Thirty years ago, Iggy Pop was cutting himself with bottles and rolling around in peanut butter onstage. Now, he’s got a Lego avatar. What a world.

Admit it. Video gamers are the easiest people to buy gifts for. There are always dozens of new games that have been released in the months leading up to the holiday season, and there is bound to be a gap or two in the libraries of even the most hardcore.

The reason you think gamers are difficult is because you don't know a shooter from a platformer, you can't differentiate between good and bad. That's where Joystuck comes in, to provide you with the cheat sheet you need when braving the local video game retailer. As always, I recommend you abide by game ratings. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Dragon's Age, for example, should not be played by children under any circumstances.

Essentials

It's the biggest selling game of the year, so you should check to see if the gamer on your list already has Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature). If they don't, it's probably the easiest gift purchase you'll make this year.

Other games that will get you hugs of joy include Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft; PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature), Dragon Age: Origins (EA; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature), Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft; Xbox 360; rated mature), Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve; PC, Xbox 360; rated mature), and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony; PS3; rated teen). Gamers who don't have these games will want them. Trust me.

Superheroes ’r’ us

Perhaps the best superhero video game yet created, Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros.; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated teen) is a third-person action game that puts players in the role of the Dark Knight, slinking around the asylum among the criminally insane he's put there. For co-operative play with friends, gamers will want Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (Activision; DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii; rated teen), which lets them play as characters such as Spider-Man, Thor, Gambit and Jean Grey.

For the musically inclined

The Beatles Rock Band (MTV Games; PS3, Xbox 360, Wii; rated teen) is the only way to become John, Paul, George or Ringo. With beautifully artistic visuals, songs from the Fab Four's diverse career are included in the main game, and can be supplemented with full-album downloads of Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Rubber Soul.

DJ Hero (Activision; PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii; rated teen) expands the music game genre to include all the electronic, hip hop, and synth-based music that isn't performed with guitars. Gamers "scratch" on the included turntable controller to music mixes by the likes of Daft Punk, DJ Shadow and DJ AM.

Platformer paradise

If you've been feeling like platform games have been failing you in the last couple of years, two new releases will remind you why you used to love them. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo; Wii; rated everyone) allows up to four people to play together — co-operatively or competitively — in a wonderful Mario Bros. world that includes new power-ups, new enemies and the same old fun you've come to expect from the series.

The high-concept Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Sony; PS3; rated everyone 10+) is simple to pick up and play, filled with hilarious characters and dialogue and adds new features, the most prominent being Ratchet's ability to fly around star systems, visiting planets and moons.

Blasts from the past

If your favourite gamer hasn't yet played Fallout 3 (Bethesda; PC, PS3, Xbox 360; rated mature), now is the perfect time to indoctrinate them with the Game of the Year edition of the title, which includes the six downloadable chapters that were released after the game hit shelves.

All the new PS3 owners out there will appreciate a copy of the God of War Collection (Sony; PS3; rated mature). It contains the first two games in the franchise, developed for the PS2, remastered in high definition for the enjoyment of us all. For those who've already played these games, this is a good excuse to play them again.

Kid stuff

The next game in the Legend of Zelda series is Spirit Tracks DS (Nintendo; DS; rated everyone 10+), and is similar in style and design to 2007's Phantom Hourglass. In the game, Link has to restore an ethereal railroad. He is aided in his efforts by a disembodied Zelda, who can possess Phantom Guardians.

Another handheld title that’s great for kids is LittleBigPlanet PSP (Sony; PSP; rated everyone), which captures the same playground-like atmosphere as its PS3 sibling. Also here is the ability for gamers to design and share their own levels, an essential feature of the original.

Two recently released Lego games make for great fun for all kids. Lego Rock Band (MTV Games/Warner Bros.; DS, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii; rated everyone 10+) replaces the waif-like rock star characters with Lego characters — the renditions of Iggy Pop and David Bowie are perfect — as gamers play along to a catalogue of Top 40 hits from the 1970s to the 2000s. Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (LucasArts; DS, PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii; rated everyone 10+) lets players become Indy in scenes and sequences from all four of the films.

Rounding out the best games for kids are the adventure game Mini Ninjas (Eidos/Warner Bros.; DS, PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii; rated everyone 10+), about saving the world by saving the animals, and the wacky Rabbids Go Home (Ubisoft; Wii; rated everyone 10+), in which gamers become a pair of the frantic rabbit-like creatures piloting a shopping cart through various environments, avoiding obstacles and collecting items to build a pile that can reach the moon. The latter can be played in split-screen with a friend.