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Gamers Holiday Gift Guide 2020

3 years ago
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by Flexshopper
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3 years ago
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Written by Flexshopper

This holiday season, Santa will be riding to town on a sleigh of unbelievable bargains. Gaming tech and games tend to be crazy expensive. However, giving gifts to the gamers in your life doesn’t have to be a burden to you with our gaming buying guide.

As you consider surprising the gaming buffs you love, get the best deals on everything including gaming PCs, laptops, keyboards, consoles, the latest games, and more. This holiday is particularly exciting with the release of the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S at the beginning of November.

If you truly want to bring a ray of (rare) sunshine to the gaming room in your home, pick up one of these select items from this holiday buying guide, which we have curated especially for discerning gamers.

PlayStation 5 / PlayStation 4

playstation controller glowing blue on table

The ongoing console wars reached a new head with the release of the PS5 and the Xbox Series X and S. Sony’s sleek, alien-looking PS5 console offers a leap forward in refresh rates, a more powerful processor and GPU, an 825GB SSD, 4K support, ray tracing, and much more.

This new generation console can now handle some of the latest, exciting PS5 games. One of the most highly anticipated games of the year, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, released on November 12, the same day as the PS5. You play as the new Spider-Man, Miles Morales, and experience life as a teenager aspiring to be a hero. With all-new powers, the game has some exciting new elements and better performance. Sackboy: A Big Adventure is also available now offering awesome music, 4K graphics, loads of collectibles, and so much more.

Talking of great sounds, the new PS5 comes with Sony’s latest surround sound system called Tempest 3D. It allows the console to capture sound from hundreds of sources and project it in mind-blowing detail and clarity. However, if you need a high-quality gaming headset, the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is our top pick.

But really, the new DualSense Wireless PS5 controller looks to be the star of the new release. In addition to a few aesthetic changes, it offers haptic feedback (vibrations) depending on what is happening in the game. Plus, it also features a built-in microphone and adaptive triggers with dynamic resistance to offer better in-game interaction.

Until Sony restocks the PS5 in stores worldwide, gamers will have to stay entertained on the PS4. Some interactive haptic feedback is still available with the PS4 if you have the latest DualShock 4 controller.

This Christmas, any gamer will appreciate playing the popular Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on PS4 with friends and family. Or, if we’re talking something more stunning and PS5-compatible, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a brilliant choice that also offers 4K/60fps display capability.

If you’re going to stick with PS4, the Astro Gaming A20 wireless headset is perfect.

Honorable Mentions:

Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One

2 people holding xbox controllers playing a soccer game

The Xbox Series X and S are currently missing in gaming stores worldwide after the mad scramble on their release wiped them out. Microsoft promises to have them restocked by Christmas or latest January 2021.

In the meantime, we recommend stocking up with a few Xbox games. Microsoft is known to be generous with backward compatibility, so these will be playable on the Xbox X and S as well.

Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: Legion is out now and is everything fans hoped for. Consistently rated the best video game ever, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is also a great holiday gift option. If you’re looking for something more family-friendly, then Madden NFL 21 is a perfect involving some football action.

Unlike Sony’s update with the new PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller, Xbox hasn’t made many changes to its wireless controllers. You can pick up a new Xbox One controller in Gray/Blue to replace any that got smashed in a particularly frustrating session – it happens more often than you would expect.

Talking of smashing, the latest Xbox One models came with Dolby Atmos sound on a dedicated Atmos chip, which the Series X just made more impressive with Project Acoustics wave-based audio effects.

For that extra-immersive experience, you might want to gift a similarly impressive Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Headset with Base Station.

Honorable Mentions:

Nintendo Switch

tattooed man playing Nintendo switch

Nintendo is a big-league player rubbing shoulders with the likes of Xbox and PlayStation, but it offers an affordable, portable, and versatile experience. It’s an awesome gift to give kids and anyone who likes to play on the go.

The Nintendo Switch released in 2017 offers amazing handheld playability with brilliant graphics, intuitive motion controllers, and the ability to connect with the TV and play on the big screen. More importantly, Nintendo’s consoles allow you to play cooperatively on the same screen, a perfect Christmas gift. You can pick up a vintage wired Switch controller or a Bluetooth wireless Nintendo Switch controller for that family experience.

If the full-featured Nintendo Switch is a little bit too much for you, you can get even more portable with a Nintendo Lite. It lacks the detachable Joy-Con controllers and TV playability, but you get to play all the same games. Plus, it’s much cheaper. You can get one in colors such as the Nintendo Lite in Turquoise, Gray, Pink, or Yellow.

If your loved ones already have these amazing gadgets, then perhaps what they need is a new game to freshen up the experience. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is that perfect choice. It just released on November 20th and is a prequel to the popular Breath of the Wild.

You can also pick up the latest Super Mario 3D All-Stars with three classic games included and high definition rendering.

Honorable Mentions:

Virtual Reality

kids using virtual reality headsets in front of a Christmas tree

Nothing says “escape reality” better than a top-of-the-line VR headset. After 2020, nothing’s wrong with taking a trip to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge or killing a few zombies in The Walking Dead. Plus, the latest Oculus Quest 2 with no wires allows you to exercise, take adventure trips, and more. It’s truly the ultimate Christmas gift for loved ones.

If an immersive VR gaming experience is more like what you are looking for, the PC-powered Oculus Rift S offers a more affordable device with touch controllers, better optics, and more.

PC Gaming 

young man playing PC games in his room

Of course, no gamer is complete without at least a decent PC gaming rig. One of the most powerful gaming PCs is the CyberPowerPC powered by an AMD Ryzen 3 3100 with 8GB of memory, AMD Radeon RX 570 Graphics, 1TB HDD Graphics, and a 240 GB SSD.

It’s not the most prideworthy, of course, but it is a powerful gaming desktop from a respected brand. You can also opt for the eminent HP Pavilion 690-0084 gaming PC with an Intel I5-8400 processor, 8GB RAM, and 1TB HDD/128GB SSD.

If mobility is more important, today’s gaming laptops are getting much more powerful and portable. The Acer Nitro 5 17.3 Inch gaming laptop with an Intel i5, 8GB Memory, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics sounds just perfect. The Asus ROG Strix G15 15.6 is a more powerful gaming laptop with a Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage.

If you will be giving a brand-new gaming PC for Christmas, make sure the lucky recipient also has a good gaming monitor to go with it. Otherwise, all that graphics power in the PCs are going to waste. The Lenovo Legion LED monitor is a good start with pocket-friendly pricing.

Of course, gaming tech is expensive, and you may not want to shell out hundreds or thousands right away. You can pick up a cheaper gift such as a gaming mouse or gaming keyboard. These are more thoughtful holiday gifts that will be highly appreciated but will cost you much less.

Looking for the Perfect Gaming Gift?

You don’t need to have thousands to get the perfect gift this holiday season. When you lease-to-own1 with Flexshopper, you can get the perfect gaming gift for your loved one with affordable weekly payments. After 12 months, your item is yours to keep. Who can ask for a better gift than that? Contact us today!

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