I'm not sure I want to make this an annual tradition, but here we go . . .

2 Dec 05

I've been trying to work on a gift guide, but I have to say there's a lot of stuff out there for geeks. It's not like the old days when all you could find were pocket protectors and slide rules. I'm going to go over some games that might go over well with gamers in your life. We'll have to see if there's time for a follow up with gadgets and toys.

I'm going to break these down by categories. I'll give brief descriptions. I was going to do links, but prices keep changing, people have favorite stores and stock comes and goes so I'll just give a link and quick rundown of the site sponsors:

Best Buy -- They're nearly everywhere and offer store pick up. It's a little less hassle given how busy they tend to get over the holidays. They also have some good sales and clearance offers.

Circuit City -- I guess I could say the same things about them as Best Buy. They do offer the $24 gift card if your pick up order isn't ready in 24 minutes. Given how crazy the holiday shopping is, I imagine more than a few people will cash in on this.

Buy.com -- They're seriously going after Amazon's place at the top of internet sales. I used to shop them more for electronics, but now they have almost everything, games included. They always have a few games that are priced lower than anyone else.

Overstock.com -- You never know what they'll have in stock, but chances are the prices are going to be pretty good. They have some great gaming specials from time to time. For instance, I just saw they had Nexus on sale for $15.

EB Games and Gamestop -- They're in middle of completing their merger. There's not much difference in deals any more. They are the place to go to find current release games even if it's a niche product.

Amazon -- You can shop for almost anything on Amazon these days. They have some great deals from time to time. Mostly, they have great selection and good shipping options.

GoGamer -- They have a special place in my heart. Their 48 Hour Madness sales have crushed my resistance to impulse buying more than once. They have rare and hard to find PC games. They have some great PC clearance deals. They try to keep all their prices below retail MSRP. Their limited console selection is their down side.

Now that you have all these great places to buy, what should you get? Try not to hate me if I'm wrong, but I think these are some of the hot buys for the holidays:

Multiplatform:

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood -- I've mentioned this before, but it's one of the rare true tactical shooters coming out now. This is the sequel, but it's supposed to resolve most of the complaints of the original.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 -- It's not the deepest multiplayer online shooter, but it's just fun. The battles can be wildly chaotic and then some jedi jump into the mix.

Shattered Union -- It's turn based war game goodness. It's modern warfare across a scarred America.

Battlefield 2 -- Yes the console game isn't quite the same as the PC version, but it still laps the competition. It's modern combat online.

PC:

Civilization 4 -- It's Civilization in 3D. Just one more turn. What more needs be said (besides the fact it's in the current 48 hour madness)?

The Movies -- It's a Tycoon game and a movie studio all in one. You can focus on the management, the sims like stars and workforce or crafting your own masterpiece.

Battlefield 2: Special Forces -- You knew an expansion was coming. This time you get cool toys and night maps to play with.

Aspyr Media Combo Packs -- I have to give a special shout out to these. They're $20 each and packed with gaming goodness. I know GoGamer has them, but they can be found elsewhere as well. Basically, you get the original game and all available expansions. You can choose from The Guild, Gothic II, Spellforce and Silent Storm. That's a medieval sim, a great first person RPG, A RPG/RTS hybrid and a turn based tactical combat RPG. Spellforce is the only one with two expansions in the box.