RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.




Posted on Oct 24th 2013 at 11:13:01 AM by (Prixel Derp)
Posted under Arcade, SpaceInvaders, ProWrestling

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZVkbAnrjBdI&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ZVkbAnrjBdI&rel=0</a>

This one is interesting, but I have the feeling that I need to explain.

In the late 70's and early 80's, women's wrestling or joshi puroresu was HUGE in Japan, and instrumental in that popularity were the Beauty Pair.  The team consisted of Jackie Sato and the above Maki Ueda. Here is a a bit of a historical package on their career (Japanese).

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/tQ_SOl0zSZQ&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/tQ_SOl0zSZQ&rel=0</a>

Much of their popularity stemmed from the fact that they sung their own theme music, which became a tradition for many in All Japan Women Pro-Wrestling (AJW).  Here is a clip of them performing this very song on TV (Japanese):

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TJbOhAQibyA&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/TJbOhAQibyA&rel=0</a>

As the "Pair" were so popular, it would be a no-brainer to have one of them sing a song that is essentially an advertisement for a video game, especially a huge one like Space Invaders.  As I earlier touched on this particular game's popularity in these here United States, I feel it is also important to mention that this game was also hugely popular in its home country of Japan as well.

What is YOUR favorite celebrity participation or endorsement of a video game???


--
For More on Japanese Women's Wrestling:

A Trip to the Eagle Sawai Retirement Show, from May 2007

Fore More on Pro-Wrestling Video Games:
- WWF Superstars - Arcade Review

For More on Space Invaders:
- VINTAGE VIDEO GAME DOCUMENTARY! - Valley of the Space Invaders



Posted on Oct 23rd 2013 at 10:41:24 PM by (Fleach)
Posted under Community Playthrough, Games, techwizard, singlebanana, GrayGhost81,


Wasn't October spooky? Did shivers run down your spins while searching Dracula's castles? Did danger lurk in the darkness of the shadows surrounding Seto?

Techwizard, singlebanana, GrayGhost81, and I hope those who took part in October's Playthroughs had loads of fun.

Currently, Dezorian is in the lead for Simon's Quest with 42 Achievement Points for RFGen's inaugural Retro Playthrough. Still some time left to overtake him and earn singlebanana's super secret, coveted achievement prize. Over in the Modern Playthrough thread all those who found the Silver Haired Girl and helped Seto make new friends along the way deserve a salute for their accomplishments.

If you thought things were ominous last month, November's games will surely provide some great thrills.

Open your eyes to a bitter truth because things are much more sinister than they seem. Join Abe and Max  in their journeys to overcome worlds bent on their downfalls.

Oddworld: Abe's Odysee (PS1) tells the dark fantasy story of a gremlin-like creature named Abe who is an unsuspecting factory janitor who learns that the fate of his race lies in the sadistic hands of his sinister captors. Guide Abe in his escape to salvation during techwizard's inaugural Retro Community Playthrough.

Max Payne 3 (PS3, X360) is the broken New York cop's vengeful return to video games. Max is a broken man seeking respite in Brazil as a bodyguard for a high profile corporate figure. Unfortunately, trouble has a way of finding Max. Fight through the seedy underbelly of Brazil as a man who, with nothing left to live for, puts his life on the line to uphold his duty. Things will quickly spiral out of control in Modern Community Playthrough.


Retro Playthrough discussion thread

Modern Playthrough discussion thread



Posted on Oct 23rd 2013 at 08:32:00 PM by (A8scooter)
Posted under Atari, Atari 2600, Homebrew, Mario, Princess, Bowser,

Episode # 41 recaps this great homebrew cut down in the prime of its life. My look back at this great title called Princess Rescue on the Atari 2600

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mflQhwpMBZo&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/mflQhwpMBZo&rel=0</a>



Posted on Oct 23rd 2013 at 02:42:24 PM by (bickman2k)
Posted under Site News, Hard drives, hosts, dinosaurs



Drive swap was successful. Server stats seem to be much better as well.



