Xbox Core Wireless Controller

The universal controller

HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 wired gaming headset

Comfy and cheap with solid sound

$529 at Steam

Meta Quest 2 VR headset

A great headset at a reasonable price

$250 at Amazon

Show more (6 items)

Gearing up for gamers in gift-giving season can break your brain, especially if you don’t know much about it, and can get expensive fast — all the coolest gear costs. Yeah, there are a lot of expensive choices among our picks, but we’ve tried to weave in some at a variety of prices. 

This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas.

We’ve got the perennial favorites on here — the Sony , Microsoft  and , and  — but it’s likely that your recipient may already have one of these already. What’s not on here, at least not yet, are the new handheld consoles that run Windows, like the  and upcoming Lenovo Legion Go. They’re expensive and in my opinion, not quite mass-market ready yet.

Going a little further afield, is still the VR headset to beat, even though the is shipping soon; it’s still good but cheaper, and that can make a big difference when you’re shelling out for a lot of presents. But we also haven’t finished reviewing the Quest 3, and so that opinion may change after we do. The update to Sony’s veteran PlayStation VR headset, the PSVR 2 is fab as well, but costs as much as the PS5 it attaches to.

These are nothing without accessories like gaming headsets, keyboards and mice, and those are cheaper and more gift-friendly, but can still get pretty pricey. I’m still plowing through a seeming infinite number of options, but am trying to provide recommendations at all price levels; I’ll be adding more choices between now and the last possible minute. 

The smaller, cheaper Series S version of the Xbox plays all the same games, but outputs them at 1440p resolution, which lies somewhere between traditional HD and 4K. More importantly, it’s great for downloading and playing the huge catalog of Xbox Game Pass games, or for free-to-play online games like Fortnite. 

There’s a newer model in black with twice the storage for about $50 more — the Xbox Series S 1TB — but it’s not necessary to opt for it unless you want to give the black or you know they keep having to delete games because storage is tight; if you want to give the white model, you can spring for an inexpensive plug-in drive to go with the white model.

Read our Xbox Series S and Series S 1TB reviews.

Read our Microsoft Xbox Series X|S review.

Console SSDs

For the heavy console gamer

The Xbox Series X is a powerful 4K gaming machine that works best with a similarly advanced 4K TV or monitor.  The platform offers exclusives like Halo and Forza, as well as for games from Microsoft-owned Bethesda, including the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, and the recently released favorite, Starfield. 

The Xbox’s biggest advantage is the excellent Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which includes many of the biggest new games, for $15 per month, and also includes PC and cloud gaming. 

Read our Xbox Series X review.

For exclusive games like God of War: Ragnarök, The Last of Us Part 1 and Horizon: Forbidden West, the PS5 is the way to go (although some of these games eventually make it to PCs much later on). 

Comparably powerful to the Xbox Series X, the PS5’s big advantage is in its modernized, redesigned controller, which offers better haptic feedback. A new PS Plus subscription service now offers a big Netflix-like catalog of monthly games, although mostly older ones. For anyone interested in VR, the PSVR 2 is a great, albeit expensive add-on. 

Read our PS5 review.

Gaming service subscription

Play anywhere

The Quest 3 is better than the Quest 2, but it’s also $200 more and the Quest 2 is still a great choice. It’s totally self-contained, needs no cables or external tracking cameras, and plays a pretty diverse set of games, from shooters to puzzle games to theme park rides. 

And it’s not just for gaming; it can be used for fitness training, virtual theatergoing and even VR meetings. 

Read our Quest 3 review.

Read our Oculus Quest 2 review.

The K100 Air is expensive for a keyboard, but it’s very sleek, with responsive, ultralow-profile switches that are great for working as well as gaming. Plus, it connects to three Bluetooth devices in addition to USB and 2.4GHz wireless.

Gamers can be picky about the switches and layout of their keyboards, so you may want to feel out your recipient before going for it. Or keep the receipt — they’ll definitely be able to get what they want for the price of this.

Read our Corsair K100 Air review.

For anyone with a pile of old Game Boy games, the Analogue Pocket is a Game Boy revival dream come true. The Pocket plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges, and other retro handheld games, like the Sega Game Gear, with separately sold adapters. A sharp color screen and a battery with USB-C recharging mean games play and look fantastic. A separately sold dock can play games on a TV screen, too.

Read our Analogue Pocket review.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘set’, ‘autoConfig’, false, ‘789754228632403’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘789754228632403’);

Xem chi tiết và đăng kýXem chi tiết và đăng kýXem chi tiết và đăng ký