Shack Chat: What do you want for the holidays this year?

The holidays are around the corner and the Shacknews staff has a lot that's on our wish list. Before shooting any requests out to Santa Claus, we'd like to post what we want the most to the general public. Do we want video games? Or do we want something to help us play more video games? Is what we want in the general vicinity of video games?

Let's get into it and talk about what we want for the holidays.

Question: What do you want for the holidays this year?

Enough booze to last the rest of the pandemic - Ozzie Mejia, Grinch

Just leave it at my doorstep. If I have to be at home for the foreseeable future, then I want to at least have something to help get me through it. I've come to appreciate home delivery services and I've taken advantage of it at almost every turn throughout the pandemic. I've come to doubly depend on it as nebulous stay-at-home orders have come down from Los Angeles leadership. So you know what? If I have to stay home, then just give a pandemic-sized supply of beer, I'll remain socially distanced from everybody, and wait for this all to blow over.

A new car - Donovan Erskine, Beep beep

I mean, why not? My car is fine, but it also has well over 200,000 miles and sounds like a lawnmower when the engine is running. It would alleviate a lot of stress and worry to have a brand spankin new vehicle for the handful of times I leave the house nowadays. Specifically, I’d like a Tesla Model S. Those cars look super cool, and they’re electric! Neat stuff. I’ve never been a car aficionado, but I’d love to have one of those. Get on it, Santa.

GI Joe USS Flagg Aircraft Carrier - Blake Morse, Knows knowing is only half the battle

This massive vehicle is essentially the holy grail of toys from the '80s. When fully put together it’s about seven feet long and bursting with a bunch of cool little features like elevators for figures and vehicles, as well as a working PA system. It wasn’t cheap back when it launched though, and it’s certainly not anymore cost-friendly now that time has marched on. Be ready to bust out a few grand if you want a fully-functioning complete setup. It’s the kind of thing any kid or adult man-child slowly buying back their childhood would love to see under whatever thing their personal denomination puts gifts under this holiday season.

1lb of weed - Chris Jarrard, The trillest

If Santa is real, he could make this awful year a bit more bearable if he dropped a pound of that good down my chimney. I’ll use it to chillax and listen to my Phil Collins LPs while sipping Capri Suns.

Quality time with the missus - Sam Chandler, R&R

I just want some more time to sit down with my partner and relax. Whether we’re reading together, having some tea, playing with our cats, watching TV or movies, or playing games, I just want to spend more time with her. She’s been incredibly supportive and understanding in this tough and demanding year and all I want this holiday season is to spend every waking moment with her. Heck, it’s all I want even outside of the holiday season.

Toaster Oven - Bill Lavoy, GM Extraordinaire

I can’t explain why, but all throughout 2020 I’ve wanted a toaster oven, and instead of getting one for myself I just keep telling people I want it as a gift. I don’t even own a toaster, but I really want a toaster oven. Not sure where it’s going to go, but I’ll sort out the logistics later. A toaster oven just seems like something that would make my kitchen better, not unlike the traditional stovetop kettle I added a few years ago. I spent days reading reviews to get the one with the best whistle. Come to think of it… should I trust someone else to buy me a toaster oven?

To get the F*** out the house - Josh Hawkins, Guides Editor

2020 has been rough, not going to lie. We’ve all had our rough spots, and all I really want for the holidays is the ability to get the heck out of this house and actually enjoy myself without having to worry about a billion dumb people doing dumb things. That’s really it. That’s really all I want. Yeah, that sounds nice.

Widespread Rollback Netcode - TJ Denzer, Thrilled to see rollback Tekken 7

Boy howdy, it’s been a cool year for rollback netcode in the fighting community. It’s also a shame that the reason for that is that the pandemic has killed fighting game events and now every company who didn’t previously care about this stuff is finding out how beneficial rollback netcode can be. It shouldn’t have taken a year-long catastrophe for this to happen, but now that we’re here, I hope the innovation doesn’t end.

Tekken 7 showed us that rollback netcode is not only highly possible but incredibly beneficial to the online life of a fighting game. Guilty Gear Strive is working feverishly to try to make it a day one thing. This needs to continue to be the trend. No more trash online with games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This is not an acceptable state of things anymore. Street Fighter 6? Don’t even talk to me about it unless it has rollback. The future has been shown to us. There is only one good path forward. For the future of the FGC, let the embrace of rollback be an industry standard rather than a miraculous and limited occurrence.

Quality gaming time - David L. Craddock, long reads editor

2020 has been an abysmal year in almost every way. Dozens of great games have been released, and while I’ve been fortunate enough to stay busy, that hasn’t left nearly enough time to play. All work and no play, yada-yada. Once I finish the final sprint of the year, I have two weeks of quality gaming time blocked out. Just me, my wife (who also loves games!), and my PS5, Switch, and gaming PC, each platform loaded with so many fantastic experiences.

A break from my PC - Greg Burke, Head of Video

Every day I'm at my PC for 12 or even 14 hours. I’m really looking forward to sitting back on my couch and playing console games with my feet up, playing with our kittens, and maybe, if she’s nice, I’ll spend some time with my Wife. I don’t plan on going into my home office at all during the break.

Tis the season! - Steve Tyminski, Contributing Editor

What do I want for the holidays? Ideally, I would love to not have my feet be in pain most of the day but that isn’t realistic. So, instead, I’m going with a new Devils hockey jersey. The league has announced the retro collection for all teams and the Devils have a new red and green jersey, ideal for the holiday season. Also if anyone wants to send me a nice gaming chair, I’d take that too.

That's what we're hoping for this year. Hopefully, none of us find a lump of coal in our stocking. What's on your holiday wishlist? Join the conversation and let us know in the comments.

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.