In this week’s edition of the Georgia Straight is my annual gift guide, picking those titles and peripherals that I recommend for gamers and those who love them.

If you’re a gamer, the holiday season is a great time to fill in the gaps in your library. If you’ve got a gamer on your list, you’ll win points for giving just the right thing. Here are some suggestions for both groups. And respect the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s ratings—they exist for a reason.

Benanon sent me the link to this today. A video showing the peace treaty negotiation between the Pigs and the Angry Birds.

Brilliant.

The cover story of the December issue of Vancouver Magazine is the annual Power 50 list, for which I was a contributor.

I was asked by the editors to write about Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business and native son of the city. He’s a new addition to the list, and is in position #38.

In this week’s edition of the Georgia Straight is a collection of my capsule reviews of recent games.

With the exception of the awful James Bond game, they’re all worth a look.

Next week, the annual Trigger Happy holiday gift guide. Watch for it.

Another review from me in today’s Globe is for the latest Nintendo release, Donkey Kong Country Returns, a perfectly playable platformer for the Wii.

Donkey Kong is one angry gorilla. He’s always stomping about, pounding the ground and beating his chest. In Donkey Kong Country Returns, he’s got good reason to be throwing a tantrum. Elephant and Giraffe, entranced by the music of some evil Tikis, have made off with his stash of bananas. Donkey Kong is immune to the siren song, and after beating a Tiki into submission, sets out to get his bananas back.