By David Gewirtz
Couldn't find a Wii? No one's going to buy you that fancy laptop? Someone else is going into space with Virgin Galactic? There's no need to fret. No matter how down on your luck you are, we've found a fun, inexpensive, or completely weird and possibly insulting gift for you.
Let's do a quick recap. In "Super-expensive gifts for the rich and excessive", we covered extravagant gifts over $5,000 and into the millions. In "Expensive (but worth it) gifts for the truly worthy" we explored gifts between $500 and $5,000. In "Nice gifts for givers on a $50-500 budget", we looked at some very cool gifts that are priced between $50 and $500.
And now, the cheap stuff. This article's going to be interesting. From some great deals on memory to truly disturbing sex toys you're going to want to forget, we've got it all for your last minute shopping fun.
Rather than just the dull recitation of popular products, we've turned to the ZATZ editors, to a bunch of experts in the Internet Press Guild, and to a bunch of tech gaming enthusiasts, my own gaming buddies in the Iron Phoenix gaming community.
Some great games
Let's start at gifts around $50 that are really fun to give and get. While we're on the topic of games, our own Denise Amrich is back and recommends World of Warcraft:
Your giftee will never be bored again and will stop bugging you to spend time with him or her. Or, if you play, you can kill two birds with one stone, to use a politically incorrect animal metaphor, and feel like you're bonding when you spend time slaying stuff with him or her in-game.
The game, shown in Figure A, is absolutely amazing. It's due for an expansion pack in January and we have no doubt it'll earn another five stars.
FIGURE A
As the sun sinks slowly in the west, you'll never see the real one again. (click for larger image)
Senior editor James Booth recommends Dead Rising for the XBox 360, as shown in Figure B.
FIGURE B
Zombie clowns -- nothing beats zombie clowns. (click for larger image)
Dead Rising is a light-hearted little zombie game, where your job is to kill all the zombies. The game takes place in Willamette Mall, and is replete with loads of retail stereotypes. Just kill stuff. Leave the thinking to other games.
