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Christmas Cheer Entertainment Games

What To Get A Millionaire Gamer For Xmas? 105

Thanks to CNN Money for their article discussing gifts for the obscenely rich videogamer, as they buck the trend of budget-conscious holiday game shopping and try to pick "the nifty gifts the uber-wealthy will receive this holiday season from their uber-wealthy friends." Picks include Tsunami Visual's TsuMo Deluxe, a $20,000 arcade game which has an adapted version of Crimson Skies as a game option, and Hanaho Games' $5,000 ArcadePC Deluxe, an officially Capcom-licensed 50-game arcade machine which is apparently "extraordinarily popular among professional athletes." If money was genuinely no object, what gaming goodies would you buy for yourself and your friends this holiday season?
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What To Get A Millionaire Gamer For Xmas?

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  • by Phredd ( 15463 ) <frednix.mac@com> on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:16AM (#7762830) Homepage Journal
    I dont know about you guys, but this problem comes up time and time again and just haunts me! What to do, ohhh, what to do?!?!
    • I wrote an article about this on my website, AskaDick.com [askadick.com]. Dick's Holiday Gift Guide [askadick.com] The list includes such gems as Xbox+Modchip and GBASP+Flashcart. More of a practical guide in my opinion than this one, with some humor thrown in. Check it out.
  • by torpor ( 458 ) <ibisumNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:16AM (#7762832) Homepage Journal
    No questions about it. If money is no objection, I would get my game-geek friend a bit of 'outside time' and put them in a Russian MIG for a bit of reality...
    • by Anonymous Coward
      You used to be able to buy uncomforatable MiG office chairs $20 grand, and they will sell people the actual fighters too. A few years of flight lessons and a twin engine supersonic fighter with support contract strikes be as a better than perfect gift. Which would only cost maybe twice as much as a ride in space.
      • While the fuel to keep such a thing operating would be expensive, it WOULD be cool to have one for the good ol' cross-country commute. Go home to see the family for the holidays in style!
  • Simple. (Score:5, Funny)

    by userloser ( 707754 ) <dan.staticwaves@co@uk> on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:16AM (#7762833) Homepage
    I'd hire a ground team to dig up all those lonely E.T carts.
  • space ride (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ghettoreb ( 711310 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:19AM (#7762843) Homepage
    that $20 mil space ticket sounds too good to be true, for example...
  • DDR (Score:3, Funny)

    by Mynt-E ( 662631 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:22AM (#7762853)
    I'd buy myself a DDR 8th Mix machine, then make my friends pay to play.
    • I'd get a DDR machine a lose 40 pounds, just like all the DDR fanatics claim to have done. I've played DDR, and I like it. Havin gone in-house, as it were, would be fantastic. I've even considered building a proper metal base and plugging it into a PS2, but that's something to think about if I ever have money AND free time.
      • Re:DDR (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Saige ( 53303 )
        It would be cheaper to just get a pair of Cobalt Flux [ipowerweb.com] platforms, and hook that up to a PC with Stepmania [stepmania.com], or even a PS2 with DDR MAX/DDR MAX 2.

        Though a full-sized DDR machine would be cool as hell to have!
  • by Andy Smith ( 55346 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:29AM (#7762885)
    If I use it to take a picture of a video game, does this count? [jessops.com]
  • Flight Sim. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ThetaPi ( 720252 )
    I could always get one of those realistic flight sims the government uses to train fighter pilots.
  • easy (Score:5, Funny)

    by hitchhacker ( 122525 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:34AM (#7762905) Homepage
    Two chicks at the same time.
    • by mo^ ( 150717 )
      at least throw in the flights to amsterdam!

      the chicks only cost $30 a piece............

    • Re:easy (Score:3, Funny)

      by *weasel ( 174362 )
      'that's it? If you had a million dollars, that's what you'd do, two chicks at the same time?'

      'damn straight, always wanted to do that. I figure if i were a millionaire i could Hook that up. Chicks dig money'

      'Lawrence, not all chicks dig money'

      'the kind that would double up on a guy like me do' /at least i caught the reference
    • Coincidentally, that's what I'm getting for Christmas this year.

      Now I just need to work on the "millionaire" part...
  • by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @07:39AM (#7762917)
    Why am I, the non-millionaire, getting gifts for the millionaire gamer?

    Can someone forward this list to a couple of millionaires and let them know I'd like these things? Hell, I'll be happy with just a Gamecube and a copy of Double Dash.

