YouTube without advertisements, offline or with your smartphone screen off.

Video Games

Google Stadia Pro (PC): 2 free months, $10 a month after

• The free trial offers access to 9 games: Destiny 2, Grid, Gylt, Steamworld Dig 2, Steamworld Quest, Serious Sam, Spitlings, Stacks on Stacks and Thumper.

GeForce Now (PC): 90 day trial, $5-a-month after

• You can also get completely free access, but it’s limited to a single hour of playtime. The 90-day trial offer priority access, extended session length and RTX functionality.
• Ubisoft recently added their library of games to the service, like the Assassin’s Creed series and the Far Cry series.

PlayStation Now (PS4): 7-day trial, $5 to $10-a-month after

• Includes over 300 PS4 games as well as 500 PS3 and PS2 games.

Books / AudioBooks

Audible: 30-day trial, $15-a-month after

• Your choice of 1 audiobook + Audible originals. In addition, check out the free books for kids (like the Harry Potter books)

Kindle Unlimited: 2-month trial, new accounts only, $10-a-month after

• Offers access to over a million eBooks and thousands of audiobooks. Requires a Kindle (or the Kindle Cloud reader in a web browser).

Scribd: 30-day trial, $10-a-month after

• Includes access to books, magazines, audiobooks and documents. There’s also a NYT bundle, if you want to subscribe to the service and the newspaper.

Getting Bored? Here’s every free trial on entertainment available during April 2020

In a way, when it comes to video game output, years like 2019 are the ones I prefer. Instead of there being a small cluster of big standout video game releases whose dominant presence drown out almost anything else to come out during that period, we’ve had a wide array of very solid, satisfying games that both tap into nostalgia and blaze new trails in the format. Shooter fans have new installments in popular franchises to scratch that itch; survival horror devotees have a unique variety to choose from; and there’s a new game from RP gamemaster Obsidian. Perhaps there are fewer near-flawless, masterwork caliber releases so far, but there’s quality in volume here, and certainly worth indulging in over the holidays both for oneself and to give to others.

Below, we’ve gathered together over a dozen of the assorted titles that have impressed across this year and will likely impress once their release rolls around. Be sure to head over to Bens’s Bargains Hardware Guide to figure out which of the below games have been paired with consoles in easy-to-wrap bundles.

Gifts for the Wasteland Wanderers

Those who get wrapped up in traversing the expanses of futuristic frontiers rife with lots of loot will have a pair of titles, each different in their own ways, that are guaranteed to capture their attention.

Gifts for Those Into Something Different

At times, it’s a little difficult to find truly distinctive games among the heavy hitter AAA titles. Whether it’s the style and tone of storytelling or the adventurousness of gameplay mechanic ideas, the pair of games below deserve to be celebrated for the risks they take for the sake of inventiveness.

Gifts for The Sharpshooters

“Gradually, I drifted off to sleep, pringing ducks on the wing and getting off spectacular hip shots.”

Here are those must-buy games for the adult Ralphie in your life.

Gifts for the Horror Fiend

Not everybody’s into the joyful spirit of the holiday season; also, plenty of people who love the holiday season’s delight also appreciate just as many scares in their lives.  Here’s a couple of treats to offer those who like a few goosebumps and screams amid the merriment.

Gifts for the Exclusive Hunter

Arguments still ensue every year over which system has the best exclusive titles, but I’d like to think that the discussion has changed a bit from bickering to more civilized decision-making processes. The titles below might be worthy enough of a heated discussion, though.

Gifts for [E]verybody

Don’t be scared to give these to the horror aficionado in your life as a holiday gift, as they both capture distinct and absorbing types of atmosphere that they’re sure to love.  Granted, these might be the games that they’ll shelve until a later period outside the joys of the season, but when the mood strikes, they’ll be glad you thought of their fear factor.

