It is a weird time to be thinking about gamers around the holiday season, the new generation of consoles are out but not everyone has taken the plunge. To help choose a gift for your gamer of choice this season, here are some things you should always keep in mind.

 Google is your best friend. Before making any decisions you should find reviews of the game in question. Nothing feels worse than playing a terrible game given as a gift, and it is a problem that can be easily avoided. Just because your gamer is a fan of “Sonic” does not mean you should touch “Sonic ’06” with a ten foot pole. There are plenty of game reviews on the internet, both in written form and in youtube videos. You would not want to give a child a toy that falls apart after ten minutes, so make sure your gift is great by making sure you know what you are buying. 

Just because someone has moved on to the next generation of consoles, does not exclusively look at new games. If they still have their old consoles plugged in, remember to take note of what systems they are. Just because a game is on the Playstation 3 does not mean you should overlook it. Because of how new those consoles are, their libraries are extremely limited. Places like Gamestop and the campus book store still have lots of last generation console games on their shelves, so do not narrow your field of view before searching. 

Be familiar with their existing collection, no one wants a repeat! This can be especially confusion with the release of current games on last and current generation consoles. Games like Assassin’s Creed 4 and Battlefield 4 are on both generations, so make sure to know in advance that you are not getting a repeat gift. 

For a PC gamer, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. If you are getting them a console shooter, make sure they already play shooters on a console. People who play shooters on their PC often struggle with console shooters because of the change of mindset. A controller is significantly different to a mouse when it comes down to games where you point at thing to make them stop moving. Another thing to remember with most PC gamers is that Steam money is absolute gold for them. ten dollars on steam can easily be converted in to two or three really fun games during one of the many steam sales.