Annual Festival of Capitalism wishlist: what we want as presents this year

News by Staff Contributor

Published on Dec. 22, 2014

2014 draws to a close and for many people around the world that means presents. Here's what the VG247 crew are asking their nearest, dearest and various religious and mythological figures to provide on or around December.

If you celebrate something at the end of the year resulting in presents, chances are you have a bit of a wishlist going. So do we. Here's what the five of us - Sherif, Steph, Brenna, Matt and Pat - are going to be looking for when we open our hauls. Some of it is games related, and some of it is not. All of it better show up or someone's going to have to answer some pointed questions.

No affiliate links, no sponsorship deals, no agenda: just the cordite-like scent of our material greed.

Staff writer, Sherif Saed:

A PS4

Our resident Master Race member is thawing a little.

I don't really need a PlayStation 4, it doesn't have any games that I want to play - not including anything else that I can play on a PC. But it seems more and more publishers are making it their "lead platform", sending out PS4 copies of games, et cetera. Ideally, I would want one before Bloodborne comes out, because it's the only game that would really make me get one. Besides, all the cool kids are sporting one, and I feel a bit left out.

Having a drink with all members of the VG247 crew

Bless his little heart, he doesn't yet know what monsters we are.

I've been an avid VG247 reader since the early days of the site (hello OlderGamer, TheEvilAires, Blerk, Hunam, freedoms_stain) and I've always wanted to sit down with the whole gang, including past members like Johnny Cullen and Dave Cook. There's always this connection you feel to the staff of a website you visit regularly, a connection that demands seeing them face-to-face and conversing with them. Now that I work for the site, I think (hope?) that my chances of seeing the gang in person have been greatly increased.

A Pink Floyd world tour

Sometimes it is best if our wishes are not granted, tbh.

I genuinely believe there is a better chance of world peace happening than for the remaining members of Pink Floyd to host one last tour. It will never happen. I will never get to see them live. But one can dream!

Global news editor, Stephany Nunneley:

Dragon Age: Inquisition

The first of multiple appearances.

Since new PC innards are out of the question until next year, I will be satisfied with Dragon Age: Inquisition. I really enjoyed the first outing, and due to frustrations experiences with the second game in the series (which I won't go into here), I never finished the game. I like the idea of co-op in DAI, as I am starting to become bored playing games all by my lonesome - which is odd considering people in general get on my damn nerves. If I do by chance open up a copy on Christmas morning, I won't install it until probably February. I should have some smoking hot PC parts installed in my tower by that time. Luckily I already have a nice quad-core processor, so I just new "MOAR RAM!!" and a nice graphics card.

Winter boots

Keira Knightley approves.

I need winter boots. I have a pair picked out, so we'll see if Santa brings me the correct ones. It gets rather snowy where I live. Sometimes overly wet or icy - it just depends on the point in Mother Nature's monthly cycle. I have plenty of dress boots, and couple of pairs I would be kicked out of church for wearing or which would cause me to be solicited by random men off the street (yes, I own both pairs and yes, I paid too much for them). I love boots, but I don't have any that keep my feet warm and dry. Time to be a grown up and ask for a pair, I reckon.

A session with Wolf Park

Steph gets really aggro about wolves being baddies in games.

Back in autumn 2012, I had a photography session scheduled with Wolf Park up in Indiana. Anyone who knows me well enough is aware of my utter fascination with and love of animals, but wolves are my absolute favorite. Yes, even more so than horses. I booked a trip to the place as a birthday present to myself, but circumstances keep causing me to reschedule my session: lots of vet bills, a blown transmission in the car, my big Yeti dog and Nikki cat passing away, Christmas, etc. I ended up just cancelling and telling the park to keep the funds as a donation. Long story short, I want to go - finally - and this is at least one present I KNOW I am getting, because I'm forking over the cash myself.

Next: Brenna and Matt.

News Editor (Australia), Brenna Hillier:

A proper home theatre speaker set

Is it worth the hassle to jump to 7.2, or is 5.2 good enough in a smaller room?

