With the holiday season in full sway we asked each of our staffers which game they would buy for someone on their list. Big favorites include
Left 4 Dead,
Fallout 3, and
Grand Theft Auto IV. Surprisingly no one is shopping for a Wii owner as no Wii titles made the list (sorry
Wii Music). Here are the full results with what we're playing this weekend in parentheses.
Elliott Bonnie (
COD 4,
Forza 2,
GTA IV) - Depending on the person I was buying for, I would either give
Fallout 3 or
Grand Theft Auto IV. Those games were my favorite titles from the past year and offer a lot of bang for the buck.
Charles Husemann (
Pixel Junk Eden,
Resistance 2) - I don't think there's a person out there who wouldn't want a copy of
LittleBigPlanet as the game is fun for everyone and creating levels with friends is also a blast. Other than that I think
Left 4 Dead is another good pick as who doesn't like killing zombies?
Dan Keener (
Home,
Rock Band 2) - If I could give any game from the last year to anyone, it would more than likely be
Grand Theft Auto IV. I know it has violence, murder and all that good stuff, but it truly shows the power of the next gen consoles, and what kind of epic open-world game can be created when the proper time and effort are put into a title.
Randy Kalista (
Pirates of the Burnina Sea)- Come gift-giving time, I'd stuff a season pass of
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People into someone's unsuspecting stocking. Point-and-click adventure games are a tough sell nowadays. Episodic point-and-click adventure games no less so. And while you won't see this game racking up any game of the year nominations (unless a specific "PC Adventure Game of the Year" category is cropped up), the off-your-rocker sense of humor and generally stress-free puzzle solving is as well-done of a translation for homestarrunner.com as any fan could hope for.
Matt Mirkovich (
Persona 4, Master of Monster Lair,
Beatmania IIDX 15: DJ Troopers) - I'd have to go with
Chrono Trigger for the DS. This way people can understand why I'd rather play it than put up learning Algebra as a child. (I later went on to get a D for the semester, whoops).
Sean Nack (
Fallout 3) - I'd be torn on my gift-giving between multiplayer power-house
Left 4 Dead and, in my opinion, under-appreciated FPS gem
Far Cry 2.
Tyler Sager (
Fallout 3) - While
Fallout 3 is a close second, I would probably be giving
King's Bounty: The Legend, if for no better reason than to spread the word that turn-based fantasy is alive and well.
Eva Sines (
Lord of the Rings Online ) - If I could give someone any game, it would be the
Mines of Moria expansion so we could play together.
Shawn Sines (
Persona 4,
Fallout 3,
Lord of the Rings Online) - I'd give
The Witcher Enhanced Edition or
Fallout 3. Both games tell great tales and are two of my favorite games of the year.(
Fallout 3 is my GOTY pick..
The Witcher was last years.)
John Yan (
Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2,
Fallout 3) - For a game to give away, I'm having a hard time choosing between
Fallout 3 and
Left 4 Dead. Both offer vastly different experiences and I think those two have given me the most fun this past year. I guess it would be
Left 4 Dead since I continue to play that no matter how many times I finish the game, I can't stop playing. Either playing with 3 others in co-op or griefing the Survivors in Versus mode,
Left 4 Dead is just tons of fun.