… And Finally, A Gift For Those Who Like Galaxies Far, Far Away

There’s a whole lot overlap between gamers covered in this gift guide that would love to see a Star Wars game done absolutely right.  It’s been a while since that’s happened, as the Knights of the Old Republic games were released on the OG Xbox roughly a decade ago: BioWare’s The Old Republic MMO vacillates in quality year after year; The Force Unleashed series was a fine but fleeting action diversion; and we all know how EA has taken serious heat for the Battlefront series over the past couple of years. In ways, the LEGO Star Wars games are the most safely enjoyable out of ‘em all, and I’m sure folks at LucasFilm, at EA, and all over would like to lift up that reputation. Will this one do it? Possible, it may be.

2019 Gift Guide: Best Video Games For the Holiday Season

Whether it was intentional or not, Sony hit the pedal to the metal with their PS+ games last month, leading one to believe that they just might be on the upswing with their free subscriber games. Matching up with what was offered previously isn’t easy – Detroit: Become Human is considered a technological marvel and a novel, exclusive cinematic experience — and that shows with the reputable, yet less-satisfying twosome on offer for August.  One’s a remastered collection of futuristic racing titles that go together with PlayStation’s legacy, while the other’s a tactical shooter with its own early roots in the PlayStation 2 era. Both games have the soul of the Sony brand in ‘em, but they’re not the same caliber of heavy hitters that’d continue to elevate the reputation of PS+, instead merely sustaining it for the time being.  Let’s set our sights on the pair of games.

Click Here to Grab a 1-Year PlayStation Plus Subscription at Amazon

PS4

Wipeout HD Omega Collection

Oftentimes, when looking back at games in previous generations that you remember having a real “Wow!” factor in terms of graphics, many of them simply don’t hold up. The ones that seem most forgiving in this area are the geometric racing games that move briskly through 3D landscapes, and one of the biggies in this realm is Wipeout, a launch titles for PlayStations at the time. That reputation has led to a stunted but consistent legacy, eventually zooming toward the Wipeout HD reboot — and something of a vague partial remake, since it also integrated content from other entries — about a decade ago and another title, 2048, released 4 years after that.  This Omega Collection bundles together the past two games, along with the Wipeout HD Fury expansion, and naturally has been remastered for the current consoles. Yes, the new visual presentation and speed put the originals to shame, but there’s something about the fluidity, the momentum, and the 3D space established here that still distinctly reminds one of the original.

Sniper Elite 4

First-person shooting enthusiasts can tell the difference between a game where using a sniper rifle is merely an option, and a game where utilizing stealth and sniping are the intended course of action. While other shooters offer plenty of opportunities to hit shots from a distance and complete missions in a more methodical fashion, the Sniper Elite series operates around that as the core purpose of its maps, artillery, and controls, building into a true sharpshooter experience.  Taking place shortly after the third installment in the series during 1943, Sniper Elite 4 has been received as something of a mixed bag. Positive impressions have been centered on the size of the maps and the freedom allotted with a more open-world aspect to the game, while criticisms have been lobbed at the campaign and the same-old, same-old feel of nailing shots from a distance and watching how the brutal “killcam” emphasizes exactly what the bullet’s doing inside Nazi enemies.

PS+ Free Titles For August All About Precision, Legacy

There isn’t much hesitation in saying this about Sony’s PS+ free downloads for the month of June: this marks the first truly decent slate since their decision to reduce the number of titles per month.  Granted, there still isn’t anything to generate an extreme amount of excitement, as we’ve got a compilation of remastered favorites from one franchise and a throwback revival of a classic platformer in another.  With that said, the all-around quality and value this time around is leaps and bounds above previous months, delivering on titles that’ll trigger interest among gamers out there. Yes, it might be slightly … safe to tap into fond memories of past games to rejuvenate some feelings about the benefits for the subscription service, but it’s a good start that’ll hopefully fire up the momentum.  Let’s take a look.

