The holiday season is fast approaching and it’s almost never too early to start your Christmas wish-list for either yourself or your loved ones. With gaming being as ubiquitous as it is, you can always count on having a ton of great options to choose from when it comes to peripherals such as controllers. If you want a head-start on some great ideas to gift to others or to give people some ideas to gift to you, this list of the top 5 gaming controllers to get for Christmas is right up your alley.
No.5: Asusporace Wireless Hall-Sensor PlayStation 4 Controller
Platforms: PS4, PC, IOS, Android
Price: $39.99
While the PlayStation 5 may be all the rage these days, the PS4 is still a hugely popular system that people still play all the time. In fact, it’s still one of the best-selling systems on the market, despite being a decade old at this point. That being said, there are a lot of great peripherals for the PS4, including the Asusporace wireless controller with hall-sensor capabilities and dual vibration functionality.
So what’s the benefit of hall sensors and dual vibration? Well, the hall sensors apply to the left and right triggers, giving you better trigger sensitivity and smoothing compared to traditional trigger systems. There is also the ability to personalize your configurations, and a3.5mm stereo headphone jack so you can wirelessly play with the controller and listen to the game sound through your headphones. It’s an awesome controller for the PS4 that typically goes for $39.99, but it’s regularly on sale with either 10% or 20% off depending on discounts and coupons available, which makes it a great pick for Christmas shoppers.
No.4: GuliKit KingKong 2 Wireless Bluetooth Controller For Nintendo Switch
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, PC, IOS
Price: $69.70
This is an amazing controller with the asymmetric analog design of the Xbox controller, but with all of the sensibilities and quality of life features available for the Nintendo Switch. This includes support for Switch wake-up functionality, Amiibo support, and the ability to interchange the buttons for sensitivity and comfort that matches your play-style. There is even turbo capabilities for the triggers and the face button.
This is an amazing controller that only gets better, because it also utilizes hall sensor functionality, but instead of having hall sensors for the triggers it utilizes hall sensors for the two analog sticks. This means that the electromagnetic stick design means you get 100% no dead zones and the analog sticks will never drift. How awesome is that? The best part about it is that the GuliKit KingKong 2 wireless controller can be paired with PC via Bluetooth functionality, meaning you can use it on the Steam Deck, your Apple iPhone, or even on your PC. So this Nintendo Switch controller is basically a universally awesome controller.
No. 3: GameSir G7 Hall Effect Xbox Series X Controller
Platforms: Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Windows 10/11
Price: $49.99
The Xbox has always had the best controllers in the industry. While the original Duke was unwieldy and completely difficult to use for anyone who didn’t have alpha-male hands, the precedent set by that controller completely changed the way we interacted with game peripherals. Over the years, the Xbox controller has slowly evolved over the years, becoming more ergonomic, more sleek, and more functional. The GameSir G7 is basically the culmination of a lot of great tech coming to a head, and it offers some great features.
While there are a lot of meager offerings out there, the GameSir G7 isn’t one of them. It has the typical Xbox asymmetrical analog layout, with all of the necessary face buttons. This is a plug-n-play controller with two customizable back buttons, along with vibration trigger motors and and asymmetric grip vibration, so you get a more nuanced and tactile feedback from your gaming sessions. A 3.5mm headphone jack and the ability to use it on Windows PC systems makes it a great pick. The hall-effect triggers also means you get better trigger responses and without worring about them breaking like traditional triggers. This makes for a cool looking, functional controller to go with if you’re looking for something well designed and affordable for your Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X.
No. 2: PS5 DualSense Controller
Platforms: PS5, PC
Price: $199.00
Expensive, gorgeous, and unique, the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller is perfect for those who need an extra controller for the holiday season to game with family and friends via local co-op on your PS5. The controller is highly versatile and equally functional with a lot of great features. Some of these features include the highly touted DualSense capabilities, which improves a number of quality of life features when it comes to feedback, sensitivity, and precision control.
You can customizable and change the stick caps, remap all of the inputs with custom settings, alter the dead zones, set the travel distance of the triggers, and setup and save your own custom profiles. Not only that but you have wireless functionality and mappable back-buttons for easy access for quick-functions. The controller is definitely expensive, but with haptic feedback and unique trigger functionality, it’s well worth the price for those who want a top-notch controller for their PS5.
No. 1: IFYOO GTP01 Gaming Touchpad Controller
Platforms: PC, Android, MacOS, (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X for games with Keyboard/Mouse support)
Price: $49.99
PC gaming and console gaming has never been bigger, yet the amount of peripherals for certain niche game types has never been more neglected (rumble-based flight sticks anyone?). Well, companies like IFYOO have decided to step up and address some of that neglect with their very own peripheral, namely the GTP01. It doesn’t have the most luxurious name, but its a gaming touchpad that offers so much great functionality for what it has to offer.
The biggest and most unique feature about the GTP01 is its lissome touchpad. Instead of having a right analog stick, you have a mouse-sensitive touchpad that you can use to quickly and easily navigate, just like a mouse. However, the extra benefit of the GTP01 is that it has face buttons that replicate keyboard controls, an analog stick, trigger and bumper buttons, as well as buttons on the back of the gamepad. This gives you almost all of the functionality of controllers like the Xbox Elite, but with all of the range and precision of a keyboard and mouse, all within the form factor of a typical gamepad. It’s well-priced, expertly designed, and offers a window into future peripherals where you might really need light form factor and high precision for games like Escape From Tarkov, Star Citizen, No Man’s Sky, or Counter Strike. The fact that the GTP01 is also compatible not only with PC systems but certain game console software is just an extra bonus, and one of the reasons it’s the perfect Christmas gift for hardcore gamers.
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