Who says gaming has to be expensive? You can get great deals for games if you’re paying attention, and you can find some great affordable accessories if you know where to look.
Whether you’re looking for a great gaming gift or just want to buy yourself something without going broke, here are seven things every gamer should consider buying, all for less than ten bucks.
We’ve shown you that accessories can make you a better gamer or that they can just make gaming more fun – here are a few things you can pick up for next to nothing.
Emulators make it easy to play your favourite classic games on a PC or Mac, and sure: keyboards work. But for the ultimate retro experience, you need to play with a classic controller.
Gtron makes surprisingly affordable USB versions of the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis and other classic controllers.
A good gaming mouse has extra buttons, which you can map to all kinds of keyboard shortcuts – very useful for strategy games and MMOs. But some of these mice can set you back a lot of money.
Monoprice is a company known for offering affordable accessories, and their 6-button gaming mouse certainly fits the bill at under $10. If you’re been thinking about a gaming mouse, but don’t want to spend a lot of money, this is a no-brainer.
Touch screen direction pads suck, because there’s no tactile response. This joystick, which attaches to your tablet with suction cups and mimics the touch of your finger, makes things a little easier. Sure, you could just hook up a controller to your iPad, but JoystickIt doesn’t require any setup. It’s not perfect, but it makes many games a lot easier to play.
If you want to record your classic gaming session, or just use your computer monitor as a display for your old consoles, you need some way to output the video to your computer. This ten dollar adapter can do that, easily. It’s not going to replace high-end solutions, and it will take a little bit of time to set up, but it get the job done.
Wish your controllers offered a bit more grip? These affordable covers might be right for you, and can also protect your controllers from getting scratched.
The XBox has one of the best controllers in gaming, but do you find your fingers slip right off the analogue sticks? These foam grips can help. You’ll get four sets to try: two short, two tall (the tall ones are shown above). Never have sore thumbs after a session again.
Not all gamers need screens. If you’re more of a pen-and-paper sort, but still like a little flash from time to time, check out this 20-sided die from ThinkGeek.
There’s nothing better than rolling a 20 – a critical hit. This die lights up when you do so, making the moment that much sweeter.
This is just a quick roundup – we’re sure that there’s more out there. So we want to know: what are your favourite video game accessories that can be found for under $10? Let’s get a list going in the comments, okay?
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