By Garrett Martin

When deciding on a gift for the videogame fan in your life, you should remember that there is more to gaming than simply videogames. There are also books about videogames, and ways to make videos about playing videogames, and weird toys that are mandatory to do anything within certain videogames. If you’re at a loss, take a quick look at the ideas below, where you’re sure to find something for that special somebody. Also, we didn’t list any, but you could always just give them a game, too. They’d probably like that, since they like videogames.

The Elgato Game Capture HD60 will make your streams and videos look better.

Writing is dead. Nobody reads anymore. If you expect anybody to pay attention to what you have to say, it better be in a poorly edited video of you mugging at a webcam and saying “guys” a lot. At least that’s what your wannabe YouTuber friend probably thinks. If you’re tired of staring at that mug as it rants on about some brand new game that’ll be forgotten in a week, get ‘em an Elgato Game Capture HD60. With this handy little box they can rip game footage in 1080p and at 60 frames per second, classing up their Twitch stream or Let’s Play channel. It’s the least you can do for your PewDiePie in training.

Read books about videogames.

Okay, some people still read. You just might be one of them. If you or your friends are looking for thorough, insightful analyses of some of the most important games ever made, the Boss Fight Books series deserves space on your bookshelf. They’re like those tiny little 33 1/3 books, only about Chrono Trigger or Galaga instead of PJ Harvey. If you’re more into impressionistic essays that obliquely reference games from the 1980s, pick up Brian Oliu’s Leave Luck to Heaven, a poetic journey through a pretty solid NES library.

The Wii U should have finally reached everybody’s tipping point.

We put Nintendo’s struggling console on last year’s list because it finally had a healthy software library and a reduced price. Both are more true than ever a year later. It might not have the deepest line-up of games, but it has more Nintendo games than any other current console. (They all have zero Nintendo games.) There are more than enough modern Nintendo classics on the Wii U to entice anybody who enjoys fun and playfulness. In 2014 alone Nintendo has released Super Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2, an excellent Donkey Kong Country game and the brand new Super Smash Bros. Bundles abound, mixing up these games with some of the best from 2012 and 2013. The Wii U is probably at its peak right now, and a great gift for anybody who loves games.

The Playstation TV: It serves a purpose.

The Playstation TV is weird. This microconsole is basically a Playstation Vita squeezed into a box the size of a deck of cards and plugged into your TV. It even looks and sounds like a Vita when you boot it up. It doesn’t play all of the Vita’s games, and it won’t let you use some of the Vita’s streaming video apps (including Netflix), but if you want to introduce a friend to the concept of gaming, or watch Crackle and CrunchyRoll on your TV, the Playstation TV is a low-cost option. And if you own a Playstation 4, you can play it remotely on another TV through the Playstation TV. That’s a nice feature for the sleepy citizen looking to take their play from the couch to the bed.

Microsoft went back on everything that made the Xbox One different, and that made it a success…

The Xbox One did not sail smoothly into our entertainment centers last year. Almost everything about the Xbox One that caused such consternation among game fans in 2013 has been removed, from the “always online” boondoggle that went permanently offline before the system even shipped, to the updated Kinect motion sensor that boosted the price tag by a hundred bucks. You can now buy an Xbox One without the camera, which closes the price gap with the Playstation 4. Also, after a year, the Xbox One has a better roster of exclusive games than Sony’s system. It boasts a healthy assortment of third-party favorites and such exclusives as D4, Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2 and Fantasia: Music Evolved(although you will need to drop that extra hundred on a Kinect to play that last one.) The Xbox One isn’t a dream machine, but it’s in much better shape today than many would have expected a year ago.

but your friends (or your loved one’s friends) probably all have a Playstation 4.

Yes, the Playstation 4 is in more homes than the Xbox One or Wii U. That’s a strong draw if you’re looking to buy or give a new console and if you’re concerned about online play or being able to share games (because the hardware companies haven’t made that completely impossible yet). It’s the standard-bearer of the current generation because it showed up cheaper than the Xbox One and with more features at launch, including the ability to stream through Twitch or Ustream with the push of a button. The differences aren’t that dramatic today (the Xbox One can now stream and is even $50 cheaper than the PS4 through the end of 2014) but if your family only needs one current console it’s hard to argue against the momentum of the Playstation 4. It also has the most comfortable controller, which is a bigger deal than you might think.

Real ‘80’s/’90’s kids can’t let go of the ‘80’s/’90’s.

Real ‘80’s kids know that a company called AtGames owns a near-monopoly on their videogame childhood. AtGames makes those recreations of classic videogame systems that look like the original boxes and come with dozens of games built in. They just released the Atari Flashback 5, their latest stab at the original Atari 2600, and also have mock-ups of the Intellivision and Colecovision. They also make a line of Sega Genesis products, from a console that plays actual Genesis cartridges to two different handhelds that come preloaded with Genesis games or Sega Master System and Game Gear titles. They may not perfectly emulate the original items, but if you want to relive the past without springing for a pricey modern system or gambling on eBay, these functional remakes will do the trick.

There are even more collectible toys to bring to life within your videogames.

Skylanders and Disney Infinity didn’t just go away after last Christmas. They still exist, and have released way more product. Disney Infinity 2.0 has brought the Marvel Super Heroes into the game, alongside a new handful of traditional Disney characters. Skylanders Trap Team introduces another gaggle of new Skylander heroes, along with traps used to capture bad guys for play in-game. And now Nintendo’s gotten into the game with the Amiibo figures, which interface with Super Smash Bros. and other Nintendo games to save data or unlock new in-game accessories. As we wrote last year, these games and figures are an easy gift machine, letting you know exactly what to get for every gift-giving occasion over the next year or two.