We're in a giving mood at PC Gamer, and so in the style of a certain in-flight catalog (except without dog sofas or skeleton gnomes), we're giving you the gift of a gift guide packed with great ideas for all the gamers in your life (or yourself, of course). So welcome to PC Gamer's 2013 Giftstravaganza, your one stop holiday satisfaction machine with toys, gadgets, tools, and merriment for all as we embark on the next month of family gatherings, overeating, and gaming marathons. Let the binging begin.
Plush Doom Monsters
Warm up your heart with the fires of hell! Who says evil hell monsters don’t like to cuddle? Get cozy with a snuggly plush Cacodemon or Pain Elemental, and fall in love with their insidious eyeballs and twisted grins.
bit.ly/doomplush $15 / ~£10
Nerf N-Strike Elite
Fire high-caliber foam with the Centurion Blaster! The N-Strike Elite Centurion Blaster is a marvel of foam dart weaponry. The 6 included MEGA darts (big darts, that is) can fly 100 feet—we swear we felt recoil from this thing. It even includes a detachable bipod so you can accurately pelt your friends while lying prone under a ghillie suit made of lawn trimmings. That is, if the bright orange plastic doesn’t give you away.
hasbro.com/nerf $50 / £50
Kerbal 3D Prints
The cutest little green men in the universe! They’ve died countless deaths adventuring into the great unknown, and now you can memorialize the sacrifices of your Kerbal Space Program astronauts with an adorable 3D print! Made by Shapeways, these little guys are the perfect addition to any launch control room or captain’s quarters.
bit.ly/kerbal3d $47 / €41.35
Artisan Dice
D20s just like they used to make ‘em! These gorgeous hand-crafted dice are made from the finest hardwoods. Take your pick from standard six-sided dice, fudge dice, and polyhedral dice, and choose from dozens of exotic woods for your own custom set of fate-deciders!
artisandice.com $25+ / £15+
D&D Books
Give the gift of imagination! We’ve crawled countless dungeons and slayed hundreds of dragons on our monitors, but some of the fantasy adventures we remember best happened around a table with friends. Pick up the D&D 3.5 handbook (we prefer it to the newer 4th edition), accessorize with guides and adventures, and start a quest you’ll never forget!
wizards.com $20-$40
LEGO MindStorms EV3
Robot block! Robot block! Build and command five robots or design your own with the incredible LEGO MindStorms EV3 kit! The set includes an ARM9 processor, touch sensor, color sensor, infrared sensor, and over 550 LEGO Technic parts. You can build remote control and automated machines that’ll scare your cat like never before! Or, design a robot that solves Rubik’s Cubes while scaring your cat—the possibilities are endless!
bit.ly/legoev3 $350 / £300
Fretlight Guitar
Learn to play the LED way! Learning to play a new instrument is hard—most of us have given up on a few—but Fretlight has designed a solution that gives beginning guitarists the lessons they need without all the frustration. The built in LED system removes the finger position guesswork new players struggle with by showing where the hands should be right on the fretboard. The $300 FG-507 Acoustic model is great for beginners, but novice rock stars should also have a look at the $600 FG-521 Traditional Electric model pictured here. If you want to go really crazy, Fretlight also sells a $900 Pro Electric model, but at that level of investment, we’re guessing you have some idea how to play already.
store.fretlight.com $300+ / ~£185+
Necomimi
They’re not just cat ears—they can read your mind! Expressing emotions is hard (why not just bottle them up?), but the Necomimi makes it easy! Just put it on your head and let the ears do the talking—your brainwaves make them move! Believe it or not, it works! We're pretty sure, at least—if all is operable, concentrate to make the ears rise, and relax to let them lie down. When you do both at the same time, they move back and forth. Science!
necomimi.com $70 / £60
Flip Book Kit
Make your own moving pictures! It’s actually called “FlipBooKit,” and includes everything you need to create incredible animations—we’ve chosen to showcase Laser Death Cat from Team Fortress 2 map achievement_all_v4. Run!
bit.ly/flipbookit $49 / £30
Songbird Plushie
Stay safe with your own obsessive robot protector! This hand-crafted faux-leather plushie won’t just love you, it will watch you sleep and violently kill intruders with its brass eyes and beak! Everyone’s favorite BioShock Infinite character sits seven inches tall with a wingspan of 14 inches.
bit.ly/songbirdplush $55 / ~£34
BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia
The great board game in the sky! Replay BioShock Infinite on your table! This time, you’ll wrestle for control of Columbia as the Founders or Vox Populi—draw cards to zip across sky-lines, build an army, and deal with some jerk named Booker.
bit.ly/siegegame $85 / £70
Logitech Driving Force GT
Woah, slow down buddy! Cory’s having a blast obeying traffic laws in Euro Truck Simulator, but you can go as fast as you want with Logitech’s Driving Force GT, which includes a force feedback steering wheel with 900-degree rotation plus gas and brake pedals. Quit racing with WASD, silly!
bit.ly/drivingforce $150 / £272
ModMat Xtreme
Stay grounded! Make your next PC repairs go smoothly with this giant anti-static surface—it even includes nine handy reference guides so you can get to work without referencing a pesky manual!
bit.ly/modmat $60 / £55
SoundSticks III
Great sound with style! Is that a glowing jellyfish under your desk? Nope! It’s the stylish down-firing subwoofer in Harman Kardon’s three-piece speaker system. Add the eight transducers in the two speaker towers, and the set pumps out a deep, rich sound—it looks and sounds so good, even the New York City Museum of Modern Art has one!
bit.ly/sndsticks $170 / £130
Parrot AR Drone 2.0
Fly by phone and watch in 720p! The Parrot AR Drone 2.0 flies high and fast, and even includes a camera to capture photos and 720p video from the sky! Control it with your iOS or Android device, and fly it inside or out—embedded sensors help you take off and land, and you can even tell it to hover or flip on autopilot!
ardrone2.parrot.com $300 / £279
Rosewill PC Tool Kit
Fix it the right way! This 90-piece tool set includes everything you need to build and maintain your rig, including a ratchet driver with 40-piece bit and socket set, six precision screwdrivers, nine hex keys, a wire cutter, an anti-static wrist strap, a soldering iron, an electronic tester—the list goes on and on! If you like to tinker—and we know you do—make sure you’re never without the right tool for the job.
bit.ly/pctoolkit $30 / ~ £19
ViewSonic Projector
Play bigger with the PJD7820HD! Pronounced “Puh-Juh-Duh,” the PJD7820HD is the perfect way to play your games big! With a native resolution of 1920x1080, 3000 ANSI Lumens, and 15000:1 contrast, this projector fills your wall with crisp, high-definition gaming. Try pointing it at your ceiling—you’ll never need to sit again!
bit.ly/vsprojector $780 / £688
Mounted T-Rex Head
Wall decorations may be closer than they appear! Remember when you traveled back in time to hunt Tyrannosaurus? If not, you probably stepped on winged insect and irreparably altered history, but no matter! Remind yourself of the greatest hunting exhibition to ever possibly happen with a mounted T-Rex head—your friends rightfully won’t believe it!
bit.ly/trexmount $100 / £62
Raspberry Pi Starter Pack
Build your own electronics! Want to build a murderous robot that enslaves all humans? Start here! Adafruit’s Raspberry PI Starter Pack includes everything you need to learn microcontroller programming basics.
bit.ly/raspikit $105 / £63