Reasons to Gift Video Games This Holiday Season

The holiday season is here with us and many people face the challenge of choosing the best gifts for their loved ones. If you have gamers in your life, there are various video games available that fit various people, from younger players to the more seasoned veterans, which cover light party games to those that may take many hours to fully finish. If you are wondering if you should gift video games or not, then the answer is a definite yes. This post looks at 5 top reasons to gift video games this holiday season.

1. Video Games Improve Basic Visual Processes

One major reason to gift video games this holiday season is their ability to improve visual contrast sensitivity. Playing a video game for about 50 hours (spread over 10-12 weeks) improves visual contrast sensitivity where players are seen to have the ability to tell between subtle differences in colors.

Playing video games has also been proved to successfully treat amblyopia, (also known as “lazy eye”) which is a disorder that arises from early childhood where one eye becomes basically non-functional. Regular video game play can treat this condition where the player can play or do other things such as watching television or knitting with the good eye covered. Great improvements can be made from these games and the player is likely to show normal or near-normal functioning of the “bad eye”.

2. Video Games Improve Executive Functioning

Executive functioning refers to one’s ability to allot their mental resources (like attention, memory, perception) in ways that allow for fast, efficient decision making or problem-solving. Video game play improves one’s ability to engage in several tasks simultaneously. If a loved one has trouble multitasking, consider buying them a video game this holiday season and you will be thankful you did.

Also, another reason you should gift video games is their ability to reverse mental decline that comes with aging. Cognitive flexibility, working memory, abstract reasoning and attention all tend to decline with age. Buying an elderly loved one this gift is a sure way to improve all of these abilities.

3. Video Games Improve Attention And Vigilance

If you are still wondering why you should gift video games this season, then you should know this gift improves the ability to track moving objects in a field of distractors. For instance, action games improve the ability of adults and children to keep track of a set of moving objects visually identical to added moving objects in the visual field.

Also, playing video games overcomes dyslexia. In some cases, dyslexia seems to originate from issues of visual attention. If you have a dyslexic child in your family, then consider buying them this gift as it is likely to improve their scores on reading and phonology tests.

4. Video Games Help Ease Pain

It is common to try to distract yourself from pain by paying attention to another thing or focusing on another body mechanism. However, that is not the only reason why video game play is a great post-injury prescription. Playing these games can actually cause the production of an analgesic (pain-killing) response in your higher cortical systems. If you have a loved one in some kind of pain, consider gifting them a video game this holiday season.

5. Video Games Improve Job-Related Skills

Video games are a great gift this holiday season as they improve job performance, particularly for jobs that require excellent working memory, good eye-hand coordination, attention, and fast decision-making. You will notice that video gamers are likely to be better than non-gamers in the ability to fly as well as land aerial drones and are basically as good as qualified pilots on this skill.

If you have children or grandchildren in college, help them become better at their job by buying them this gift. Also, if you have loved ones who are pilots, surgeons or in any other job that requires attention, good working memory, and good eye-hand coordination, then buying them a video game gift will help them become better at their job.

Video games are a great gift for both children and adults. There are different games in the market to fit different categories of consumers. Remember, video games will not only entertain your loved ones, they will also give them several healthy benefits.

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A Review of Fallout 4: What to Expect

For the thrills and excitement it provides, Fallout 4 is anxiously being awaited, in fact since 2008 already. It surely is one of the most awaited games for PS4, Xbox One and PC with plenty of speculation about it. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios, the open world action role-playing video game will be the 5th major installment in the series. The video game, set in Boston, is expected to be released globally on November 10, 2015.  Up to this moment, Bethesda has done everyone a favor by not blurting out too much information about the game and spoiling it for everyone.

Customize Your Character with Certain Attributes

One thing that has been established is that the game has plenty of dialogue, and that an official Bethesda Twitter revealed more than 11,000 lines in fact in the game. Bethesda may be keeping key details under wraps concerning the Fallout 4 story, but there are always those who manage to get hold of the information they want. To this end it has been established that the game commences with bombs falling on the Saturday morning with the nuclear family having the ever-present threat of war over their heads.

As the characters move into their bathroom, you are given the chance to personalize your character right down to opting whether you want to be male or female. In fact, a similar aspect to Fallout 3 is that you can upgrade your character.

There are several character traits that make your character what it is. Just as an example, you can select a character trait from the provided attributes list. If you choose ‘S’ as an example, which represents Strength, you will be bestowed with strength to enable you to deal with being in the wasteland where resources and supplies are scarce. The ‘P’ represents Perception for instance while the ‘A’ provides you with Agility skills. In the game, when you come across an item of value, you keep it because it makes you stronger so that you can carry even more useful items with you. The interesting thing with Fallout 4 is that the SPECIAL characteristic defines who your unique character is and what they do and think in Fallout 4.
You’ve Got Total Freedom

With Fallout 4, players will be part of what Bethesda refers to as a massive dynamic world and as a player, you can go wherever you want to go and do what you want to do. The goal of Bethesda with Fallout 4 is to offer players plenty of freedom. Where Fallout 3 allowed you to choose between 1st and 3rd person, with Fallout 4, everything is about player choice. A dog is given to you soon after starting, and this four-legged character becomes your best friend and you are able to give it commands.

Fantastic Graphics and Technologies

There will be a PS3- or an Xbox version of the game, and this is because of the game’s sophisticated technology as well as graphics for the last generation consoles. Fans of the game will however be pleased to know that gameplay for Fallout 4 is similar to the previous two main entries in the series and that there are some recognizable features that will be seen again.

One of the favorite features is the camera which is able to switch from 1st to 3rd person view with the ability to roam wherever on the map. Players can customize weapons and this is awesome when you think that the game includes more than 50 base guns and that there are more than 700 modifications available. Bethesda has also roped in id Software, a development team, to help improve Fallout 4 gun play.

Fallout 4 also brings back Fallout 3’s VATS combat targeting system. This is where you can choose to shoot individual body parts for increased damage.

Pre-Order Now

Excited about Fallout 4? The controls of the game have been designed by none other than Josh Hamrick. He was part of the team that worked on Destiny’s Remote Play controls. You’ll be able to play the game on your PS Vita through PS4 Remote Play. If you want to be sure you get your game, you can now pre-order it. United Kingdom consumers are able to pre-order from GAME on PC for instance while consumers in the United States will be able to pre-order from a number of retailers.

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