The Co-Op Holiday Gift Guide - Technology and Gadgets

It's time once again for our annual Holiday Guides for cooperative gaming and lifestyle.  Everyday this week we'll be bringing you a small guide with some recommendations for gifts that you can give your loved ones, all in the spirit of co-op.

Everyone on the staff has undertook this grand project, and first up is a guide not just for games - but for all technology and gadgets out there.  

We all know that the LEGO games are an excellent source of family co-op goodness, but the blocks they are derived from can be just as co-op.  If you celebrate Christmas, what better way to count down the time till the holidays than with the LEGO Advent Calendar.  Each set contains enough pieces and instructions for 24 different scenes to ring in each day as you get closer to that magical morning of gifts.

Plus it's a good excuse for you to play with LEGOs.

The set is available right now on Amazon for $29.99.

It might not be co-op in the truest sense, but Laser Tag is definitely a game to enjoy with friends together.  Sets can be found relatively cheap, with prices under $50 for a set.  In fact, we found a set made by NERF for $45 on Amazon which contains two laser pistols.  Grab a few of these and it's fun for the whole family.

But if you want a more traditional co-op experience, we suggest getting the Halo 3 Plasma Pistol Laser Tag set.  The set comes with two crystal targets that you can strap onto the family dogs.  Pretend Fido and Rover are grunts, and it's time for your very own Grunt Birthday party in your backyard!  Ruh-roh!

The Halo 3 laser tag system is $89.99 on Amazon.

What better way to share the family pictures than with a home server?  These little boxes not only allow you to connect all of the family computers together, provide a centralized location for backups, and let you share content between family members; they also provide a means of streaming content to your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or even your DirecTV and Cablebox!

Most Windows Home Servers are small self sufficient boxes that are relatively inexpensive.  Certain ones, like Acer Aspire AH340 offers a small footprint, light power use and hot swappable hard drives.  This way when you fill up that drive with all of your por...family pictures and legally downloaded music - you can simply add more storage!

Like we said, the best part about all of this is you can centrally manage all your computers, keep backups, and then steam your content to any of your media center and extender capable devices.  What's more co-op than family memories?

While everyone might not be able to take pictures at the same time with this device, everyone can enjoy them together and participate.  A great way to get people into photography is to purchase an entry level Digital SLR like Nikon's D5000.  This 12.3 megapixel camera comes with an 18-55MM lens, which is perfect for landscapes to portraits.  The camera not only takes incredible still pictures, but has a movie mode for 720P HD movies of the family.

Get yourself a nice zoom lens and you'll be able to take pictures of the hot neighbor from your house without her even knowing.  I mean, take pictures of your kids soccer game and look like a super parent.  

It'll be a great way to spend time with your family as you teach your kids how to take pictures, take great family portraits, and maybe even later on...well this is family site.  We'll let your private photography sessions remain part of the "oldest form of co-op."

MSRP: $799
Amazon.com:$649

This one is the big kahuna, but it's also the most important one.  What's so co-op about an HDTV?  Simple.  It's something everyone can enjoy.  It's the gift that's not only for your family, but for you.  In fact, it's probably mostly for you - but don't tell the kids that, they need to feel special.

There's nothing better right now than LED based televisions in terms of performance, pricing, beauty and power consumption.  These bad boys are only 1.2" deep and weigh a lot less than LCD and Plasma TVs.  

We're going to recommend the Samsung 46B-8000 which sports 240Hz refresh rates, 4 HDMI Ports, an Ethernet Port, and much more.  There's nothing better this holiday than cuddling up next to the fire, family close together on the couch, and a giant 46" Television displaying some split screen Halo 3: ODST Firefight.  That my friends, is the holiday spirit.

MSRP: $2799
Amazon.com Price: $2148