Thinking about gifting your kids with gaming accessories? Between the many consoles available as well as PC, Mac and even mobile gaming, tracking all the available peripherals can be super confusing — especially for those not in the know.

We realize that each gaming console or platform frequently has its own peripherals to consider — and many are not compatible with each other. (In fact, this writer will soon be heading back to Best Buy to return the headset we mistakenly gifted for the first night of Hanukkah.) So, to help all you busy, hard working parents make better choices, we got the goods on all the proper gaming accessories and peripherals for every type of set-up.

Here’s everything you need to know before you invest in video gaming peripherals for the family this holiday season. From one (frustrated) parent to another.

Gaming systems generally range from a measly 32GB of storage on the Nintendo Switch to around 1TB for higher-end consoles and computers, but either way, your kids are going to fill them up quicker than you can say “Tetris.” The simplest way to get around this for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles as well as a PC is to purchase a USB 3.0 external hard drive and plug it in directly (the Nintendo Switch uses MicroSD cards for extra storage). If you’ve been lucky enough to score a next-gen console, we’ve included the specific expansion products you’ll need for that as well.

Here are a few of the best products you can buy to add extra storage to any console or computer’s hard drive.

Best for PS4 and Xbox One: WD Black D30 Game Drive (from $88; amazon.com)

The WD Black D30 game drive starts at just 500GB and goes up to a 2TB version for $255. Obviously aimed directly at gamers, this drive offers super quick read/write speeds. But anyone who may have snagged a next-gen console take note: No external hard drive can play games made for PS5 or Xbox Series X/S (see below for expansion options), but they can run Xbox One and PS4 titles while also storing your current-gen games for when you’re ready to copy them over.

Got yourself a shiny, new, next-gen Xbox Series X/S? Congrats. However, the only way to expand its storage is with this Seagate Storage Expansion …….

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/13/cnn-underscored/best-gaming-gifts-video-gamers/index.html