VG247's Holiday Gift List: What we want and why
This is not a guide to what you should buy these holidays. It's not a suggestion that you should fall in with our holiday traditions. It's just an itemised account of our deep, deep greed.
December and January contain a number of dates which cultures and religions all around the world take as holidays, and more importantly for the purposes of this discussion, many of these turn a kindly blind eye to our subversion of them for commercial purposes. If you happen to have an excuse to give and receive presents, or just to treat yourself while taking advantage of a few days off, we hope you enjoy your acquisitions as much as we intend to enjoy these.
Steph Nunneley - News Editor, US
When asked what presents she'd like to receive this year, Steph didn't say a word. She just pointed, her pasted weblink filled with voracious longing, at two high-end bits of PC gaming kit: the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, and the Razer Naga Epic MMO Gaming Mouse. Steph is our resident PC gaming expert, so her recommendation of these swanky looking objects is certain to be based on a deep understanding of what all those numbers and letters mean, and not on appearances. Well, almost certain.
It's a short wishlist, to be sure - but that's because Steph has already recieved her major gift for the year.
"I will want those nice tech thingies so I can play Lord of the Rings: Online, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Star Wars: The Old Republic on my new 60 inch LED," she advised.
Although these keen bits of keyboard warrior gear are high on Steph's priorities, she has humbler goals, too. She's prodded her nearest and dearest in the hopes of landing Gears of War 3 and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and will buy a few games as gifts herself, including Saints Row: The Third.
Johnny Cullen - News Editor, UK
"I haven't asked for anything in particular, but I do have a list in case anyone passes my laptop and flickers it off standby. I have very few game-related things in my list this year. Maybe it's because I pretty much got everything I wanted in 2011, with anything else I'd like that wasn't quite a must-buy on hold until the end of the year.
"With that in mind, I've listed Sonic Generations for Xbox 360, as well as Mario Kart and Super Mario 3D Land for 3DS. I also have listed an artbook entitled the Official Design Works of Persona 4. As a big fan of Persona 4 on PS2, I'd gawp at art of Chie for the rest of my days. It would be a cool gift, especially considering that next year is pretty much the year of Persona 4 with the release of the revamp on Vita and the fighter on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
"But the big gaming gift is coming the week after Christmas: my birthday. I've planned to get myself a gaming PC that I intend to hook up to my TV. I've already paid out a few quid for its first three games: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Games for Windows Live, Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. While I already have the former two on console, The Old Republic will represent my first foray into an MMO."
Brenna Hillier - News Editor, Australia
"Like Johnny, I acquired most of the games I wanted this year already, and as I'm spending the holidays lazing on the beach (sucks to be you, northern hemisphere) I didn't ask for any games. I asked for a ukulele.
"However, upon my return in January I'm expecting to receive a shiny new Bravia telly. I haven't had one for a long time, and although my monitor is a great display, it's not very good for sharing the experience. With a nice big screen in the lounge, my other half and I can get back to gaming together - whether it's co-oping Dynasty Warriors 7, melting faces in Rock Band 3, or sharing the experience of a single-player epic like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.
"That almost sounds selfless, doesn't it? Did I mention I'm getting a Vita for my birthday?"
Patrick Garratt - Editor
"I'd like to find a suitable game for the entire VG247 staff to play online. This isn't as easy as it sounds. We rarely all own the same game, and when we do there's always a console format problem in that someone will have it on Xbox 360 and someone else will own the PlayStation 3 version. We could just play an MMO, you'd think; unfortunately, Johnny has a MacBook which basically can't play anything, as far as I'm aware, and even if it could it's still a nightmare to find an MMO that allows people in the US, Europe and Australia to play together. Steph's a big Lord of the Rings Online player, but we can't play on the same servers. I'd suggest EVE Online and its single server, but there's no way Johnny's laptop would cope. Even if it could, I've been there before and I'm not sure I'm masochistic enough to go back.
"And that's the other problem. Even if we do find something we can all play, there's the question of whether or not we all actually want to play it. Are we looking for action, strategy, MMO or something else entirely? We all have different tastes. Is there a continent-breaching, preference-straddling online console game in the world? Does it exist? Knowing would be a great Christmas present. It's driving me batty."
Now you truly know the depths of our greed. Do you have any solutions for Pat? Have you own wish lists? Let's kick the holidays off, troops.