You tried valiantly to get tickets for opening night and then opening week of Episode VII but, unfortunately, all of the tickets for your city sold out in less than five minutes while you were waiting for Fandango to recognize your password.
Now you feel a little stuck. You were hoping to surprise your special someone with an early gift but now, well, a regular gift will have to do and you’re out of ideas.
Luckily, we’re here to help. Here are our recommendations for what to get the geek in your life this holiday season:
Gaming
For the MMORPG lover in your life, The Secret World provides the chance to battle for control over the Earth as magical forces unleash nightmares from history, mythology, and even modern conspiracy theories. Like other MMORPGs, you join forces and interact in real-time with your fellow players, form alliances, and work together (or against each other) to defeat these dark forces and save the world.
If MMORPGs aren’t your geek’s thing, you might want to take a gander at Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. This game was, arguably, the biggest hit of all of the major gaming conventions this year and has finally been released for public consumption. This is a two-player game and each play takes just a few minutes. One player sits in front of a screen on which a bomb is laid out. That player describes what they see to a second player who frantically looks through a manual and tries to help the first player diffuse the bomb. It is incredibly fun.
For the TableTop lovers among you, King of New York has been getting consistently great reviews. It’s a fantastic sequel to King of Tokyo but, unlike other sequel games, this one is not simply the exact same game with different pictures and character names (hello, Monopoly, we’re looking at you). This game introduces a few new mechanics and storylines that are really fun.
Reading
Even if your favorite geek isn’t super into comics, they will likely love Saga. Saga is a beautiful and rich story written by Brian Vaughan and drawn by Fiona Staples. Many critics have said that the character arcs and plotlines in this story–in spite of their fantastical settings–are the most realistic of any of their contemporary comic competitors. Even people who don’t identify as geeks love Saga.
If you want to get your geek the gift that keeps on giving, why not buy them a subscription to Lightspeed Magazine? Lightspeed is the brainchild of famed anthologist John Joseph Adams and edited by an amazing team whose attention to detail and quality helped earn the magazine a Hugo Award this year.
The Philosopher Kings is Jo Walton’s amazing follow up to The Just City and has been getting rave reviews. Walton tackles the idea of what happens when people decide to set up a world based on the ideas of Plato’s Republic. She tackles real-world philosophy and ideology with her easily accessible and conversational writing style. Your favorite geek won’t be able to put it down.
Music and Movies
This has been an amazing year for nerd rock and geek movies. With new releases from Kirby Krackle, The Doubleclicks, The PDX Broadsides, a new EP from Kieran Strange, and new breakout bands like 7 Bit Hero, there is a lot of great music out there that is all based on your favorite geeky themes. In the world of movies, this year we saw a new Jurassic Park, Ex Machina, Mad Max Fury Road, Inside Out, Ant-Man, and the film adaptation of The Martian. Any of these would make a great gift!
See? It doesn’t have to be all about Star Wars. Any of the gifts talked about on this list would be great for your favorite geek this year!
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