Choosing the right videogame to give as a gift can be hard with all the choices out there. Here’s a list of the best and top-selling titles of this holiday season. You’ll want to beat a path to the store for these before they sell out.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PC
“Black Ops,” a Cold War-era first-person shooter, is the game to buy this season. The title, published by Activision, sold a staggering 8.4 million copies in its first month.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
PC, Mac
If you have lost a loved one to the huge time-sink that is “World of Warcraft,” you may want to think twice about getting them this latest expansion pack. “Cataclysm” brings new levels and races to the mass multiplayer online role-playing game. The expansion sold more than 3.3 million copies on it release date.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
The latest game in this hit series has players slinking around the streets of Renaissance Italy as an assassin. “Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood” sold more than 1 million copies in the first week of its launch last month.
Gran Turismo 5
PlayStation 3
This racing title is a car enthusiast’s dream come true, with more than a 1,000 cars to choose from, including some of the most exotic roadsters around.
StarCraft 2
PC, Mac
For real-time strategy games, where you control combat units and armies and direct them against computer or human-controlled opponents, there is no better franchise than “StarCraft.” The long-awaited second installment has not failed to delight critics, fans and newcomers.
Fable III
Xbox 360
“Fable III” is the latest in a series of action role-playing games with a unique twist: the choices players make vastly affects who their characters become as well as the game’s outcome. You can choose to be noble or slaughter innocents, and thus determine your character’s moral compass. You’re also in charge of leading a nation, so you can tax your countrymen to death and get rich, or share the wealth.
Infinity Blade
iPhone, iPod touch
“Infinity Blade” is Apple’s answer to serious gamers who think the iPhone is only for silly, casual games. The action role-playing title, gorgeously rendered in 3-D, has players fighting it out, medieval style. Released on Dec. 9, it’s the fastest grossing app, selling more than a quarter of a million copies in just the first four days.
Angry Birds
iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android, Nokia N900, Symbian 3
It has become one of the top-selling iPhone games. Though it looks simple and cartoonish, “Angry Birds” is a fiendishly addictive and cute puzzle game.
Minecraft
PC, Mac
This indie title, downloadable for PC or Mac, is the year’s sleeper hit, with nearly 2 million registered users and more than 600,000 purchases of the game. The game begins with your character on an island struggling for his survival, but it soon becomes about building and creating more and more complex structures, with lots of creative license.
Civilization V
PC, Mac
This strategy game is the latest in the series from the great game-maker, Sid Meier. It’s “SimCity” meets the History Channel, where players take control of a prehistoric civilization and try to keep it advancing and developing.
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Nintendo Wii
Iconic character Kirby is back in his latest adventure. “Kirby’s Epic Yarn” is not only a fun adventure title to play, it’s also fun to watch the arts-and-crafts aesthetic of the game as it, ahem, unravels.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, PC
Like fast cars and outracing cops? “Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit”puts you in the driver’s seat in frenetic, high-speed chases.