Buying video games for someone else has always been a tricky business. There’s no accounting for taste (especially with gamers) and finding the right genre, setting, play style, and game type can be overwhelming for a gift giver. Luckily, Spawn Kill is here to set this holiday’s game-related gift woes aside.

Does your gaming friend never seem to be online? Do they never seem to want to play Wii with you? Does their gaming environment consist of a dark room with a chair sitting inappropriately close to the television? If you answered “Yes” to these questions, chances are your friend is a solo gamer — a lone wolf, preferring to lose himself in digital locales free from real-world distractions. This gift guide is written with that gamer in mind.

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Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time

Platform(s): PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: E10+

Ratchet and Clank is one of the flagship series for PlayStation, and this holds true with the newest PS3 iteration in the form of Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time. A Crack in Time looks to close the Future trilogy storyline in showcasing the origin of the the game’s heroes. A Crack in Time will appeal to both young and old solo gamers for the same reasons — the game contains action, drama, comedy, and plenty of quests, unlockables, and collectibles to keep players busy. Further, this game (like others on this list) are designed around single-player experiences, giving all that can be had to one player with plenty of time on his or her hands.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Platform(s): PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: T

No video game fan or comic book geek can say they haven’t wanted to be Batman. Unfortunately for gamers and comic fans, every past game adaptation of the Batman franchise has been mediocre at best. This changed with the recent release of Batman: Arkham Asylum from Rocksteady Studios. Now players can leave the gloomy darkness of their living room and enter the gloomy darkness of Gotham’s heinous home for the criminally insane. Arkham Asylum is a perfect game for solo players because Bats himself operates individually, saving the city and perhaps the world from the evils that lurk in the night, much like single-player game fans are wont to do within virtual realms.

Fallout 3

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Platform(s): PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: M

Fallout 3 is an enormous experience. A player can literally get lost within the Wasteland. This game is packed full of missions, letting the protagonist act on his or her righteous or evil tendencies, and there are plenty of collectible items, armor, and weapons to find, as well as social groups within the game offering specific goods or exclusive missions. Solo players also will love the personalization options, opting to create a virtual version of themselves, or perhaps a dirty post-nuclear temptress to fight off their anti-social tendencies.

Dragon Age: Origins

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Platform(s): PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: M

Dragon Age: Origins will appeal to many gamers that enjoy traditional role-playing games with swords, shields, and dragons. Where it packs punch for the solo gamer, though, is the enormous amount of missions, character varieties, upgrade paths for abilities, and the huge number of weapons and armor ready to be obtained. Dragon Age: Origins has been touted as having over 150 hours of gameplay per character, and fans of the game will surely want to create a different class to see how abilities and storyline elements will change.

Borderlands

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Platform(s): PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
ESRB Rating: M

Borderlands helps to bridge the gap between non-standard role-playing games and first-person shooters. The story is an interesting take on the popular post-disaster plotline, this time involving a horde of aliens and the promise of riches and high technology buried within a well-protected vault. The action is fast-paced enough for shooter and action game enthusiasts, while the skill tree should keep stat crunching fans happy. Borderlands is a great choice for solo players because while the core gameplay will remain the same, a gamer is encouraged to play alongside others in an nearly-unchanged online cooperative setting. After all, gamers shouldn’t play by themselves forever.

While the obvious gift choice for a fan of video games would be another video game, there are plenty of other options available for gifts that will help further the immersion from their hobby.

Shure SRH 440 Headphones

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The easiest way to experience serious immersion when watching a movie or playing a game is to have the sound turned way up. While most of us can’t afford or don’t have room for a powerhouse 7.1 speaker system, most people would be more than comfortable with a nice set of headphones. Introducing the Shure SRH 440 headphones. These headphones feature a frequency range of down to 10hz, giving powerful media a low-end kick, as well as a comfortable closed-ear design that helps isolate outside noise.

Fatboy Original Bean Bag Chair

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The original Fatboy Bean Bag chair is a dynamic piece of furniture perfect for gamers. It can be laid flat as a something of a bed (pictured), rolled over for a traditional bean bag chair, and even stood upright for the position of a normal chair or couch. With a heavyweight construction and overly generous size, one of these bean bags is a perfect match for a gamer of any age or build.

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Stay tuned for next week’s Spawn Kill Holiday Gift Guide for Married Gamers!

Tags: Christmas, gamers, Gift Guide, holidays

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.