For various reasons over the past year I've spent a lot of time gaming at my desk rather than on the couch, and since my speakers died shortly before this state of affairs, I've been using a headset a lot. (I have a Logitech G35 which I've been using solidly for about three years, and until the padding began to peel recently I loved it, and would still recommend it wholeheartedly.) Whenever I go back to the couch, at home or abroad, and play without a headset, I become aware of just how dependent on decent surround sound I've become. Without directionality in SFX, I spent a lot of time in Destiny spinning on the spot, trying to find enemies, for example. I have a pretty good stereo hooked up to my telly, but it's time to get a real home theatre situation going there. If anybody has any recommendations, I'm listening.

At least 40 hours to spend with Dragon Age: Inquisition

Hello Dragon Age my old friend.

I rarely take leave in big chunks or have any time to game when I do, and the state of my schedule otherwise means I do a lot of gaming in short, shallow gasps between other commitments. Dragon Age: Inquisition deserves more from me than that, and I want to give it. I'm taking two weeks off over the holiday period, and I'm taking my PS4 with me. I'm going to plug it into the telly at my dad's beach house (Australia, remember?), and I'm going to sit in front of it, and I'm not going to move except to throw myself in the ocean once a day and to consume vast quantities of food. If I haven't virtually banged half the cast by the time I have to go back to work I will be very disappointed in myself.

A David Bowie bedspread

If they don't fall in love after seeing this, we're not shagging.

I asked my best friend for this Jess Fink print duvet cover featuring multiple incarnations of David Bowie and if she doesn't pony up I'll be remarkably surprised. I cannot wait to lure someone back to my bedroom and spring this relationship litmus test on them.

Editor-in-chief, Matt Martin:

Dragon Age: Inquisition

WE GET IT, VG247 LOVES DRAGON AGE.

I've been purposefully avoiding Inquisition as much as is professionally possible. And I haven't played the previous two games so I'll either be baffled or blown away by it. But of all the games that have been released this year that I haven't got around to playing yet, this is the only one I want to play personally. I'm secretly hoping it will fill the Skyrim gap in my life, and it might also take me back to the days of playing pen and paper fantasy RPGs before I could afford video games. I miss them.

A proper set of headphones

Almost any USB headset will work with your PS4, Matt.

I don't know how I can have three sets of in-ear phones and three headsets and none of them are compatible with my PS4. I'm still using that cheap and nasty in-ear thing that came with the PS4. It hangs loose in my ear hole and is crackly as f**k. Santa, hook me up, yo.

Faster broadband

"Idyllic" Wales.

This is killing me. I can stream TV and music, but when it comes to updating and downloading games it's an all night job. Even basic firmware takes a tedious couple of hours. This is the price I pay for living in Wales. It's beautiful, but it's 10 years behind everywhere else.

Next: founder and boss man Pat, who gets his own page, of course.

Publisher and chief whip cracker, Patrick Garratt

A new headset for PS4

Maybe I should email this article to the boss's wife?

I really need a new headset. I'm still using the out-of-the-box PS4 thing, and it hurts your ear after a while. Not so good for nightly GTA Online sessions. PCGamer reckons the Kingston HyperX Cloud is best, and I'm not going to argue. That one, please.

A Ferrari

I don't know what else I was expecting from Google Image Search, to be honest.

I don't really want a Ferrari, but having one would mean I'd own a Ferrari. I'd be able to have a little wank in my Ferrari. I could take my Ferrari to Germany, where there's no speed limit on the autobahn, and pretend to be awesome. Mainly, though, it's about wanking in a Ferrari. If anyone reading this has a Ferrari in which I could wank, drop me a line.

Some awesome cannabis

Pictured: cannabis. Or possibly mint? Plants aren't really my thing.

I definitely do want some awesome cannabis for Christmas. Trees feature widely in the year-end celebration, after all. Merry Christmas, or whatever it is you do, and a happy New Year. I hope you all get what you deserve this holiday.

That's us, then; now it's your turn. What are you hoping to score this festive season?