Posted on Oct 22nd 2013 at 12:09:54 PM by (TheSegaSaturnGuy)
Posted under Gaming

So, after reading this article: http://www.gamespot.com/a...uction-ends/1100-6415683/ I have been thinking about what games I have enjoyed most and what are my favorites. I have around 30 games for the Wii so it is hard to pick my favorites but I am going to talk about 3 because I could talk all day on the subject. One of my favorites is Metroid Prime 3, the game is an absolute masterpiece. It is a perfect ending to the trilogy. I was first very weary of getting the game because I didn't want to get it home hoping for something great and then not being able to play it because of frusterating motion controls. Honestly the game doesn't utilize the motion control that much and I found it to be very responsive and fluent, I would highly recommend this game. The second game that I want to talk about is Kirby's Dream Collection. How can you go wrong with all of the Dream Land games on one disc?! And with Crystal Shards thrown in for a bonus, given that I do not really enjoy Crystal Shards much because an find it much to easy and not super creative with its level design. I have the special edition and am completely happy with that purchase. The last game that I will talk about is Mad World. My god this game is awesome. It can be had for just 3 dollars and I would buy it all day long. The game uses comic book style graphics and they are totally in black and white, the only thing that really has color is the blood and there is no shortage of it. The Wii is definitely one of my favorite systems of all time due to the amount of great games for it that are often overlooked. GameStop is running a B2G1 sale on all Wii games right now so it is a great time to pick up some of the best games at rock bottom prices. I also have a video going up later today showcasing every Wii game that I own, check the out over on my YouTube channel (YouTube.com/thesegasaturnguy). So what games do you hold highly on the Wii? It is truly a great system and should not be forgotten.



Posted on Oct 21st 2013 at 10:52:36 PM by (bickman2k)
Posted under Site News, Downtime, Booooourns, Site Host, Ubuntu Forums

So, we have some word from the web host. After my investigation, I found that one of our drives had some bad sectors. After unmounting it, the site seems to be running much better. Good news is that it was our backup drive, so none of the site data should be damaged. They will be replacing the drive, but in order to do so, they will need to power down our server to swap out the drive.

We have this planned for Wednesday during the day. Most of you will probably be at work or school, so there shouldn't be many that this will affect. We will be making solid backups ahead of time, just in case. Smiley

So, to sum it up, site is having planned downtime to resolve a hardware issue that should help our performance once it is resolved. It'll be down Wednesday during the day and hopefully back up by that night. I don't have a time as of right now, but we'll redirect somewhere. Smiley

Go ahead, kick it over to channel 4 for a little bit on Wednesday, but be sure to bring it back over to channel 3 soon!



Posted on Oct 19th 2013 at 11:49:06 AM by (slackur)
Posted under Games as museums, art, Remember Me, my poor beloved wishes I felt this drawn to movies

After finishing Remember Me, I mentally placed it on the shelf in my mind labeled "glad I finished, also glad I'm done playing it."  On that imaginary row also sits El Shaddai, Enslaved, and even Walking Dead Season One. (That last one mainly due to how poorly it ran/played on PS3, and I read the 360 version played even worse.)  Games I wanted to experience, mainly due to the art design, story, or experience of the game's world.

Games I kept plodding through, often despite not really enjoying the gameplay much of the time.

That can seem counter-intuitive to people not as easily enraptured with the medium of video games as I can be.  Much like a audiophile closing out everything but a sublime piece of music, a movie lover watching the same film dozens of times, or a sports team fan painting their bodies and making it to every game, I have a passion for my specific pastime, a deeply-rooted affection for the hobby I've enjoyed since my youth.

That doesn't really explain why I sometimes play through games I don't necessarily enjoy playing.  It may lead assumptions to the opposite; having quite the knowledge base of available interactive entertainments (and a decently-sized pool from which to choose from at home) why would I stick with something not so fun, instead of booting up the next game in my backlog or replaying a favorite?  In an admittedly somewhat laughable (and pretentious-sounding) response, I sometimes do it for art.

To those who do not perceive video games as art, I'm not writing to convince otherwise.  There is a different manner to frame the concept though, one to which I've always gravitated to by default.  Let's start with some components; A graphic artist, using different mediums, constructs the design assets to be used in-game.  A musician, some using circuit boards, others using symphony orchestras, writes and conducts the pieces of music for the game.  Sometimes, a writer develops a story the game is to tell.  Each of these components, when removed (or even completely divorced from) the wholly constructed video game, could be judged and critiqued for artistic merit, and would in general be considered pieces of 'art' themselves. 

For example, sometimes a game's art assets are published as a book, displaying mediums such as watercolor, pencil, and CG.  Albums of instrumental music written for a video games are sometimes compared to other moving, emotional works of audio expression.  And while video game stories are often (and honestly, probably deservedly so) lambasted as being of little relevance compared to great literary works, occasional gems of worth arise, as in any literary genre.

