Suffice to say, even those who don't game online likely hoped for coal in the stockings of the grinches that took down XBox Live and PSN over Christmas of 2014. The DDoS attack created an outage that lasted a few days and kept owners of Sony and Microsoft's consoles from playing online, buying digital games and even locked out many single player experiences that required some online verification.
It's easy for us retro enthusiasts to roll our eyes, straighten our bifocals, and shake our canes as we brag about the obvious advantage of older consoles that weren't affected in the least. That doesn't change things for the many gaming youths who had just acquired a new toy and were unable to use it during their vacation time, or we older gamers who looked forward to unwinding through the holiday bustle by nabbing a few flags or finally getting in a raid.
We can prattle on about the obvious flaws of online-required gameplay and the lack of security and bandwidth in multi-billion dollar companies, or how it was a good thing that little Jimmy actually had to engage with the relatives instead of being glued to that headset, or how I assumed I was finished with
Destiny and
Plants Versus Zombies: Garden Warfare until forced withdrawal made the cravings start up again.
In Bungie's defense, this offline multiplayer version of
Destiny does have universal group chat. (Found these at
https://www.etsy.com/list...ng?ref=shop_home_active_4)
There are a few other angles to take here besides annoyance, elitism, or indifference. If you're a bit of a geek like me, sometimes it just takes a connection to video games for something to perk up interest, regardless of the internet or even without a screen. Early efforts to expand video games into other media were understandably weak, but after decades of popular franchises and themes, there have been more consistent successes as well. To cover every angle of the fun things to do that are connected to video games, without actually playing them, would probably take so much time that we'd have to take a break and play a video game. So I'll just mention a few that have really stuck out over the last few years.
I personally think there is a certain charm in early efforts to pull the video out of the game, such as our rarely played Zaxxon board game:
Nice try at this, board game-making guys. (This one's not ours. Source:
http://www.retrothing.com...7/05/zaxxon_board_ga.html)
Everything from Pac-Man to Sonic has a board game effort, some much better than others. In my opinion the best ones are the alternate takes on already-established games. For example, Metal Gear Solid Risk expands the traditional rules in ways both sensible and consistent with the game universe, and impressed even our Risk-adverse friends as a preferred way to play. For those of you who don't automatically read Monopoly as Monotony, there are dozens of video game themed versions, including a well-received Zelda variant.
Our house favorite, Jenga, has the well-known (and thematically appropriate) Donkey Kong take, Tetris has a surprisingly playable card game, and the Resident Evil deck-builder series is quite fun and involved. Some would argue that the Mario Party card game is better than its source material. And to go full circle, the Dragon Age pen-and-paper RPG set (based on the video game based on the early pen-and-paper RPGs) is a natural for genre enthusiasts with the time to play it.
A slightly less time-intensive way to invest in a game's lore is the many worthwhile novels based in a game franchise's universe. With all respect to the literary robot that is F. X. Nine, we've come a long way since Worlds of Power.
The only way to really understand what on earth is going on in this game world. I still consider everything after as unsubstantiated retcon. (
http://www.amazon.com/Met...-Power-Nine/dp/0590437771)
My beloved and I have enjoyed the Mass Effect books (except the poorly handled last one), and many of the Halo novels have been surprisingly well written. BioShock, Borderlands, Alan Wake, and several in the Gears of War series have given great context, world-building, and expansion to their game universes.
Speaking of books, I am thoroughly convinced that the best way to get young kids into reading is to shove a strategy guide in their hands when their playtime is up. Car rides now involve our boys informing us every minute detail of whatever game they're researching. (It's one of those I-love-my-kids-but-I-need-earplugs things.)
My boys have taken this predilection to post-screen paraphernalia past books; though they had ample time on the Wii U over the holiday, even more time was spent playing with their Amiibos (Mario and Luigi) around the house in every scenario imaginable. Their favored pajamas are covered with the various residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, while our youngest seems quite proud of his Lego Batman undies. (Note to self; posted observations like this will be why my future-adult boys will never bring future daughter-in-laws to the house.)
Pictured: A real thing we can buy, thanks to the power of video games. My inner seven-year-old is still processing that this even exists in the real world. If you're too young to be affected over
Lego Batman undies based on a video game, try imagine the first kids to see an original Transformer; it's a robot AND A CAR in the SAME toy!?! Lemme sleep with it.
Naturally, game soundtracks are a given staple of enjoying a game you're not playing. Over the years, I've spent many hours listening to the
Ecco the Dolphin,
Gate of Thunder, and
Lords of Thunder CDs in normal CD players (ask your parents what they are) and programming them to skip the beginning data tracks. Nowadays the
Halo soundtracks,
Tetrisphere, and
Last Hope: Pink Bullets often make up my life soundtrack.
Finally, I have to give those thoughtless hackers credit for one thing; without their impromptu
Destiny intervention, my wife and I probably wouldn't have this to show for it.
This may look like Hyrule, but it's just directions to the downstairs bathroom.
These are admittedly just a few options of all the ways to enjoy what's under the vast umbrella of our favorite hobby. Every now and then it can be good to think outside of the screen and remember that you don't even have to play video games to enjoy them.