Click Here to Grab a 1-Year PlayStation Plus Subscription at Amazon

2K

PS4

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection

Making this remastered collection of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel a freebie title couldn’t have come at a better time, as Borderlands 3 was announced at PAX East just a few months ago, with a release date of September 13.  Those who haven’t played through these installments in the franchise — or any of ‘em — will have a blast discovering what the loot-based post-apocalyptic shooter is all about, relishing the cel-shaded graphics in both that have been remastered at 60p and can run at 4K with a quick patch update.  Those who’ve only banged through the Game of the Year edition of the first Borderlands will, of course, appreciate the availability to jump into the next ones.  And then, there are those who know and love everything that Borderlands 2 did to improve upon the solid foundation of the first game, who will jump at the chance to go nutballs throughout the wastes again.

SEGA

Sonic Mania

While the quirky, small-eyed and furry-legged redesign of Sonic the Hedgehog for his motion-picture debut might be the most recent instance of controversy around the blue speedster, it’s far, faaaaar from the first time, as the SEGA Genesis darling has struggled to find his footing on any of the most recent current-gen consoles. Whether it’s the weight of the physics, the graphical presentation, the precision of controls or … the color of Sonic’s arms, he’s hit numerous stumbles in adapting to the current climate that have made it tough to get excited about his return.  To cleanse the palate and get things back on track, SEGA released a healthy dose of nostalgia with Sonic Mania, a new release that mashes up “remixed” old-school levels with new creations in an incredibly stringent replication of the 16-bit aesthetic.  Turns out, sometimes the best answer is to return to one’s roots instead of trying too hard to innovate, because Sonic Mania had the best critical and player reception of any of the franchise’s titles released in over a decade and a half. As evidenced by the fan response to countless forms of Sonic media in recent memory, that’s no small feat.

Sony’s Handsome PS+ Titles For June Are a Big Dash Forward

Well, we’re in the second month of Sony’s revamped, streamlined PS+ paradigm of only offering current-gen freebies to its subscribers, and one would think that they would be trying really, really hard to make this shift in value seem worthwhile with the titles being chosen. Perhaps the new PS+ would pack enough value in those PS4 goodies to counteract the subtractions, or perhaps it would make things even more desirable to non-subscribers as a way of drawing in new members to offset the drop-offs. Unfortunately, March didn’t get things off to a great start, and April … well, it doesn’t improve matters.    Charging in with a mixed-reviewed fantasy survival game and an ever-so-slightly better received sci-fi RPG, there’s a lot of swings and misses in this second round of post-decision PS+ titles, and that’s bound to leave subscribers frustrated as they wander through these games and await next month’s slate.

Click Here to Grab a 1-Year PlayStation Plus Subscription at Amazon

Funcom

Conan Exiles

Released over a decade ago, the original Conan videogame built a niche cult status for being an underrated hack-‘n-slash adventure within the titular character’s universe, centered on slinging swords and saving scantily-clad damsels in distress.  Many years passed without a follow-up, and finally Funcom decided to step in with Exiles, which veers away from the straightforward action premises of the original and into the realm of survival in a prehistoric era. The player controls a customizable exile that wanders a harsh fantasy landscape, capturing an attitude similar to Far Cry Primal as they explore the area, gather supplies, and of course hunt prey or kill enemies. An attractive game with versatility that continues to fill the open-world void left by the absence of Elder Scrolls games, Conan Exiles was unfortunately saddled with controversy upon its release: due to ESRB restrictions, the US version was censored so that little of the nudity – and none of the gratuitous elements found in other region releases, notably the toggled size of the player-character’s, uh, body parts – could be seen.

Deck 13

The Surge

The tide has shifted over the years in the type of game that studios have been borrowing from for the open-world genre: while there will always be plenty of Bethesda copycats, others have been chasing the dangerous challenge of exploration found in the Dark Souls series, such as Deck 13’s Lords of the Fallen. Their follow-up, The Surge, aims to do so within the spectrum of a not-so-distant futuristic environment plagued by dwindling resources and humans being replaced by robots to do work, in which the lead character Warren receives extensive technological upgrades to his body in order to take on more challenging work for a research project. When the facility essentially blows up, Warren uses these upgrades to combat enemies, work his way through hostile areas, and learn more about what happened with both the facility and his assigned project. Bountiful upgrades couple with a brutal combat system that encourages removing opponents’ limbs for additions to Warren’s inventory, though both critics and players have cited the game’s cheap difficulty spikes and drab, mazy environments as reasons it lacks the surge of energy needed to keep going.

