PlayStation 2
Sony's PlayStation 2, despite being a bit long in the tooth, is still a superb choice for any gamer. Redesigned to fit into a case about the size of a hardcover book, it now retails around $130 -- a fraction of the price of more modern systems, and it has what's probably the best back-catalog of superb games on the planet.
Doesn't that mean they'll miss out on all the popular new games? Some of them, sure, but brand-new hits like Madden 08, Guitar Hero III, Rock Band, Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 and Need for Speed: Pro Street all appear on the PS2. Thanks to the huge popularity of the machine, the pre-owned game market is red-hot with oversupply, so a recipient of a PS2 can count on finding great games at pocket-change prices for the foreseeable future.
Shop around, and you should be able to find a new system together with a handful of games for around $200 -- less if you're prepared to go used. Our review archives are jam-packed with fantastic PS2 games, but our favorites include Gran Turismo 3, God of War and its sequel, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus and Final Fantasy X.
Game Boy Advance
Is someone in your life clamoring for a Nintendo DS handheld? If the $130 price tag of Nintendo's latest portable leaves you cold, hunt around for its predecessor, the Game Boy Advance, which goes for about $70-80. The flip-screen design still looks cool, and the price is right. If and when they graduate to a DS system, their new handheld will still be able to play their old GBA games. It's especially good for a pre-schooler: the GBA has a wide library of educational and kid-friendly licensed games, and if they flush it down the john, you're not out a huge amount of money.
Tune-up your gaming PC
If you're shopping for a PC gamer in need of a new machine, here's a cheaper way to do it: shop smartly and you can refit a gaming PC for less than $500, assuming they already have basic essentials like a case, a monitor and a hard drive. Go for the latest, critically-acclaimed Geforce 8800GT video card, an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor (the 4600+ model should fit that budget) with a compatible motherboard, and at least 2 GB of memory - more if you want to run Vista and DirectX 10. For a pittance (comparatively speaking), you'll end up rockin' a gaming powerhouse that should be hot to trot well into 2009. Plus all those boxes will look mighty impressive under the tree.
