Let's face it - the holidays are a difficult time to snatch up presents for gamers, especially when it comes to buying games and not accessories. Do you buy the game with the cool box art or the one with the most interesting description? Do you go with a big name like Nintendo or do you take a chance on a publisher you've never heard of before?

Put your mind at ease, because we've got just the solution: our handy Holiday Guide to the hidden gems and sleeper hits for those that just want to swoop in to the store, grab one of the best titles on the shelves for under $20 and head back out to enjoy the rest of the day while the rest of the crowd is still trying to decide between "Bookworm" and "Brain Age".

PUZZLE QUEST: CHALLENGE OF THE WARLORDS (D3 | Nintendo DS, Wii, PSP, XBLA, PSN)
GYROMANCER (Square-Enix, PopCap Games | XBLA, PC)

Both Puzzle Quest and Gyromancer are perfect titles for that player on the cusp of casual. These two gems combine the Match-3 mechanic of Bejeweled or Bejeweled: Twist with a great story and fantastic monsters in a vast world with places to explore and an ancient evil to defeat. As you destroy monsters, you gain experience points to make your puzzle skills more powerful to defeat your opponent. If you've got someone on your list with a major Bejeweled craving, give them the gift of adventure with one of these two titles.

ZACK & WIKI: THE QUEST FOR BARBAROS' TREASURE (Capcom | Wii)

Just when you thought pirates were out of style, novice pirate Zack and his robo-monkey Wiki appeared to prove you wrong. Zack and Wiki is a delightful blend of point-and-click adventure with challenging puzzles and a great use of the Wii Remote. When shaking the remote, Wiki turns into a magical bell that transforms enemies into useful items like hammers, grabber claws and balls to help get to the treasure box in a myriad of levels. Even if you solve it on your first try, there are multiple ways to solve each puzzle, so you'll always have a challenge waiting.

TREASURE WORLD (Aspyr | Nintendo DS)

Are you ever stuck somewhere with your iPod Touch or laptop trying to find a free wireless network to check your email or read The Clik? Well, you're not alone. Developer Aspyr made a game out of this concept with Treasure World for the Nintendo DS. As you walk around with your DS, Treasure World searches for Wi-Fi signals and each unique signal you find gets you a treasure. After you've collected enough treasures, there's an option to arrange them using cool music software to create your own midi tunes.

ROCK BAND: UNPLUGGED (MTV, Harmonix | PSP)

Speaking of tunes, the gaming landscape wouldn't be the same today without Rock Band, and MTV and Harmonix have put together an amazing Rock Band experience for gamers on the go. Using the face buttons to input commands and the shoulder buttons to switch between instruments, Rock Band: Unplugged presents an experience that's easy to learn, fun to play and challenging to master. While most of the soundtrack is available for the original Rock Band, it's a completely different experience in Unplugged, making it the perfect gift for that rocker in all of us.

DE BLOB (THQ | Wii)

One of the most unique platformers on the Wii to date, de Blob allows players to take control of Blob, a groovy ball that can absorb color to paint the town red...or blue...or yellow. In each level, players are tasked to repaint a section of Chroma City overtaken by the evil INKT Corporation and their war on color. Your job is to complete challenges and repaint the entire town and its townsfolk to overthrow INKT and bring the sections of Chroma City back to their original, colorful glory.

PICROSS (Nintendo | Nintendo DS)

For the Sudoku and crossword puzzle fan on your list, Picross combines the challenges of critical reasoning with the fun of paint-by-numbers. Players are presented with a blank grid of pixels and must determine through both trial-and-error and reasoning whether a space should be left blank or filled in. These are determined by numbers on the sides and top of the whole grid, indicating how many pixels should be filled in that row or column. When completed, the grid reveals a simple picture that gives the player a wonderful amount of satisfaction and pushes them to continue for more puzzles.