April’s PS+ Titles More Likely to Exile Subscribers Than Surge New Ones

In a year of anxiety and uncertainty around nearly every corner, it’s almost comforting to see so many staples of the video game realm distracting folks from what’s going on in the real world.  One might lament the absence of popularity toward new properties, but the ability to get immersed in the long-awaited return to a western environment from Rockstar, a historically dazzling presentation of ancient Greece from Ubisoft, and a gritty yet mesmerizing rendering pf Norse mythology from Santa Monica Studio are all quite welcome. The industry seemed intent on delivering what one could consider the “comfort food” of video games pretty much all year long, continuing into the final months with new sequels from other beloved franchises.

Below, we’ve gathered together over a dozen of the assorted titles that have impressed across this year and will likely impress once their release rolls around, if prior installments are any indication of what’s to come.  From open-world immersion and player-versus-player battling to the constraints of platform games from years back, there’s a lot to relish in the year’s releases.  Be sure to head over to Bens’s Bargains Hardware Guide to figure out which of the below games have been paired with consoles in easy-to-wrap bundles.

Gifts for the Sandbox Wanderer

For those that need to get absorbed in a lengthy departure from the real world that grants tons of freedom, these games leave the modern era and explore open-world locations in The Wild West, even further back to ancient Greece, and a post-apocalyptic version of West Virginia.

Gifts for the Old-School Brawlers

The experience in staying up late at night brawling against friends has a long pedigree that stretches back many console generations, nearly 25 years of ‘em.  Since, with the prominence of the internet, a lot of things have changed in terms of how players can combat against each other whenever they want, yet those marathon sessions amid a party atmosphere are still some of the best times gamers can have with one another. Two of the genre’s most prominent couch combat franchises are enjoying new releases this year, one of which is just about guaranteed to be a smash hit at gatherings.

Gifts for Those on a Quest for Sequels

Developers aren’t oblivious: they know that sequels cannot rely too heavily on the storytelling of past games, so that newcomers can jump right in and enjoy what’s happening without necessary backstory. That means each sequel ends up being an opportunity to improve on what works and fix what doesn’t, both in terms of storytelling and gameplay components.  One of the below games proves to be the embodiment of refinement, while the other promises to be yet another coexistent part of its world’s lore as its first new entry into the current slate of consoles.

Gifts for the Exclusive Hunter

Few things for gamers are quite as satisfying as console exclusivity for a title released on their “chosen” system, especially when it’s really, really good.  Not just high enough in quality that it’d be nice to play that game if someone were to ever pick up one of those specific consoles, but such a talk-of-the-town release that excels so much in what it sets out to do that others are drawn to that specific console.   There’s a bit of both this year, but the one where a popular superhero swings around a recreation of New York ends up being a tried-and-true system seller.

Gifts for [E]veryone

While previous versions of this column in the gift guide mostly center on the fact that these are rated E for Everyone, both games in this section have a second meaning.  Yes, both are, of course, rated E; however, they’re also representations of legendary platform characters, and the warm feelings involved with playing these games and familiar characters will speak to both newcomers and those who gamed in the ‘90s, a 2-decade spread.

Gifts for Those Not So Easily Spooked

Don’t be scared to give these to the horror aficionado in your life as a holiday gift, as they both capture distinct and absorbing types of atmosphere that they’re sure to love.  Granted, these might be the games that they’ll shelve until a later period outside the joys of the season, but when the mood strikes, they’ll be glad you thought of their fear factor.

2018 Gift Guide: Best Video Games of the Holiday Season