If You Are Gifting a Game System, Customize It Now, Not at Christmas.
I assumed this advice was old news, but I’ve seen tons of tweets that make me feel like a lot of holiday gift givers still don’t know the big secret of providing video games and game consoles. So here we are again, fresh with warm holiday tips that might require you to repack a gift or two. Trust me, it’s worth it.
If you give someone a game console or even a video game – usually something on disk, or a tiny SD card that you insert into said console – you need a little time today to deploy, run and install it. any updates it asks for.
Why is this? Because there is a chance that on December 25, the manufacturer’s (or game) servers will be shut down and everyone will try to do the same. And when that happens, the lovely console you bought for this tiny little man in your house becomes a paperweight, not something they can glue their faces to for the rest of the day.
Upgrading your console is easy, whether you’ve purchased an Xbox One , PlayStation 4, or Nintendo Switch – to name the big three. If you bought someone Google Stadia , you probably want them to go through the installation process themselves. Eventually, they’ll want to link the device to their Google accounts, which means they’ll get stuck installing updates for the console. (On the other hand, the updates are probably not very big, and they won’t have to download games for this streaming-focused console.)
Obviously, this update process gets a little more difficult if you give someone a game, as you will probably have to install it on that person’s console first. Once you’ve done that, check for updates that may be in the game (usually through an additional menu, the same one you would use to uninstall the game) and try launching it to make sure it loads without a hitch. …
To hide the game, as it will be pretty obvious once you install it, you can try moving it to the extreme end of the recipient’s digital list of titles. They probably won’t notice, but you are playing dice. This works best when you are gifting someone a brand new console, or better yet, a brand new console with some extra games.
Of course, there is always this way: