Buying a Christmas gift for the Xbox 360 gamer that appears to have everything?
Look no further - we've found some cracking bargains and other suggestions for Xbox gifts that will make even the most well-equipped Xboxer sing. Or at least enjoy Christmas Day just that little bit more...
1. Modern Warfare 2 Throat Mic , £18
The latest Call of Duty is all any gamer wants to talk about at the moment, so why not go native with this pseudo-military Xbox Live headset? It picks up sound by lurking around your throat rather than your mouth, which lends it that spec-ops feel. Looks a lot less bulky (stupid) than the official 360 headset, but sound quality's reputedly a little lesser.
2. John Lennon's Rickenbacker guitar, £50
Whether or not you dig the Beatles, their recreated instruments for their own Rock Band title are comfortably the best pretend guitars around. This and George Harrison's Gretsch Duo Jet (sadly Macca's bass can be bought separate from the full game bundle) are the Rolls Royce of plastic instruments, and you'll feel less ridiculous in any guitar game you plug them into. They're also wireless, so don't forget to load up on batteries. They support the entire Rock Band series, as well as the most recent Guitar Heroes.
3. XCM Custom 360 case, from £40
Impressive as its innards may be, it'd be tricky to say the 360 was a beautiful console. Ditch that 90s-ipod white and replace it with a bespoke casing - translucent, painted, LED-fitted, even colour-changing. Clearly it's a warranty-voider, but if you're careful about the installation you might be able to pop it back into its original skin come Red Ring day.
4. Turtle Beach Ear Force Headphones, £45-150
A recurring name on 360 gift-lists for a while now, as they fix the problem of the 360 chat headset coming at the expense of clear hearing. Available in wired or wireless varieties and in stereo or virtual surround sound flavours, depending on how far up the price ladder you climb, they combine top-notch headphones with a beefy mic. Perfect for late-night, super-immersive gaming.
5. USB Hard-Drive Transfer Kit, $8
Microsoft do their best to prevent folk from making save game backups and drive cloning, at least not away from their own strict restrictions, but you can get around it to some extent with this third-party cable. Just plug your 360's hard drive into this, connect the other to a PC and you can reclaim whatever you need.
6. PEGA 4-in-1 Universal USB Karaoke Microphone Set, $21
If you're forever traipsing between friends' houses, playing Rock Bands and Guitar Heroes and Lips and Singstars on different systems, this solves the problem of needing bespoke mics for each. It works and comes with adaptors for 360, PS3, PS2, Wii and PC alike - so you'll really mean it when you're bellowing Hallelujah.
7. Madcatz Rock Band Portable Drum Kit, £13
It's great to have the full Rock Band/Guitar Hero setup at home, but you can't exactly lug those gigantic drums across town to a mate's house. This tiny, table-top alternative may not feel quite like the read thing, but at least it means you don't have to deny yourself the full band experience because you can't fit onto a train.
8. Black play and charge kit, £9
The 360 Elite is increasingly the de facto model of console, thanks to more agreeable pricing, a meaty 120Gb hard drive and a natty black colour scheme. Problem: most of the accessories are still garish white. At last, this must-have rechargeable battery and charger kit is also available in sleek midnight tones.
9. Microsoft points, £various
About the best gift you could possibly give a 360 owner - a card containing a code for a wodge of Microsoft's virtual currency to spend on DLC, indie/arcade games and even full, downloadable titles such as Fable II. There's an unending price war between every retailer in the world, so just see who's shaved off the most pennies when you decide to buy 'em.
10. Mad Catz Wireless Network Adaptor, £50
Currently no cheaper than the infamously over-priced official adaptor, but this cloud has two silver linings. Firstly, it uses the ethernet port, so you don't sacrifice a USB socket for it. Secondly, it supports the faster wireless-N standard, so streaming HD videos is a whole lot more smooth.
11. Live Headset Adapter, £6
Don't want to splash out on an official 360 headset, or already own a much nicer one for you PC? This solves that problem in compact fashion. Just pop it into the irritatingly proprietary port on the top of your gamepad, then stick your headphone and mic plugs into the standard 3.5mm holes on the top of it.
12. Trash Talk, £15
Odious, but funny. Choose from a bank of pre-recorded insults, record your own or slip in a few choice movie samples, then tap one of its buttons to instantly unleash a snappy flame at an online opponent. Unpleasant, but better than your mind going embarrassingly blank when someone gives you a tongue lashing.
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Liked this? Then check out 10 Xbox 360 tricks Microsoft won't tell you
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Your comments (1) Click to add a new comment
spiny
November 18th 2009
1. 13: Another xbox, for when this one RRODs.
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