In other words, once taken apart, a video game's individual components could easily be judged as art.  And yet once compiled, with the added layer of interaction, such a thing is seen by some to reduce the parts to less than a whole in terms of artistic merit.  Yet the interactivity, the 'gameplay' as it were, is yet another delicate component of creativity, balance, and experience; an art.  Make these components serve a game, and the interactivity becomes the trunk of a tree that, to some critics, makes all of the beautiful leaves uselessly fall off.  Even the roots of history, technology, and innovation that fed the entire construct is somehow automatically irrelevant. 

As a gamer, I've always felt that a video game's gameplay should be the core, and ideally all other components serve that end.  But sometimes like a painting that just never comes together, or a song that just doesn't hit that sweet spot between the ears, gameplay is not as fun as a player wants it to be.  Perhaps the genre just doesn't connect.  (I'm not much of a modern sports game player.)  Maybe there are technical problems.  (Hello, terrible frame rate and input lag on Walking Dead.)  Perhaps despite everything coming together, it just doesn't feel 'fun.'  (I've really, really tried to enjoy the latest Gran Turismo, the Killzone series, and even the earliest Tony Hawk games, but they never 'clicked' with me.)

However, sometimes the rest of the game is so compelling, that the gameplay takes a backseat to the desire to see the entire experience through.  Such was the case with Remember Me.  While I appreciated the intended design of the customizable combo melee combat, and how the rhythm of button presses integrated into gameplay and even music, it just felt 'off' to me the whole time.  Maybe I was so used to the superlative design of Batman: Arkham Asylum, maybe I just never got the 'flow' of the game engine, maybe I just really really wanted a 'counter' mechanic, either way I didn't enjoy the combat.  Or the platforming.  Or the level design.

Why on earth did I keep playing? 

I adored the gameworld.  The Neo-Paris, cyberpunk art design.  The interesting, high concept ideas such as memories-as-currency.  The music, animation, setting, and sound design sold the experience very well.  I wanted to explore every nook and cranny I was given; here was something interesting, and while I couldn't explore where I wanted to go, the glimpses were worth it.

I bought the art book before I got the game; I think that may have automatically put me in some form of hipster territory.

Anyway, I treated Remember Me as I have many other games that showed me an enthralling place.  I toured it like a museum, absorbing the art displayed all around, taking in this strange, interesting place.  Sure, I got frustrated when I was shown something inaccessible that piqued my interest and it sometimes felt like I was tripping as much as walking, but it was fascinating, different, and most importantly, worthwhile.  Like any good museum.

A friend of mine once visited and stood staring at our huge bookshelves full of video game strategy guides almost all night long.  He'd take one down, thumb through it for awhile, and then replace it with another.  After a few hours (!) I joked that he could just walk a few feet over and play most of those games instead of looking at pictures of them.  He gave a slight frown and shook his head; he said that, anymore, just looking through guides and remembering them, looking at the art, seeing all the little nuances recorded in the guide, was as fun as going back and playing them. 

I can't say that's entirely true for me, but I think I get what he's saying.  Sometimes I don't have several hours to pour into a game, but I want to revisit it.  This fellow showed me I have a gigantic stack of old tour guides right in the next room.

Next time I want to revisit Remember Me, I'll probably do so through the beautiful hardcover art book instead of firing up the game, but you never know.  I have a lot of virtual Art museums I hope to peruse one day. Smiley 



Posted on Oct 18th 2013 at 08:30:27 AM by (GameDave)
Posted under console wars, nintendo, sega, snes, genesis, nes, gamedave

Genesis Does What Nintendon't! Does it really? I never noticed...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lPNWiVOknsU&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/lPNWiVOknsU&rel=0</a>

Did you battle with your friends over which console was better? Or were you oblivious to the "raging war"?



Posted on Oct 17th 2013 at 09:30:52 PM by (A8scooter)
Posted under Atari 8 Bit Prototypes

Here is the link to the 4 Atari 8 Bit Prototypes I got in the mail this past week.

They include : River Raid,  Mega Mania, QBert and James Bond 007

Episode # 39

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/VOX6SpQlLPA&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/VOX6SpQlLPA&rel=0</a>



Posted on Oct 17th 2013 at 08:58:31 PM by (A8scooter)
Posted under Atari

This is the first box of goodies from Atari 181. Alot of nice stuff came in 54 items in all. Too bad the lighting just sucked but I think these were very nice finds and some hidden Gems.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OTjBIJ7vKws&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/OTjBIJ7vKws&rel=0</a>



Posted on Oct 17th 2013 at 02:49:36 PM by (noiseredux)
Posted under PC




XCOM: Enemy Unknown
2K Games, PC (2012)




If you’re one of the handful of folks who actually read my blog you might be saying to yourself “wait a minute… you already wrote about this game.” And you’d be right. I wrote about the Xbox 360 version a couple months back, but a lot has changed since then. You see I had found myself in a position where I needed a new PC. And once I realized the new PC was able to run some new computer games, I started spending a lot of time (and money) on Steam. Thanks to a particularly handsome sale which got me Enemy Unknown along with five of its predecessors for less than I paid for the 360 version alone, I found myself once again heading a team of troops in an effort to rid the earth of an alien takeover.





