Ben-DutkaMany gamers don't trust anyone else to pick up the right game for them, so they often just ask for money. Or, in this day and age, gift cards, which may as well be cold hard cash. Therefore, after hauling in a bunch of 'em tomorrow, we've got some suggestions as to how you should spend your freshly obtained funds.
We assume you're not getting gift cards for hundreds and hundreds of dollars, so we won't tell you to go pick up a PlayStation 3 or a PSP if you don't already have one, so we'll go slightly cheaper…
Accessories, accessories, accessories
For many of us, these are afterthoughts. Our priorities revolve around the games, so we often pass up the need for another controller or a new headset until we absolutely have to have one. So take your gift cards and Christmas money and pick up the accessory you've been missing. It could be that new wireless keyboard that attaches to your controller, it could be a new Dual Shock 3, it could be one of those great new Sony Bluetooth headsets, or perhaps something even simpler, like a case to carry all your gaming stuff. It always seems expensive and annoying to spend our own money on something that isn't a game, but that's what gifts are for.
Nail down the pre-orders
Some may consider it a waste of time, but it's all about securing a copy of the hottest upcoming titles so you're guaranteed to be part of the fun when the big day arrives. We suggest dropping a few bucks down on games like Killzone 2 and Street Fighter IV , both of which will launch in February. They're gonna be huge, so don't miss out! While you're there, you can also flip through that book (that's never updated, but whatever) to see what else you might be able to reserve. Oh, and don't forget that you can take that money off at any time and use it for an impulse purchase…
Those elite titles you were sorry you missed
Chances are, you didn't get the chance to play every last "AAA" game in 2008, which means it's time to catch up. You need to dole out your holiday bucks and pick up the likes of GTAIV, MGS4, LittleBigPlanet , Resistance 2 , Prince of Persia , Fallout 3 , Devil May Cry 4 , Dead Space , Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII , God of War: Chains of Olympus , and others. There were plenty of top-notch productions this year, and if you're a real gamer, you've got to at least try to play as many as humanly possible. There's no shame in playing them later, so get over that silly idea!
Stock up on the old classics
So say you have a couple $20 gift cards to GameStop, which still leaves you over $20 short for a new next-gen game. Therefore, you might want to hit up the used racks and bargain bins; you might be able to come out of there with five or six great titles you never got a chance to play way back when. You might find a copy of Beyond Good & Evil for the PS2 for like $8, or a copy of The Mark of Kri for only $5. Who knows what you might find? Do you have any idea how huge the PS2 library was? Many GameStops keep a lot of the more popular old games lying around for only a few dollars, and there's a reason for that. Take advantage.
These are just a few ideas of what to do with your holiday bucks, but of course, the final decision lies with you. Maybe you just want to put them towards the purchase you had been planning to make, anyway (a new PSP bundle?), or maybe you just want to save the cards for a later time. But we're just tryin' to help. 😉
