Every gamer has their problems. Some are exceptionally loud, others don’t like to share their controllers. These quirks aren’t necessarily bad, but sometimes they just get in the way. I’ve had friends who could only play while eating. When I was littler I was really horrible about giving my controller up to someone if we were taking turns on a game. Yes, I was one of those: “No you gave your turn to me…again” people. Also, my friend and I used to lean to the side we were turning whenever we played Mario Kart on the SNES. I think we thought that if we leaned in real life, we’d turn corners better in the game.

My problems have changed over the years, but I’m here to admit my latest issue. Gaming puts me to sleep. And I don’t mean this in the negative sense that the games are boring or whatever. No, gaming is like the warm milk and blanket to my inner child. It’s perplexing.

(more…)

I’ve been in a startlingly good mood recently, allowing me ample relaxation and peace of mind. The perfect mindset for gaming! Don’t get me wrong, here. Anger is always good motivation when pretending to shoot people, and a wistful, nostalgic mood might make a fantasy game all the more enrapturing, but I’ve never enjoyed a game more than when I’ve felt calm, cool, and collected.

In the spirit of happy gaming, I figured, what better way to revel than to write about a bunch of stuff that makes me gush with video game love? Scenes, moments, characters, and even some games themselves. There are some that make me remember why I turn to my console when I’m feeling a little blue. They just make me believe in gaming again.

(more…)

For me, video games occupy a space somewhere between total downtime and work. Since starting to blog about games I have found myself analyzing them with a thoroughness I used to keep for English literature class. Gender politics, social implications, reflections of the current zeitgeist… Games are a significant media, if a frequently downplayed one.

And yet, as this week’s Round Table points out:

There is a commonly held belief that videogames are not the equal of literature and film. One conservative acquaintance of mine on Facebook doesn’t even consider them on par with “public speech and music.” On the other hand, we have anti-video game activists claiming that video games have the power to train children to be emotionless assassins. Even within the video game community I’ve often heard the reaction, “they’re just video games.”

Well, I am here to say that video games can teach us, make us feel, make us cry, make us laugh. That they are easily the equal of film and books (as are music and public speech on occasion - I have a dream, anyone?)

It’s easy to point to how they teach us explicit lessons. There’s any number of DS games that purport to teach you how to cook, how to design clothes, how to get fit, how to remember things better, or just how to think more efficiently.

But what about the other lessons? The unconscious ones, the ones that slowly shape our world view, the ones that affect how we interact and talk and think and live?
(more…)

CS hacks are annoying. Team-killers and other players blasting shitty techno through their mics on CoD4 aren’t even mildly amusing anymore. I log onto WoW to grind some rep and think, why am I spending so much time working toward a piece of virtual gear only to grow dissatisfied with it and yearn for another piece of virtual gear, all of which is worthless, if not scorned, in the eyes of others? It feels monotonous. It feels useless. It feels boring.

What is a girl to do when her favorite source of entertainment, the pastime about which she is most passionate, just doesn’t cut it?

(more…)

I’m obsessed with simulation. From crappy Flash games to $60 Wii titles, I’ll play all of them with a goofy smile on my face. I know that almost every video game itself is a type of simulation, like shooters or some RPG’s, but I’m talking about games devoted to simulating one task. They usually lack characters and plot since they’re so concentrated on the role they seek to emulate. Sometimes I ask myself, ‘Why do you enjoy subjecting yourself to such a chore of a game?’ And then I answer myself, ‘Good question. I don’t really know.’ ‘You’re a fucking moron. Play something real.’

(more…)

Have you ever fallen in love with a game so deeply that you’d fight for it? Did you grow so attached to characters that you’d reminisce about their final appearances? Would you’ve thrown yourself in front of a bullet to have kept it from damaging your cartridge?

I’ve been there. There are games I’ve obsessed over. Sometimes it’s not an obsession so much as a resonance, a thought about it that lingers in your head after you’ve turned it off. Some games just stay with you.

One of the saddest truths is that all good things must come to an end. But occasionally that end is too bitter. Premature, even. How do we cope with the loss of our favorite games?

(more…)