Ah the holidays. A time for laughter, love, and family. And if you're like me, it's a time for trying to avoid all that crap and hide in your office to play StarCraft 2. Also, if you're like me, you'll probably want to say BAH HUMBUG to all that wishy-washy crap and just blow the money on yourself. So instead of giving you a guide on what to buy your friends and relatives for the holidays - I'm going to tell you how to blow a ton of cashola on yourself with plenty of goodies for your PC Gaming experience.
My own kind of Christmas Lights...
Screw those twinkly strands of white lights. Standing on a ladder in the freezing cold trying to attach the damn things to the gutter only to see one bulb has blown the whole strand out. My "Christmas lights" are in my lap, on the shiny new Razer Lycosa Mirror Special Edition keyboard.
This sleek looking item features backlit keys in three configurations, including just the WASD keys for easy first person shooting. Touch sensitive buttons control media functions and a built in USB hub provides easy access to thumbstick drives and other devices. My favorite feature though? Headphone and microphone jacks so I don't have to hear all the friggin Christmas carols.
Price: About $70
I don't want no stinkin' instructions...
There's nothing I hate worse than trying to put little Johnny's new Pokegonamatchi together and reading the instruction manual only to find out Part Q needs Washer S to go with Nut 54. So when I play StarCraft 2 I want a custom controller designed just for it. No reading the manual and finding out how to create control groups, finding my home base and selecting all inactive SCVs. Let me just press a button damn it. In fact, let me press up to 7 of them at once like that Steel Series Shift allows me to do with the StarCraft 2 keyset.
This unique keyboard allows you to interchange keysets designed for games like StarCraft 2, World of Warcraft and others giving you a leg up when the party calls for a little Leeroy Jenkings heroics. You can macro the crap out of just about anything with fully customizable keys. Now if you could only macro Johnny's new toy to put itself together.
Price - Keyboard ($100) / Keysets ($25)
I'll show you an ornament....
Seriously, why do we need four 30 gallon tubs of Christmas ornaments? There's only so much room on a 6 foot tall tree. And do they all have to play an 8-bit version of "Oh Christmas Tree?"
Now that we have our keyboards, lets get ourselves a mouse and hang that glowing bad boy from the blue spruce. We're going with the Razer Lachesis. 5600 DPI precision, different lighting colors that we can choose, and a 7 foot braided cord perfect for hanging from the top of that Clark W. Griswold inspired holiday douglas fir.
There's also 9 programmable buttons on the Lachesis giving you quick access to those melee weapons and health kits in Left 4 Dead. Best of all - this mouse is lefty friendly.
Price: $50
I'm going to watch football in here...
While A Christmas Story may be entertaining, 24 hours straight of it is a bit much. So after watching Ralphie shoot his eye out for the 13th consecutive time, its time to retire to your man cave for some PC gaming - or if you want - some good old holiday football. No, we don't think you should be watching it on your 15" LCD you got with your Dell PC 5 years ago.
You need a screen fit for a person of importance. One that lets you watch your por..err...YouTube cat videos and respond to emails AT THE SAME TIME. We're talking 27 inches, 1920x1080 resolution and more inputs than devices you have (this week).
The ASUS VE276Q has HDMI, DVI, D-SUB and Display Port Inputs. It sports picture in picture which means you can play Alien Swarm with friends while keeping tabs on the latest NFL games.
Price: $300
I think this counts as a Christmas carol...
Does the sound the horde makes in Left 4 Dead count as a holiday jingle? If so I want that blasting out of 5 speakers and shaking my tools off the garage wall with a sub that will blow the red nose right off that friggin reindeer.
Me? I'm getting a Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound system for my computer.
Supporting Dolby Digital and DTS decoding capability, you won't just be enjoying games in glorious surround sound - but also your Blu-Ray collection. It'll give you another excuse to fire up The 5th Element so you can test "that one scene." Plus there's audio inputs for iPods and numerous other devices. Seriously - everything sounds better in 5.1 - it helps drown out those damn carolers begging for hot chocolate.
Price: $350
Can we play yet?
Ok, so now you got the goods to play the games. But what about the games themselves. There's a few co-op games you'll want to play with your friends who are also avoiding the holidays this year.
StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty ($59.99)
For a game that took over 10 years to make, it sure doesn't seem all that different on the surface. The reality of it is - it doesn't need to be. It's a tried and true formula that's great to play with friends. Three folks can cooperate online in comp stomp fashion - and scalability means you don't need the fastest PC in existence to run the game.
Do you enjoy your family and friends? If you do, kiss them goodbye, unless you can get them to play Civilization V with you. This game has the uncanny ability to actual alter the space time continuum. You'll be building a Civilization from ancient times all the way to the modern era, research technologies, conquering others, and listening to Morgon Sheppard tell you about the history of the world.
Co-Op play allows you to team up with two other friends, share technology, and stick it to that bastard Gandhi.
Splinter Cell Conviction ($14.99)
Splinter Cell Conviction added a first for the series - a brand new story based co-op campaign that set up the single player story for the title. Two players control either Archer or Kestrel through a 6 hour campaign with plenty of excellent moments for team work. After that there's even bonus missions to and modes to play in co-op.
At some 6 months after release finding a deal on this excellent title shouldn't be too hard.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
While Lara has had a long history on the PC, this release was a great departure for the series. It was the first time we saw Lara in a top down game that was a bit more action oriented. Still, puzzles played a crucial role, and the addition of another character for co-op play made this basically contain two games in one.
For $15 the game is a steal, and now with online co-op, you'll never be without your Totec.
Alien Swarm
There are those that say the best things in life are free - and that may very well be the case for Alien Swarm, a free title available on Steam from Valve. Based on a Unreal MOD, Alien Swarm has players fighting for survival in a top down 4 player co-op game. You'll choose different classes that all must utilize their skills together to survive.
Best of all the game is ever expanding with a huge mod community with even more free downloads. You can snag Alien Swarm via Steam.
Ok...ok...Happy Holidays
If you do happen to catch the "holiday spirit" and you didn't blow your entire budget on yourself - there is one gift you can give someone that would assure you are out of the Ghost of Christmas Future's sniper scope - and that's our recommended PC build. Yup - buy and build someone a PC and they'll be your co-op partner forever, at least until they do something to break it.
No Uncle Frank, I will not fix your computer.