PixlBit

Have no fear! There are a few alternatives out there... at least for the people with major consoles, there is.

So, you made it this far through the holiday season. But wait! You forgot about your new brother-in-law! He's not going to be happy with some tulip-covered picture frame of you and your sister hanging out from when you were both in elementary school, right?

For the Wii, there's a simple solution, but one often overlooked. Use the Wii Shop Channel to gift a WiiWare or Virtual Console game of your choice to that special friend or relative who just might have slipped your mind until just now. Of course, there's one minor caveat: This person must be on your Wii console's friend list, and you must also be on theirs. Wii points can be bought directly through the shop at any time, provided you have a credit card that's accepted. The whole process, aside from the friend code segment, is pretty quick and relatively effortless, though choosing which game to gift might be more difficult.

For the PS3, the possibilities are even more broad. Best Buy appears to have Playstation Plus subscription codes, which provide an interesting new service for PlayStation 3 owners, including regular access to select downloadable games and some particular sets of DLC, as well as full game trials. The caveat is that it's an auto-renewing service, so you might give the recipient more harm than good! Additionally, at Best Buy, there appears to be PSN codes, also available at the link above. In a quick glance online, Best Buy was the only company offering PSN codes for general PSN wallet cash, which appear to be emailed upon purchase. Alternatively, Amazon offers individual titles purchase codes for PS3 games. Simply buy the game from Amazon and receive a code to input in the PSN store to receive an online game or several types of DLC.

Xbox Live likely has the fewest options. Amazon.com offers Microsoft Points download codes and Xbox Live subscription codes. The good news? Microsoft Points are the most versatile way to give a gift to someone with an Xbox 360. The recipient, like with the PSN code mentioned above, will get to choose exactly how to spend the gift themselves, so there's little risk of gifting something that won't be appreciated.

Consider any of these options if you're running out of time and you've forgotten a gift for an important gamer in your life. There's a lot of selection and many great choices online. Just in case, consider giving the code in some sort of card, even a finely-decorated hand-made Christmas card with lovely self-drawn pictures might help. You don't want this person knowing you didn't remember to put him or her on your Christmas list, do you?!

Happy Holiday Shopping!