On my seventh attempt at starting a campaign, I finally saw Enemy Unknown to the end. And as great a feeling as that was, there was actually an even bigger milestone here. When I had tallied up the time spent on both versions of the game, I realized I had put in 105 hours. There’s no way for me to go back and add up all the time I’ve spent on something like say Street Fighter II over the years, but this is the first time I’ve knowingly spent triple-digit hours on a single game. Certainly in such a small window of time - about four months.

So what would drive someone with such a poor attention-span to devote so much time to a single game? The obvious answer is obvious. Enemy Unknown is truly one of the most unabashedly fun games I’ve played in a long time. The battle system is just so riveting, it was easy to spend an hour or more on a Mission and still feel that “just one more before bed” feeling when it was over. But there’s also a lot more to it than just this basic answer.





The story (aka: something I normally don’t care all that much about in a strategy game) was great fun. The alien-invasion/paranoia vibe and pulp-inspired dialogue between missions really kept me interested. The music was phenomenal and I truly hope we see a soundtrack release. But what ultimately sucked me in the most was the progression. That is, even after 20, 30, 40 hours of gameplay I was finding myself still learning much of the finer nuances of Enemy Unknown. It felt like each new start-up would find me better prepared for a campaign. And once I had wrapped my head around base management (get those satellites up ASAP!) and managing terror levels, I started to feel in much greater control.

I suppose it’s also slightly tough to talk about this game without mentioning the emotional attachments you get to each soldier. This is an element that FireAxis implemented perfectly. To use it to greater effect, I named each new hire after a friend. This made it so much easier to keep track of who everyone was. Instead of having to to try to keep track of which snipers had climbed the ranks, I could easily recall that MrPopo and Fastbilly were my stars because I had that association in my mind.





I’d also like to mention that I really did enjoy the PC port of this game. Although having played it on consoles, I can tell you that they’re not miles apart. I did encounter some slight late-game bugs on PC, which I have no idea if they were present on 360 or not. But I enjoyed the convenience of having the quick-link to the Steam forums right from the launcher, and more importantly the screenshot feature. I can tell you that I spent lots of time madly tapping F12 throughout my playthrough. In fact all the pictures in this very blog post were taken in-game by me personally.

I’m quite certain my last post regarding Enemy Unknown was a glowing one. But after all this time with it I can now proclaim quite positively that this game would rank within my Top 5 games of this entire generation. A bold statement for sure. But even after 100+ hours, I’m looking forward to the Enemy Within expansion that is just around the corner.



Posted on Oct 12th 2013 at 02:55:34 PM by (slackur)
Posted under Beyond Two Souls, interactivity, Dragons Lair, Sewer Shark, How did I write this article and still not mention Heavy Rain

So we've been playing Beyond: Two Souls, and very much enjoying it.  And while I do my best to be careful about reading reviews or even previews to games into whose story I want to invest, curiosity lead me to read occasional blurbs and conclusions.

And to no surprise, (especially concerning games by Quantic Dream) I found very polarized opinions and more than one conclusion claiming it was the most difficult game thus far to put a numbered score upon.  I read statements alluding to or outright accusing director David Cage as a frustrated film-maker in the wrong medium, and the game and plot itself akin to a SyFy miniseries with a few button presses thrown in. 

In the past I've seen the same criticism of everything from Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series to the FMV craze started by Dragon's Lair and mostly killed by Sega CD.  From one end of the quality spectrum to another, even critical darlings such as Telltale's Walking Dead has detractors claiming it as little more than a Choose-Your-Own Adventure graphic novel. 

It seems an obvious statement, that we all have different preferences in gaming, and while there can definitely be agreement about technical flaws such as bad framerates and (unintentionally) sluggish controls, ideally gaming culture in both critical and commercial circles would give appreciation to all variations of interactive entertainments.  Sadly, we all know, this is not the case.

