People tend to think of gaming as an inherently antisocial activity, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
These days, it feels like almost everybody games in some form, whether that’s playing a few levels of Candy Crush on the way into work or having some communal fun on Mario Kart during the holidays.
Or, of course, there are the truly hardcore devotees among us, who sink hours of their time into their online multiplayers every night — and have the high-end gadgets to prove it.
For people on the outside, knowing what to get the gamer in your life for Christmas might seem impenetrable. But in reality, it doesn’t have to be tricky.
In fact, there’s a wealth of stuff out there to suit people of all ages and playstyles. For the casual gamers, Nintendo launched the Switch 2 (to much fanfare) earlier this year, and has been busy pumping out new games (both single and multiplayer) for people to enjoy. On the other side of the spectrum, so did Asus: its new Xbox-integrated portable gaming PC, the ROG Ally, came out a few months ago and boasts a staggering 1TB of storage as well as a top-notch processing chip.
There’s also a whole year’s worth of new games to peruse. Does the person in your life love loud, brash and colourful games? Well, then Donkey Kong Bananza might be the perfect option. Or are they a fan of all things shooter? Well, maybe the new Call of Duty might appeal. If they get through games on warp speed, then it might even be a good idea to invest in an Xbox Game Pass, opening up a whole world of titles for the price of just £6.99 a month.
Accessories, too, are a great place to start. For people in search of a little novelty, Turtle Beach and Xbox offer some truly excellent custom controllers in a range of colours (some of which are, excitingly, both see-through and light up) – and the brand new Razer BlackWidow keyboard offers a combination of excellent design (yes, there are pretty lights) with high-end specs.
Whatever you’re planning, this is a good place to get started.
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Xbox Game Pass
Simple, elegant, effective: if you’re going to gift somebody a gaming present, why not get them the ultimate present of a year’s gaming subscription?
Xbox Game Pass is very good value for money: for £6.99 a month, you (or your giftee) gets access to a massive back catalogue of games spanning from RPGs to shooters. Increasingly, titles like Call of Duty are available on the platform from day one — and given that these games cost £70 new, that’s a bargain.
Buy them a monthly subscription, or push the boat out, and get them a year.
Buy now £6.99, Xbox
Corsair HS55 Stereo
In the market for a good mid-range gaming headset? You’ve come to the right place. Corsair’s HS55 is phenomenally good value for its price, with a flip-up mic arm and a light, comfortable design. Its standout feature, though, is its excellent microphone, which will pick up the user’s voice with crystal clarity, where most other headsets at this range will struggle. An excellent choice for somebody who uses Discord, or loves a bit of online multiplayer gaming.
Buy now £55.79, Amazon
Turtle Beach Custom Controllers
What do you get the person who has everything? Why, a customised controller, of course!
There are a few different options to explore here: Xbox has its own customisable site, or if you fancy something a bit more out there, Turtle Beach has a large and flashy collection of controllers that are compatible with Xbox and Nintendo.
They start from £24.99 and boast designs like ‘cotton candy’, ‘Mario’ and the see-through, light-up ‘afterglow’. Lovely.
Buy now £24.99, Turtle Beach
Razer BlackWidow V4 75% keyboard
This bit of kit will transform the life of the PC gamer in your life — and no, that’s not an exaggeration.
This is Razer’s first hot-swappable keyboard (which lets users swap out certain keys depending on their playstyle) and comes with a whole host of features designed to make gaming easier than ever. There’s a built-in Game Mode function, support for live streaming, an attachable wrist rest and extra customisation through Razer’s Synapse software.
Plus, just look at how pretty those lights are.
Buy now £186.91, Amazon
Split Fiction
There are so tragically few good local co-ops on the market, but fortunately Split Fiction launched earlier this year. The brainchild of Swedish studio Hazelight, Split Fiction puts players in the shoes of Zoe and Mio, two aspiring authors caught in a science experiment gone wrong. Soon enough, they’re caught in a VR simulation of their own stories, and have to work together to find their way out.
Grab a controller or two and play with friends, family and loved ones: the controls are easy to pick up, and it’s a solid 15 hours of absolute joy.
Buy now £28.98, Amazon
Belkin Nintendo Switch 2 charging case
It’s every gamer’s worst nightmare: you’re in the middle of a journey and the Switch 2 suddenly runs out of battery. What to do?
Fortunately, Belkin has nobly stepped into the breach to fill this particular hole in the market. While Nintendo do have official Switch 2 cases, Belkin’s take on it includes a power bank, a pocket to fit an AirTag and an LCD screen that displays the console’s charge status.
It comes in three colours (black, green or grey), and there’s even room to fit in all those lovely little cartridges.
Buy now £49.99, Amazon
Bose SoundLink Micro Speakers
Good for gaming on the go — or indeed at home. This tiny speaker, from music maestros Bose, is Bluetooth and USB-C compatible and still packs a mighty punch from its speakers.
Plus, the battery life is valid for up to 12 hours: basically, if you want to add a bit of va-va-voom to your Switch 2 or mobile gaming experience, you can’t do any better.
Buy now £119.00, Amazon
Asus ROG Xbox Ally X
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Yes, it’s a splurge; on the plus side, you really are getting a lot of bang for your buck.
The latest portable gaming PC from Asus is unusual because it’s been designed to play both PC and Xbox games – basically, giving you access to a world of content at the tips of your fingers.
It runs AAA games like butter on its Windows 11 OS, has a decent battery life (around eight hours) and boasts an impressive amount of storage. Opt for the Ally for a budget option, but we’d recommend the Ally X for its stupendous 1TB SSD and 24GB RAM.
Buy now £719.97, Currys
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Nothing says Christmas like screaming at the TV screen as your teammate spectacularly fails to win a minigame.
Such are the joys awaiting you with Super Mario Party Jamboree, which has just come out for the Switch 2 and boasts a metric tonne (110, if you want to get technical) of minigames for the whole family to enjoy.
Play Shell Hockey, Bob-Omb Makeover or Domino Effect (all new options), or sit back with some of the classic faves. The choice is yours.
Buy now £52.95, John Lewis
Samsung T7 Shield storage
It might not sound sexy, but hear me out: this is the ultimate present for people who are serious about their AAA games.
A game is a chunky affair — all those gigabytes to download — and console storage, while impressive, certainly can’t hold more than five without starting to break a sweat.
This high-end unit will at least double a console’s storage space with its 1TB storage space, which means you don’t have to go through the heartache of deleting a game only to redownload it later.
Plus, its hardwearing exterior means all that data will be kept nice and safe.
Buy now £99.98, Amazon
