With the Holidays fast approaching, many of us are scrambling to pick up the perfect gifts for family, friends, and loved ones. With all of the current advances in technology and gaming, and their fast paced ever changing nature, what should you get the avid gamer in your life? Here’s my list of the Top 5 (give or take) most popular items gamers are clamoring for this Holiday Season:
5: Call of Duty: Black Ops – This latest title in the Call of Duty series is set during the Cold War era, and sold over 5.6 Million units in the first 24 hours of its release. Gamers can expect much of what they love from previous “call of duty” titles in terms of gameplay experience and controls. It’s also got some other cool additional features, like ‘Zombie Mode’, that players have been loving since it’s release. Get a copy for the gamer in your life quickly, as this game has had a hard time staying on the shelves for long in most stores.
4: GameFly Subscription – Not sure what games to get the gamer in your life this season or simply can’t afford to give them the long list of games they desire? A Subscription to GameFly might be the answer. Like Netflix, but for gamers, you can pick the games you’d like to play, they send them to you, and when you’re finished, you send them back in the provided envelope and they send you the next game in your queue. It’s an excellent way to play many games without having to shell out the sometimes-as-high-as-$60 pricetag on some games today.
3: WoW:Cataclysm – For the online gamer in your life, (particularly the World of Warcraft fanatic), this long awaited expansion to the World of Warcraft series will be released early December. With new stories, character classes, abilities, dungeons, battlegrounds, there’s plenty of new features packed in for new and seasoned players alike.
2: Gift Cards – With the increase of online content available to gaming consoles today, gift cards are a great option for the gamer in your life. Many stores today carry Xbox 360 Point Cards, Xbox live subscriptions, Playstation Network gift cards, Wii Point cards, or iTunes App store gift cards for buying games on the iPhone. Whatever the console of choice for your gamer, or your budget, you’ve got lots of options!
1: Microsoft Kinect / Sony Move – There’s no doubt that one of the hottest, if not the hottest video game accessory this season is the Microsoft Kinect (for the Xbox 360), and the Sony Move (for the PS3). In the case of the Sony Move, it’s a new form of controller for using your body and movements to control games, much like the Wiimote for the Wii. The Microsoft Kinect on the other hand takes things up a notch, using a special camera and sensor for the Xbox, it makes your entire body the controller, without the need to hold anything in your hands. With both of these new accessories, their respective consoles have now brought wii-like experiences to players everywhere.Good luck with your holiday shopping and Happy Holidays!
This year’s E3 highlight for me came during the Xbox introduction of it’s newest geek’s wet dream, Kinect. Xbox unveiled its newest gaming console with the help of Cirque du Soleil. As guest entered the stadium, they were asked to don white jerseys with futuristic shoulder pads. I thought, “uh oh, don’t drink the kool aid”. The show utilized these jerseys which had LED lights placed in the shoulder pads to light the crowd in strategic patterns and colors. It was an interactive, visually stimulating masterpiece. The Cirque show itself was pseudo-jungle themed with animatronic elephants and people roasting giant marshmallows over faux flames. And the center of it all, a large TV screen hovering above the stadium with the quintessential Xbox family. Floating from ceiling to floor, the family demonstrated the new game offerings live with surround sound and visuals. After the show, we headed to the VIP lounge where we were invited to try Kinect. We remotelessly drove cars, danced our *sses off and downward dogged it. As a techie but non-gamer, I have to say that the Kinect offerings are so comprehensive that it appeals to everyone, so much so that I pre-ordered a Kinect which doesn’t arrive on the shelved until November 3, 2010. If you haven’t checked it out make sure you do at 
