Have a child or parent player that is to say, he spends a good part of his life playing video games — is often a source of conflict. Worry over screen time, tension due to their lack of social or outdoor activities, or anxiety due to stress caused by games is a common factor among mothers and fathers, not to mention girlfriends or couples. Is there anything good about living with a person player? Yes: it is very easy to give them gifts.

Although less and less, since the variety of consoles, systems and games is very wide, with multiple and specific niches. It’s not like 20 years ago, when with the last version of Super Mario everyone was happy.

For this, and based on the dozens of articles we have written on consoles and video games, we have compiled this categorized list, with the most interesting products according to their type, and which has everything and for any type of player.

It is difficult to establish which is the best console today, but we can say that for a family with young children —under 10 years old— and adults who know how to play well, there is no one who can compete with the versatility and user-friendliness of the Nintendo Changer. Its catalog of exclusive games, such as the Mario Kart 8any of the series Pokemon or the Super Smash Bros.– is ideal for intergenerational sharing, while its multifunctionality – able to be used on a TV or on the go – makes the console adaptable to almost any circumstance. Its price has also dropped and for now it has no competition.

The new generation of consoles, which includes the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series, did not generate the expected commercial impact. The worst pandemic in 100 years hampered its launches – both scheduled for the second half of 2020, at the height of covid-19 – which benefited Nintendo Switch to shore up sales. Despite this, Microsoft’s efforts to position itself have paid off and the Xbox Series S — its version Light, which does not read discs- is now a console accessible in price and powerful in features. With a subscription to Game Pass – as we will see below – it will be an excellent Christmas investment, capable of bringing back several years.

Computer gamers know this well: without Mouse specialized, playing can become more of a torture than a pleasure. A good mouse offers greater comfort but also faster responses and more precise movements, two crucial factors in any game, especially online ones. The one that achieves all of this, without costing too much, is the Razer Deathadder V2, which was featured by our expert Alejandro Alaluf a few months ago. Its design is ergonomic but not extravagant, its optical sensor is 20,000 DPI —dots per inch—, it has internal lighting, it has six multifunction buttons and it weighs only 82 grams.

The same goes for keyboards: it’s not just about having a nice, colorful keyboard, but a keyboard that’s comfortable, durable and sensitive enough to the speed at which the keys are pressed. Especially in online games League of Legends That is Valorant, very intense in the click. These keyboards also allow you to customize certain keys, in which you can summarize complex commands in a single button. The HyperX Alloy Origins Core is a model highlighted by the specialized press, which without being very expensive delivers all these attributes. Since it doesn’t have number keys, it’s more convenient to use, especially if you don’t have extra space.

The joy-cons are the pretty controls that the Nintendo Switch brings, very versatile but not necessarily comfortable if the day of play is long. For heavy gamers, it will be quite a step to receive the Nintendo Switch Pro, which looks much more like a modern video game controller. In fact, it is very similar to that of the Xbox. “Beyond that,” Alaluf told us in a recent post, “if you plan to play for several hours, your acquisition may be critical.”

The current controls are wonderful. Without the uncomfortable cables of yesteryear, which made it difficult to play while standing, sitting or lying down, nor with the expensive and polluting batteries which drained quickly, they have only one problem not yet solved: they continue to discharge. And they always do it at the most inopportune moment, in the middle of a FIFA match, in the last round of Street Fighter or just when you feel like playing. To avoid having to search for that cable that always gets lost, a great gift — and an excellent investment — is a charging station, a stand that, in addition to keeping the PlayStation 5 controls tidy, holds them with the battery always full. Long live the technology!

Sound is no longer a good accompaniment for video games and for some time now, especially for titles that are played online, it has been a crucial factor in competition and experience. A shot passed unnoticed and you are eliminated; a warning from a colleague which was ignored and they were eliminated. That’s why a pair of headphones player, which allow both to listen in detail and to be heard by others, are essential for total immersion. Not to mention the comfort, since the idea is not to end up with an ear injury. If whoever gets them has done well this year, some terrific headsets are the Logitech G935s, recommended some time ago by Sebastien Caceres , esports specialist. “They offer nice surround sound and can also work wirelessly – they have great battery life without necessarily being heavy on your head,” he told us.

For gamers in wheelchairs, who are looking for a sublime experience more than an immersive experience, what will bring them to this level will not be the native speakers of their TV but a good soundbar. Here we’ve made a comprehensive guide with its features and functionality, but a great alternative – at a reasonable price – is the JBL Cinema SB140, with 110W power, included subwoofer, HDMI connectivity and also Bluetooth.

Consoles have more and more data storage capacity, but it doesn’t seem to be enough: we always need more and more, especially now that the trend is to download games rather than have them on discs. For Nintendo Switch users, this is a problem that appears very quickly – the Lite only has 32GB and the traditional 64GB – so a microSD card that doubles this memory will be a good gift in any circumstance. The SanDisk brand is the one with the best reputation in this area.

For PlayStation, Xbox or computers, a better alternative is external hard drives, which, in addition to space, offer enormous speed and efficiency. In fact, on the PS4 and Xbox One, games can be run directly from the external drive, which goes a long way in lightening the load on the console but also making games portable. The newer consoles – the Xbox Series and the PS5 – don’t offer this advantage, but they serve to store them while they wait to be transferred to the system and put into action. Whether they are solid (or SSD, in its acronym in English) guarantee maximum speed and lower energy consumption. And a very reliable brand is Western Digital with its My Passport drives.

The future — although it is already here — of video games is online. In the gameplay, of course, but also in its access: as is the case with films and television, streaming is becoming the most lucrative trend for companies – which guarantee a fixed income month after month – and the most practical for the intensive and eager for novelties. users. Xbox Game Pass is the Microsoft system, compatible with your console and also with computers. The version Ultimate It’s the most expensive —500 pesos the first month, 7,990 the next— but it’s also the most practical: it includes EA Play —with access to many titles from this developer—, hundreds of games available for PC , Xbox, or Android Phones, new release discounts, and rewards and benefits. A paradise for all player.

Our colleague Alejandro Alaluf recently tested the PlayStation subscription system: it’s called PS Plus and it was released in September after a long delay. It has three levels of membership, the benefits of which vary depending on the price paid, but according to Alaluf, only the last one, called Luxuryis the one that is worth it: if paid annually, it costs 6,750 pesos, barely a thousand more than the intermediate version (in addition) but with many more benefits. The details can be seen in this review, but in short it’s a huge number of games available at the click of a button – including many PS1, 2 and 3 classics – plus discounts and early access to new releases.

Nintendo also has its affiliate program, which in its case is a requirement to be able to play certain titles online, such as the popular animal crossing That is Super Smash Bros.. It’s much cheaper than its competitors – the annual plan costs 17,130 pesos, 1,427 per month – and in addition to allowing online play, it provides access to over a hundred classic NES and SNES titles and offers on novelties. For a more premium subscription, there’s an expansion pack – which includes Nintendo 64 and SEGA games – but it costs 42,790 pesos per year.

*Prices for products in this item are updated as of December 15, 2022. Values ​​and availability may change.