Cash is still a much better alternative to Gift Cards. If you get 50 dollars/pounds/euros/whatever you can spend that ANYWHERE. And it's also worth what it says it's worth. If you get a store specific gift card, you can only spend that money in one place. If you get a Visa card that charges you a fee for each purchase you make, it's only going to be worth a maximum of its value minus 3.

I like cash too. Gift cards are kinda nice when its to a restaurant too, as with itunes or something similar. I feel more obligated to use gift cards, whereas with cash I just put into my wallet and forget about.

Well of course you feel obligated to spend it when it's given to you. Besides having the person who gifted the card to you most likely asking you if you've used the card yet until you say yes, you can't really save gift cards in the way that you can save cash. "Oh, fu­ck, I'm 50 bucks short on rent this month! SAVE ME, BANANA REPUBLIC GIFT CARD!!!" And forgetting that you have money in your wallet is a luxury. That's the money that's going to be useful to you at some point. As opposed to spending it immediately, you can choose to be wise with it and spend some of it on needs as opposed to wants.