So you’ve bought the gamer in your life all the blockbuster winter
releases they asked for – congratulations, they’re going to be very
happy. But what else do you get for that special person who’s probably
going too spend much of the festive season sat in front of the TV
shooting at aliens?
Here are 20 video game-themed suggestions, ranging from clothing to
books. Sure, you could also buy them a bike or a kite or something to
try and coax them outside, but frankly that’s your problem – good luck
with that. In the meantime, we have cuddly toys and comics.
Namco Bandai Europe has just opened an
online merchandise store
full of mugs, hoodies, t-shirts, artwork and other goodies themed
around its games. There’s a lot of Pac-Man stuff obviously, but I like
this Tekken bag featuring the classic fighting game’s loveable Panda
character. It’s perfect for hauling your Vita or 3DS around, or doing
the weekly shop (no 5p carriers for you), and it’s made from recycled
materials, so you’re effectively saving the environment through stylish
accessorising.
OK, these are among the most expensive gaming headsets you can buy,
but the Astro A40s are used by pro gamers and feature great build
quality, superb Dolby 7.1 Digital surround sound and plenty of
customisation options to get the audio levels just right for your
requirements. If you’re looking for something cheaper, the Sennheiser PC
310, HyperX Cloud II and Creative Sound Blaster Tactic3D Alpha are all
pretty good options and will support PCs and most consoles – just make
sure you buy the right version for the machine your recipient is playing
on.
Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to spend the whole of Christmas day
wearing this enormously cute and tasteful Sonic the Hedgehog Christmas
jumper from gaming merchandise specialist
Numskull?
Available in an array for sizes and totally unisex, this high-fashion
item features the legendary hedgehog in his famous finger-wagging pose,
as if to say “no, you cannot have Christmas without Sonic”. And he is
right of course. Although, if for some reason the hedgehog doesn’t cut
it, Numskulls has a whole bunch of alternative pullovers featuring
everything from Star Wars to Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate.
Building toy manufacturer K’Nex has a whole range of
Nintendo
tie-ins including this Mario Kart set, which comes with a buildable
Mario figure and bike. You can also get Yoshi and Donkey Kong versions,
as well as karts and a Starting Line playset to race them all on –
though that might be taking things a bit far if you’re over the age of
twelve. Apparently the packaging doubles as a ramp so you can set it up
on the dining table and see if you can launch poor Mario over the
turkey.
If your loved one is a fan of racing simulations but they’re still
using a standard joypad, they are, quite frankly, doing it wrong. The
new T300RS is a force feedback steering wheel offering precise control
and a smooth, silent feedback motor. The wheel comes with two metal
pedals offering progressive resistance, so you get authentic control
over acceleration and braking. Right now, the wheel is only compatible
with the PC,
PlayStation 3 and PS4, though Thurstmaster does do other wheels for the Xbox One.
A lot of the official Minecraft merchandise is expensive and a little
disappointing, but I really like this torch, designed to resemble the
vital piece of mine lighting equipment from Mojang’s hugely successful
construction game. You won’t need a stick and a piece of coal as this
one is made from plastic, and it emits a warm orange glow making it a
perfect night light. You can even wall mount it, to keep those zombies
away. The torch is available from a variety of online stores and toy
shops.
Designed and built in the UK and endorsed by Sir Clive Sinclair, this
miniaturised version of the classic Speccy connects to your TV via USB
and A/V cables, giving you access to a thousand pre-loaded licensed
games from the 1980s. There’s also a micro SD slot so you can load up
extra titles. It’s a reasonably expensive way to rediscover classics
like Jet Set Willy and Chuckie Egg, but if you know a nostalgic veteran
gamer who goes misty-eyed at the mere mention of the phrase “Kempston
joystick interface”, this is for them
London-based label Data-Discs makes absolutely beautiful video game
soundtrack albums in conjunction with the original composers. The
Streets of Rage album takes us scorching back to the days of the Mega
Drive and is based on audio files taken from the old NEC PC-88 files. It
also comes with two lithographic prints featuring art from the game
packaging. The company is specialising on Sega right now, with further
soundtrack releases Shenmue, Shinobi III and Super Hang-On all just as
lusciously packaged. Try sticking one of these on at the family
Christmas disco.
This beautiful hardback book is a retrospective of the legendary
science fiction artist Chris Foss who has illustrated hundreds of
classic SF novels (as well as providing concept art for movies such as
Alien, Superman and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unreleased version of
Dune).
It’s not a new publication, but if there is someone in your life who’s
looking forward to next year’s space exploration game No Man’s Sky –
likely to be one of the major PlayStation 4 releases of the year – this
is the book from them. Foss was a major inspiration on developer Hello
Games and his influence can be seen in the title’s super stylised
spacecraft and richly colourful alien environments
Created by licensed giftware specialist Paladone these teeny Street
Fighter models are designed to look like the pixellated game visuals of
the Super Nintendo era. Ryu comes as 181 blocks which you (or your lucky
gaming friend) painstakingly put together to reconstruct the classic
pugilist. There are also Blanka and Ken models so you could get them all
and keep a veteran Capcom fan entertained on Christmas day. They’re
available from Amazon and a host of other digital stores.
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