Part of the problem with rating video games, indeed most media, is that while there are methods of determining technical merits or faults, concepts like 'fun,' 'enjoyment,' or even 'entertainment' is so subjective that each person experiences it differently.  There are designs that appeal to greater demographics, such as Tetris, Wii Sports, and Super Mario Bros.  However, that doesn't automatically make less commercially successful games less entertaining; I really enjoyed the critically panned Aliens: Colonial Marines, Dead Space 3, and Halo Wars.

However, instead of just shrugging it off as a matter of preference, sometimes games are completely dismissed because of assumptions and preferences.  Many comments concerning Beyond: Two Souls claim that there is too much watching and not enough playing, that the gameplay is too simple, and that because these ratios do not meet a certain unnamed target the game itself is not worthwhile.  (There is also criticism of the story quality, another subjective quantifier.)  Again, there are technical faults that can negatively effect the overall quality of the game, but most of the negativity leveled at Beyond: Two Souls seems to come from a reviewer's desire for the game to be something altogether different than what it is trying to be. 

To completely dismiss a game because the gameplay design doesn't parallel other games seems akin to complaining that Madden doesn't have enough racing or puzzle-solving.  Beyond: Two Souls is not supposed to have combat like Street Fighter.  Walking Dead was not designed as an RPG.  Even Dragon's Lair could be considered to have more interactivity than most of the extremely popular endless running games.  The very element that makes games unique, interactivity, has not been (and arguably cannot be) subject to universal, specific requirements, other than simply being present.  A movie is, by nature of the medium, not interactive; giving any outside agency to a viewing audience, and it is no longer simply a movie, but a different form of interactive entertainment.  Is it fun?  Worth 'playing?' It's all up to the person experiencing.

I for one have a great appreciation for many games that some hardly if at all consider 'games.'  Sewer Shark remains one of my favorites of the early cd-rom era, and I'm the first to admit the thin veil of gameplay over switchable video segments.  Yet the player agency was 'enough' for me to have a great time with it, and I still load up the 3DO version every now and then.  It's not the fact that I enjoy it that makes it a game; if it were a movie, I wouldn't have watched it more than a time or two.  I have fun with it because I enjoy playing, interacting with it.  Dragon's Lair, for as many people that have long since outgrown its initial awe factor, still gets constantly ported to anything that will run it, and for as much maligned as the FMV genre of gaming is, there are many fans who still play them.

As we play Beyond: Two Souls, I do sometimes get frustrated at not being able to do what I'd like at times.  But its the same desire that lead me to drive for that volcano in Battlezone, or shoot the dog in Duck Hunt.  Once gaming gained 'sandbox' and 'open-ended' game designs, I found that without these constraints I lost interest more quickly.  I may have loved Legos as a kid (and still do) but I found that when it comes to video games, my personality would rather look for ways to run left in Super Mario Bros. than play Minecraft.  To each their own, and that's the point; games like Beyond: Two Souls are not less of a game, just a game with a different design in mind.

And as video games expand, so do ambitions to explore more and different things with them.  Perhaps more pointedly, if Walking Dead and Beyond: Two Souls did not play as they do, folks like my Beloved would have far less interest in them, and that's justification enough for me. Smiley



Posted on Oct 8th 2013 at 08:30:08 PM by (GameDave)
Posted under sick gamer, game dave, video games, mega man, megaman, mega man 6, nes

I loved getting sick as a kid because it meant I was stuck home to play some video games!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Upl7vns0HOI&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Upl7vns0HOI&rel=0</a>

What's your favorite video game to play when you are stuck home sick?



Posted on Oct 8th 2013 at 01:58:48 PM by (TheSegaSaturnGuy)
Posted under Gaming

When I met my girlfriend I would have never guessed that she would like gaming. On the outside she is very girly and likes shopping, getting pedicures, etc.. On the inside however she is a pretty hardcore gamer. When we first met I didn't really let her see how much of a gamer I was because I was shy. The first time I went over to her house I stepped into her room and was not ready for what I saw, she had probably close to 50 Wii and GameCube games. Now we aren't talking like Wii Sports and DDR. She had Metroid, Zelda, Resident Evil, New Super Mario, Mario Sunshine, and many more. I was instantly head over heels. Over the 6 years that we have been together we have played so many games together but I enjoy just watching her play more. The reaction on her face when she figures out a tough puzzle or beats a difficult boss is priceless. Right now she has been playing Alice: Madness Returns on my PS3 and she is blowing through it really fast and I have enjoyed helping her figure out how to kill bosses without taking much damage and solving the puzzles. We recently finished Epic Mickey 2(it is no where near as good as the first one), we are currently thinking of what to go to next. So, do you guys game with your significant other? Were they a gamer before you met? I am a believer that gaming together builds a stronger partnership.



