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AT PLAY: LAST-MINUTE SHOPPING LIST

Making your list? Checking it twice? After years of experience in the gaming trenches, Brett McCallon has some gift suggestions for nearly anyone on your list ...

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

Even as businesses throughout the world turn with worried eyes to their shrinking bottom lines, one industry seems to be bucking consumers’ belt-tightening trend altogether. The games business is on track for a record sales year, which means that many of you will be buying software for a brand new gaming system, whether for yourself, a relative or a friend.

The problem is, while there are great games available for each of the three major home consoles (the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the Wii), much of the software available for each platform is forgettable at best, and sometimes virtually unplayable. With that in mind, I have compiled a list of some of the best titles available for each platform, sure to satisfy the various types of gamer you’ll need to impress during the holidays.

For casual gamers:

To many people, “casual” gaming is virtually synonymous with the Nintendo Wii, and with good reason: Nintendo continues to sell a record-breaking number of its little white boxes month after month, mostly to people who wouldn’t consider themselves “gamers”. The game that comes packed in with each Wii console, “Wii Sports”, will keep new Wii owners entranced for at least a little while with its simulations of bowling, baseball, boxing, tennis and golf. When everyone is ready to move on, it’s time to pull out “Wii Fit” (*), Nintendo’s combination game and fitness program. The game comes packaged with a “balance board” peripheral; players stand on this board and move their bodies to interact with a number of different activities, including yoga, jogging and some mini-games (like a virtual hula-hoop simulator).
 
Casual gaming is not, of course, limited to the Wii. The "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" franchises (available on all three consoles) offer tremendous gaming value for anyone seeking a pretend rock-star moment with a few friends. If you’re looking for a karaoke experience, then "Singstar" (PlayStation 3) and "Lips" (Xbox 360) might be more to your liking. All of the above games can also be customised with downloadable content, so you can sing along to your favourite tunes, for example.

For family gamers:

There are plenty of games that adults and kids can enjoy together. While some casual games (ie, Wii) fit this bill, there are a number of titles that have been designed expressly with multi-generational gaming in mind.

For example, Sony’s flagship title for its PlayStation this year is “Little Big Planet” (pictured above), in which players control a cute little character (nicknamed Sackboy or Sackgirl) as it navigates new environments and challenges. What is unique about the game is that it features both pre-designed content and an editing mode, in which players can generate their own levels and environments. This user-driven content can then be shared online with other players. Parents and kids can play and create together—the controls are simple enough for an older child to play, though some of the more challenging jumps and design tools may require an adult’s assistance.

Another good option for playing as a family is the "Lego" series (available on all platforms), which includes family-friendly versions of the "Star Wars", "Indiana Jones" and "Batman" sagas, depicting everything as if it was made of the iconic building blocks. These games deliver a whimsical version of the various series’ core storylines, and they present a friendly, non-challenging, yet quite enjoyable form of gameplay that both adults and children will enjoy.

Finally, Microsoft’s “Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise” (Xbox 360) invites players to create a garden and populate it with dozens of colourful Pinata animals. The aim is to create the unique conditions needed to attract each variety of animal. The game allows adults to play along with children, and to aid them when the controls or gameplay become too complicated.

Let’s not forget the hardcore:

Hardcore Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers have an embarrassment of excellent gaming to choose from this season. The Xbox 360 exclusive shooter “Gears of War 2” will satisfy players’ bloodlust, as will “Call of Duty: World at War” (*), which is available on both the Microsoft and Sony platforms. “Fallout 3” (360 and PS3) and “Fable 2” (Xbox 360) are great options for fans of western-style role-playing games, while “Valkyria Chronicles” (*) is receiving rave reviews from Japanese RPG fans for its unique graphical style and strategic combat.

Don’t forget to comb through the top-tier games of previous years when you’re searching for the perfect game. Fantastic titles such as “Bioshock” (released this year for the PlayStation 3, and last year for the Xbox 360), “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” (PlayStation 3), “Mass Effect” (Xbox 360) and “Orange Box” (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) may even be available at a discount. One can’t-miss title from earlier this year is “Metal Gear Solid 4” (PlayStation 3), the latest in the venerable stealth-action series, and one of the year’s most acclaimed titles. In addition, “Grand Theft Auto 4” (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) is sure to make most critics “best-of” list for the year.

And while hard-core games for the Wii were few and far between in 2008, the system boasts perhaps the finest title thus far this console generation in “Super Mario Galaxy”, which finds the titular Italian plumber navigating gravity-defying trials through dozens of virtual worlds. 

Whatever your gaming persuasion, you’ll find plenty of reason to celebrate this winter. Happy gaming.

(Please note: Games I have yet to play myself are indicated with an asterisk (*).   For each of these games, the critical consensus has been very positive, and I felt I would be remiss in excluding them from this list, in spite of my lack of direct experience.)

Picture credit: "Little Big Planet"

(Brett McCallon is a writer based in New Orleans. His last gaming column was about Hollywood and the gaming industry.)