Gamers can be difficult people to shop for when the holidays come around. That’s partially because so many are about instant gratification. If a game is due out that one is interested in, odds are the gamer will already have a pre-order in at his or her favorite store. Which means that sometimes gifts that aren’t games, but are game-related, are the best bet.

Of course, there are only so many gift cards you can give. I mean, they’re quite practical and will nicely feed the recipient’s habit, but they’re hardly personal. That’s where general goodies can help. You could find a really awesome and unique gift that’s somehow related to the hobby, but could be hard to find or the kind of item someone wouldn’t normally buy for him or herself.

So, Gamertell’s here to help. I’ve scoured stores and the internet to find the best unisex gamer gifts that aren’t actually games that are under $50. That way you can make someone happy without having to worry about getting them something they already own…

You never played Portal before? Well, now you have no excuse. Valve loves to do special sales on Steam, and it’s running one right now. The original Portal, for Windows and Mac, is temporarily free. We don’t know when it will stop being free, but for now you can head to the Portal product page, and grab it for free.

All you need to do is have a Steam account and the Steam client on your computer…

This is the week in which we’re expecting to see some PlayStation Network and Qriocity services restored. This isn’t supposed to be a week with more potential bad news from Sony. Station.com, the online portal that provides access to Sony Online Entertainment’s games, is offline at the moment. Attempting to visit the website will result in a message explaining why SOE had to take the portal down. It all comes back to an intrusion from an unwanted source.

If you’re going to buy Portal 2, then buy it for the PS3. Well, if you own a PS3, then buy the version for that system. If you do, then you get an extra version of Portal 2 for your computer! Valve is doing it to promote PS3 Steamworks’ support for the game, since Portal 2 is the first one to actually offer it…

For the next 19 hours or so, Steam will be having one of its trademark sales. Great games are discounted as high as 85% off. It’s moments like these where you can actually be happy you haven’t bought a gift for the PC gamer yet. Instead, you can buy a whole mess of games on Steam for one low price. The sales here will last today only, and will be replaced by new deals tomorrow.

TeeFury’s latest t-shirt may just be its best. At least, gamers may deem it the best. The limited edition t-shirt for October 22, 2010 is called “True Love Never Lies” and features an original Portal-inspired design by jimiyo.

The shirt has an intricate emblem featuring all of Portal‘s most important items…

Now that everybody’s going back to school, you’re probably going to have to endure boring courses and lectures about things you will never actually use in real life. But at Wabash College in Indiana (US), freshmen get to play Portal as a class assignment.

We let out a collective sigh of disappointment when we learned Portal 2 was being pushed back into 2011. The original Portal left us with fond memories of a homicidal robot and a cake that has been referenced way too many times since 2007. At Gamescom 2010, Game Informer learned from Valve that Portal 2 will be released on February 9, 2011 on PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac.

Who would have thought such a cool home decorating concept could be done so easily? Now you can produce the same trippy effect Valve used to create Portal. Naturally we don’t recommend you go hurling yourself through the mirror. But if you have some free time in the week and want to add some videogame flare to your home, try your hand at creating your own portals.

Portal turned out to be one of the best puzzle games out there. The portal gun is an excellent idea as a game mechanic and the inclusion of the hilarious A.I., GLaDOS, as both game tutorial and storyline resulted in tons of loyal fans. Recently Valve re-released Portal for free for a brief time and changed the ending to give some hints about the upcoming Portal 2. Recently at the E3 more details about the game and a trailer were released.