With Christmas right around the corner, Review Fix video game guru Patrick Hickey Jr. shares some great stocking stuffer ideas for the holidays.
Prepaid Wii-Point and X-Box Live Point cards: These little things are great for the gamer who never knows what they want. Rather than waste time and energy wondering what to get them, these cards come in various cash denominations and with hundreds of games to choose from, every gamer will find something they love. With the X-Box marketplace featuring movies and TV shows as well, they may even be able to snag something else that tickles their fancy.
Saint’s Row [360] Despite the fact that it’s a blatant Grand Theft Auto-clone, it’s a fantastic game on its own merits, taking well over 40 hours to beat. Add in a price tag under 20 bucks and you have a must own title.
Family Guy:The Game [PSP] It’s far from fantastic and the control may drive you crazy at times, but you will force yourself to finish it and throughout that entire process, you will laugh a lot. For that, it’s a solid choice.
Dead Rising [360]- One of the best games on the 360 and is only 20 bucks. Great graphics, gameplay and fun as hell, you’d have a hard time beating this as a gift for a gamer that doesn’t have it in their collection already.
Rogue Galaxy [PS2]- Excellent game for anyone, but especially the financially strapped gamer that hasn’t upgraded to the new console generation yet. With such a remarkable story, you almost forget it’s on an obsolete system.
Condemned 2: Bloodshot [360, PS3] An excellent game for the first-person shooter fanatic in our lives, and we all have one. A deep and intricate story make this a must own, but with a sticker price of only 20 bucks, and even lower on sites like Amazon, this makes a perfect gift. Watch out for the bear!
Assassin’s Creed [360, PS3] With the sequel out, many have forgotten how much fun the first one was. With a sticker price of just 15 bucks [even cheaper used for all you misers out there] this makes a great gaming gift.
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition: One of the best games on the Wii and for a bargain bin price. How do you beat that?
The House of the Dead: 2 & 3 Return [Wii]: Great for a quick, last-minute gift. It may not be the best game on this list, but it’ll provide plenty of fun.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
With Christmas right around the corner, Review Fix video game guru Patrick Hickey Jr. shares some great stocking stuffer ideas for the holidays.
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