Posted on Oct 5th 2013 at 03:09:20 PM by (slackur)
Posted under Cooperative Gaming, Shared Gaming Experiences, Tales of, Final Fantasy, no I dont think gaming alone is the Devil

I tend to brag about my true gaming 'Holy Grail,' my beloved gamer wife.  She may not get to play often, and would describe her skillset as more Words with Friends than Dark Souls, but any chick whose gaming history includes Albert Odyssey, Crazy Taxi, and the original Legend of Zelda has cred in my book. Wink

However, my Beloved's latest gaming experiences haven't involved her playing; she's also my co-op partner without a controller.  In the last year we've completed the Mass Effect Trilogy, Binary Domain, Bioshock Infinity, Catherine and many others, cuddled together in a two-person recliner.  She may not be pressing buttons, but she's sharing the game with me, discussing story in slow moments, thumbing through a strategy guide, or pointing out things in the environment I miss.  During slower moments such as RPG grinding, she may have a book in her lap or article on her phone, yet her attention is at a moment's notice.  Like a co-driver in professional Rally racing, she isn't just another warm body in the adjacent seat, shouting preemptive directions and adding weight distribution; she's a partner, experiencing a version of what I'm experiencing, and helping when my attention is diverted.  Primarily, she's there to share my adventures and have fun.

This method of co-op gaming doesn't limit itself to this dynamic; I love finding excuses to sit down with any friend and go through a game together, even single player.  When the first Silent Hill movie released in theaters, me and a fellow Silent Hill enthusiast buddy named Mike sat down with the first two Silent Hill games, drenching ourselves in the dim atmosphere and reliving the mood before going to the movie.  It didn't matter that only one of us played at a time; the other person was helping to solve puzzles or navigating the occasional labyrinthine environment.

Often a game needs no excuse for this form of co-op other than being a great game; the above experience happened again with a different friend for Resident Evil 4, a game we wanted to play immediately upon release.  We stayed up several nights, occasionally swapping the controller between each other.  The same thing happened later with Condemned: Criminal Origins.  (If it weren't for Pat playing navigator with the guide's map, I'd have never found my way through that game!)  We later played through Resident Evil 5 together, and while we hugely enjoyed the built-in co-op, I can't say it was a better or worse experience; just a different way to play together.

Pat has been gracious enough to show me through the entirety of every Metal Gear Solid game (except the first, I did go through that one myself) including every easter egg and hidden scene (he's a bit of a Metal Gear completionist) and if it were not for him, I'd likely never have experienced, much less enjoyed, that series nearly as much as I do now.  Pat and I have completed everything from Rescue Rangers and Contra to Gears of War 1-3 together, yet some of my favorite gaming co-op memories with him are ones in which one of us didn't have a controller. 

I've shared it here before, but it fits well in this article.  Before some of my close friends passed away, I had some wonderful memories of us gaming all night together, passing a controller around for Battle for Olympus, Castlevania III, and Eternal Darkness, among others.  Those games now have even more precious memories attached than a fun gameplay experience.  Some even have save files or passwords of the last moments of time we spent hanging out.  Call me sappy, but it keeps good thoughts readily accessible once in a blue moon when missing those friends over times past.

For the first time, my Beloved recently shared from the playing side: I watched (and jumped along-side) her as she played the Walking Dead Season 1.  Next up, we've already penned in Beyond: Two Souls once it comes out next week.  When we play games featuring less... walking dead things, our kids are always chomping at the bit to grab a controller, though they're just as ready to cheer on mom and dad on those tough bosses or time trials.  We've also begun searching for more games such as Super Mario Galaxy, certain Final Fantasy titles, and the Tales of... series that have asymmetrical co-op designs, where a secondary player can help at a more relaxed, even sedentary helper role that can be ideal for children, friends who want to hang out, or a significant other who wants to be involved.

It can take a bit of effort to develop such a socially inclusive atmosphere.  Western society doesn't exactly lend itself anymore to family and friends all gathering around the single living room TV for a few rounds of Combat or Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt.  It is now industry standard to have our entertainment designed to be spread across as many personal devices as possible.  And to be sure, some nights we all just want to do our own thing.  But the purposeful, intentional inclusion of a social aspect to our gaming has paid in dividends, and (if you couldn't tell) I highly recommend it.

Smiley


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
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