    "What to get the man who has everything?" A Post-It note saying "Give away some of your stuff you greedy buffoon."
  • by XiC ( 207670 )
    How about a life ?
  • ...was no object? The same thing I'd get any gamer if money was no object;

    A box of N-Gages, and a sledgehammer.
  • Duh! A Cave (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lovebyte ( 81275 ) * <lovebyte2000@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Friday December 19, 2003 @08:21AM (#7763110) Homepage
    A Cave [uic.edu], with all the graphics systems (Linux available from SGI), will set you back a few units of currency more than 20K. I have seen a demo of Quake on this thing, so there is at least one game you can play on it.
    • You forget: Quake's source is freely available, and could therefore be modified to be playable on this CAVE. What other games are like this? The only one I can think of is UT.

      So, there you go. You can play Quake and UT. Happy with that?
      • how about descent, I think the whole series is open source, closed data now
        • Thats not a bad idea. I have Descent 1 right here by my left elbow: I never finished it, it proved too hard for me. I always thought it would benefit from some sort of VR immersion system-descent *does* support VR goggles (which I have never used, known anyone who has, or seen any. 90's fad, I do believe)

          The CAVE is..PERFECTION!!!
          • one of the VR technologies you can use, split the screen in half... the left half was to go to the left eye, and the right half to the right eye... I think there was something in the FAQ about building a mirror contraption to fake goggles for that.

            • Yes, but then you'd have to throw in some gyros to detect movement of the head. (the whole point of this is a "real world", right?).

              And anyways, isn't that what those goggles did, anyways?

              I like the idea of a CAVE because you don't have to have anything strapped to your head.
              • Some of the googles had display elements in them, so you'ld connect them directly to the vga card.

                I know current 3d glasses tend to alternate blocking one eye or the other (synched to the refresh rate, hopefully), but I'm not sure if those were supported in descent.

              • Allow me to clarify: Goggles would make it so wherever you looked, you see what you would have seen if you were in the game. In descent, this would save having to turn, and keep you from getting disoriented.

                But how is the display [driver] going to "know" where you're looking? if the goggles don't have gyros on them to detect head movement? (unless you had one of those things that "watches" your eyes, detecting where they look. I think they used lasers, and are now probably considered dangerours).

                So thats
  • Quake (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @08:36AM (#7763220)
    How about a live-action full-scale Quake arena?
  • by fuzzybunny ( 112938 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @08:39AM (#7763256) Homepage Journal
    The way I see it, we should be encouraging people who can afford it not to play games, but to do the real-life thing! So, here's my cost lineup:

    1 Full-auto paintball gun with outfit: ~$500
    1 Over-under shotgun and hunting clothes: ~$3500
    1 Hunting club membership: ~$2000
    1 Set of golf clubs and membership: ~$15,000
    1 2003 Ferrari Enzo: ~$645,000
    1 Tank of 99 Octane gas: ~$75
    1 Private jet lease to go drive on the autobahn:: ~$15,000
    1 Slightly used MiG-29: ~$250,000

    Watching the look on the guy's face as he gets nailed by customs trying to get all this shit into the country: Priceless.
  • How about Steel Battalion for the Xbox? Sure, it's *only* $200.
  • by presearch ( 214913 ) * on Friday December 19, 2003 @09:12AM (#7763519)
    You could buy them 235,000 offshore programmers...
  • Gaming goodies? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @09:58AM (#7763975) Homepage Journal
    Well, there is one thing I would get.

    A solid 24 karat gold Zelda 1 NES cartridge. If one doesn't exist I'll have it made.

    Also, I would get the ultimate racing game [fordvehicles.com]. Or the other ultimate racing game [ferrari.com].

    Or the extremely rare Virtua Racing 2 machine. I know I played it at least once at Epcot Center.

    OOh, Ooh, one of those ms. pac-man galaga machines. Those are hot!
    • "OOh, Ooh, one of those ms. pac-man galaga machines. Those are hot!"

      (Ignoring the soon-to-come MAME commentary for the time being...)

      No big deal - you can pick one of those up brand-new for around $2500-$3000 from any arcade game distributor in your local area. Or the new Space Invaders unit. Or the Centipede/Millipede/Missle Command combo. Of whatever they'll be coming out with next.

      Or you could go to an arcade auction [superauctions.com] and try to buy an original game unit for much less. Some example prices [tch.org]:

      • Ms
      • yeah, that was always my fantasy, real authentic arcade games in an arcade room. When that ridiculous show Silver Spoons came on, I was most impressed that little ricky schroeder's new digs had arcade games.
        I could finally master Defender and Stargate!
        Essential games I would have are:

        Asteroids
        Berzerk (just so i could hear those robots talking)
        Defender
        Stargate
        Robotron
        Dig Dug
        Paperboy
        Tempest
        Pac-Man
        Donkey Kong
        Donkey Kong Jr.
        Gauntlet 2
        I'm sure you'll think of your favorite game that should be on the list too.
  • Duke Nukem Forever... :-p
  • Just get me:
    1. A good pc for gaming
    2. One of each current consoles. Maybe more than one to test lan play, might need additional TVs too. I mean you can't be too cautious.
    3. A copy of every newly released game
    And I will give our little millionaire gamer buddy plenty of unbiased reviews of games without any kind of hype. I won't even charge him for my time.

