Valentine's Day gift ideas for your geek

Anyone can go to Walmart and buy a generic box of chocolates and a depressing bouquet of flowers. To really impress your valentine, you need to earn the power of love.

Whether you are finding a new gift for your significant other or trying to impress your crush, captivate your valentine's pixelated heart with some of these gifts: 

Custom Controllers 

Sure, you could buy your honey a sweet custom controller from a website like Imagine Customs, or you can save yourself $40+ and customize a brand new controller yourself.

Sometimes less is more.

All you'll need for this is a brand new controller, sharpies and stickers. Carefully open the box - you'll want to keep this to wrap the controller later. Then decorate to your heart's desire!

On my boyfriend's controller, I wrote phrases he says when he games and drew cool designs.*

If you are worried about mixing and matching colored sharpies, I recommend purchasing a black controller. Since only metallic colored sharpies will show up, you can keep your color scheme simple.

*If the gamer receiving this gift likes to play for hours on end or has sweaty hands, the sharpie will fade after a few months. This happened to my boy's controller.

Video game box valentine 

Instead of going out to an overcrowded movie or playing Black Ops 2 until the point of frustration, take a second and try a new game knowing little to nothing going in.

Rule Japan with me?

If you weren't planning on giving a game - presumably because your valentine already owns all the titles worth having - think again. Co-op video games make for great gifts, especially when they are only $9.99.

Take the time to stroll through the used games section of GameStop, pick up a co-op game, use your smartphone to look up a few reviews and go out on a limb and buy something random. This is how my boyfriend and I kicked our Modern Warfare 3 rage.

Once you've chosen a game, do something cute with the cover. If you manage to pick up a game with the original case, do something simple like a word bubble from one of the characters on the box art or add a decorative heart boarder. Not only will this serve as a cute substitute for a valentine, but it also marks the game as something special between you and that person.

If you are feeling truly creative, take the box art cover out of the sleeve and decorate the white side with a poem, cute drawing, collage... the possibilities are endless.

Quick gifts

If you are short on time, here are some easy to order gifts for the geek of your life:

Geek jewelry

Easy, classic, jewelry. It's difficult to go wrong with one of these bad boys.

Potion necklaces via GeekyCauldrons

Energy sword earrings via LicketyCut

Geek plushes

These cute plushes come at a high price, but they are well worth it. 

Salvador the Gunzerker via Cyberscribe

Crochet moogle via amiamour

Geek figure with a lovey dovey quote

Collectible vinyl figures from Funko are adorable! They make for great desk companions.

Khal Drogo vinyl via Amazon

Cortana vinyl via Amazon

When writing out your Valentine's Day card, keep a theme by writing something relevant to your gift. For example, if you are giving Khal Drogo, write 'to the moon of my life.' Reversely if you are giving Daenerys, write 'to my sun and stars.'

Of course, all these gifts go great with chocolate.

What are your plans for Valentine's Day? 

Microsoft Conference - E3 2012

Once again, it's here! E3 - also known as the most important televised event in the gaming community - begins today with the anticipated Microsoft Conference. Like last year, I'll be breaking down the conference and reporting what's what - that way you don't have to think about it too much.

Microsoft picked up right where they left off from last year by premiering the partially live action trailer of Halo 4, which led right into the first ever gameplay footage.

For anyone who has had doubts about Halo 4, and I know there are a lot of people out there, each and every one of you must watch this video. It's gotten me more excited than ever to get my hands on this game. 343 Industries did a fantastic job on designing the new enemies, and this trailer has me drooling for more. 

After a quick word from Don Mattrick, the barrage of game trailers and gameplay began.

Games

• Splinter Cell: Blacklist (K) 
• Madden NFL 13 (K) 
• FIFA 13 (K) 
• Fable: The Journey (K) (X) 
• Gears of War: Judgement (X) 
• Forza Horizon (X)
• Tomb Raider
• Ascend: New Gods  (X)
• LocoCycle (X)
• Matter (K) (X) 
• Resident Evil 6
• Wreckateer (K) (X) 
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Dance Central 3 (K) (X)  

K = Kinect Enabled 

X = Xbox Exclusive 

Features

Aside from games, Microsoft announced a number of new features. Since they are becoming more entertainment focused, they had a good amount to reveal:  

• Bing Genres - Search entertainment genres through voice control. 
• More Language Identification for Bing 
• Nickelodeon, Paramount, Machinima, Univison added
• NBA Legue Pass/Game Time 
• NHL Game Center 
• Watch ESPN - More networks available 24/7
• Xbox Music - Available on Xbox 360, PCs, Tablets and Phones 
• Nike+ Kinect Training 
• Xbox SmartGlass
• Internet Explorer

Microsoft concluded the conference with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The coolest thing about that for me was that they made their president a woman. Other than that, I wasn't too interested. When it comes to Call of Duty, I prefer Modern Warfare. The game looked interesting but before I'm ready to buy I'll want more information on the game. 

Final Commentary 

SmartGlass was the most impressive new feature Microsoft announced. This system is a way to connect phones, tablets and televisions to movies, gameplay and other media. While you are watching the Game of Thrones on HBO Go, you can whip out your tablet to see what part of the land the characters are at and read other information about the show. It also gives your phone the power to become a remote. This becomes an important feature with the addition of Internet Explorer. You can use your touch phone to scroll, zoom, and perform other features. This is a big improvement from other console internet programs because they are typically difficult to control. Using your phone is much simpler than trying to scroll through each letter and slowly typing with a controller.

Photo from Liveside.net

Another interesting feature was the Nike+ Kinect training. This new program will send you messages to your phone for when you need to workout, connect you to the Nike+ system and provides interactive workout routines. I think this is a smart partnership for Microsoft. Just like Wii Fitness, it will attract a wider audience to their console, especially since it is a program backed by Nike+, which already has a plentiful amount of users. 

As for games, I was disappointed with what Microsoft revealed. There was nothing new that I was really impressed with. We already knew about Halo 4, Tomb Raider, Fable: The Journey and to an extend, the new Gears of War: Judgement and Black Ops 2. Basically, Microsoft needs to step it up when it comes to games - we need more than just sequels. 

Dance Central 3 was another game Microsoft announced. Was anyone surprised? Definitely not about the game, but maybe about Usher's live performance. So, if I purchase Dance Central 3, will Usher pop out of the game? If so, I think they could use this transportation technology to better the world and bring me Orlando Bloom instead. That would be nice. 

What did you think about the conference? 

To watch the conference, click here.

Stay tuned for coverage of EA, Ubisoft and Sony's conferences. 

Yours truly, 

HavokRose