    Think of it as a priceless gift for a gamer who doesn't know how to spend his money and time.

  • Place a bet on Duke Nukem Forever coming out...The odds must be REALLY good on that one...

    Karem

  • I'd get him a time machine! I don't know how you guys do it, but with all the RPGs, mods, and tons of unlockable features in more recent games (most notably in racing games) I'd get him a time machine so he'd have time to get through them all. Without cheating.
  • Now, I'm twisting the original question around a little bit. I'd set up the long awaited National Video Game Museum of History. This way, I can have every video game ever made on the planet and be altruistic by sharing it with every fan at the same time. It would be Christmas 365 days a year!
  • by nsda's_deviant ( 602648 ) on Friday December 19, 2003 @01:06PM (#7766435)
    logicool, the japanese arm of logitech just released the ultimate drive game setup for crazies. Look here [logicool.co.jp]. The setup features an actual Sparco seat from the Italian manufactuer with mounted petals and wheel setup from Logicool's new 900 degree GT Force Pro wheel. The whole setup costs a cool $850 US, if you throw in a Plasma and a dedicated PS2, you can have the ultimate driving simulator for under 5k. And by ultimate I mean that profressional driving schools use a similar setup to train for driving line, applied breaking techniques and 4wheel drift. Note the 30 so inch HDTVs here [motortrend.com]. The whole setup may 'only' be 5k but with games like GT4, R: Evolution the whole setup beats the pants of most arcade driving games (the only thing lacking is force feed back seats). Even millionares can't drive 500+ cars (not to mention the fantasy drift of the Ridge Racer games).
  • If you're looking for an extravagant christmas present for the richo gamer freak, why not put down the cash for a decent game developer. US$9 million should get you your own GTA or half-assed RPG game developer, you'd be able to give the kid EXACTLY the game it always wanted to have!
  • How can Namco get $2,772 [com.com] for a machine that plays Space Invaders when an arcade operator could spend a little more and get the ArcadePC Deluxe and 50 games? (besides breaking the licensing).
    • cause the space invaders machine works well?

      seriously, I've played on those ArcadePC's and some of the games work alright, but a lot of them have video issues (rolling, etc)... and you don't get to see the game's attract screens, which is pretty lame
  • If money was genuinely no object, what gaming goodies would you buy for yourself and your friends this holiday season?

    If money was genuinely no object? I'd buy Microsoft.

  • That story on sensors that hook up directly to your brain seems appropriate. It would work now to control games, but it's not a mass-market thing. Sure, it may be a $99.99 "control cap" years from now, but a superior customized setup should be doable now if you've got the cash.
  • I'd just rent time in one of those air combat games where you fly real planes. Or maybe just permanently hire pilots that will be housed at my private airstrip and fly my planes whenever I want to play.
  • Why not buy a pinball machine?

    The new "Lord Of The Rings" game is out, and it's available for roughly $4,000.00 from local distributors. It's said to be the best Stern pinball game to date (Stern is the only pinball manufacturer still standing).

    http://www.sternpinball.com/LordoftheRings.htm [sternpinball.com]

    It's the perfect antidote to looking at video screens all day. Pinball is popular here in the Bay Area because so many people stare at monitors all day and don't want to be entertained simply by staring at another
  • Shockingly i've noticed no suggestions of neogeo hardware. With games like Metal Slug ($2750 approx), Winning 11 ($5000 approx) and Kizuna Encounter ($11000 approx) to buy surely a millionaire gamer could easily be catered for? Admittedly you'd have to actually find the games, but NeoGeo is surely the rich-mans 16-bit dream?
  • this is an easy question:
    if i knew a millionaire gamer, i'd give them the free tote bag and lanyard i got from E3 last year.

    out.
  • An Athlon 64 FX-51, 4 GB DDR500 RAM, 5x 1TB Drives in a RAID 0+1 array, Sound Blaster Live! Audigy Platinum 2, Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speakrs, and a Radeon 9800 XT to power my gaming habits. :) Of course, money is a problem, so maybe nothing :(

Think of it! With VLSI we can pack 100 ENIACs in 1 sq. cm.!

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