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Best Holiday Gaming Seasons Ever?
Thanks to GameSpy for their feature discussing the best videogaming holiday seasons of all time, as they point out: "Most of the biggest and best games, and many of the best game consoles, have all come out during the final months on the calendar." Their nominations include 1982, in which "Ms. Pac-Man ruled the arcades, and the previous arcade king, Donkey Kong, could finally come to our homes, packed in with the snazzy new ColecoVision", and 1996, where: "With the introduction of Mario 64 in September, gamers discovered the joys of games in 3D. With the release of Tomb Raider that same month, gamers discovered their hormones." What was your all-time favorite gaming Christmas?
1994... that was the year I got Tie Fighter.
1996... that was the year I got Civilization II.
It's tough to choose which one gave me more entertainment:
Tie Fighter: My routine when high school clases finished:
2:30-4:30 = sports (fall soccer, winter track, spring tennis).
5:00 until dinner (~6:30) = Tie Fighter.
7:30 = homework/tv (depending on the day)
Civ II: Routine: Didn't have as much of a routine as Tie Fighter, but I usually started playing around 8-9, earlier or later depending on homework volume. It was NOT uncommon for me to not realize that it was 1am and I had been playing for 4+ hours, even though I only meant to play for "a few minutes..."
Man, I'm not one of those cynical "games today aren't what they used to be" people, since I've loved some recent games (Battlefield 1942, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime), but nothing since Civ II has given me a "can't wait to play it later!" feeling. Anyone know a more recent game like that? I would love to have that attachment to a game again (not that I really have the time, but still...)
was given a SNES with Super Mario World. That game was so simple, so fun, it's still my all time favorite game. Now i get to waste even more hours of my study time with the GBA version :D
that Mario 3 came out.
Hands down.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
besides the fact that this is an obvious troll, I'll bite...
:)
I love these pot-calling-the-kettle-black statements that you see on Slashdot more and more lately - i.e. the people on Slashdot themselves calling other people nerds
And to address your idea that simply getting a videogame means, to quote you, that we would have to "try to pretend [we] had social skills" is insane. That's like saying if getting a book that you can read over-and-over will cause you to have few social skills. Ridiculous!
Besides the fact that most videogame systems released in the last 2 and a half decades have this fascinating device called a "second-controller port" (which, strangely, would require a FRIEND to use the second controller), the article is asking about the best holiday GAMING seasons ever. It's not saying "what videogame gift made your holiday better than the family get-togethers, dinners, homemade gifts and company put together?" My family celebrates Hannukah, so we personally had 8 days where we did this stuff. Usually, one gift was a videogame that we'd asked for. All of my Chritmas-celebrating friends also got one videogame toy during the holidays. So, based on the article, I answered which GAME was the best out of the 10-or-so years which I'd received them.
Geez, I'll bet you got your ass-kicked by some geek in 4th grade and ever since you've been on a futile mission to get revenge. Ha! Nice try...
other games that I really enjoyed in the final months of the previous years include Half-Life (1998), Quake III Arena (1999), No One lives forever 1 and 2 (2000, 2002), Diablo 1996 ...
The IT section color scheme sucks.
I was 11, and the only game system I had was a NES that I'd purchased with my own money. My parents thought that video games were a waste of time and money, and so everything I had I'd bought myself.
I'd recently discovered this incredible game in the arcades, Street Fighter II, and I fell in love with fighting games. Of course, there were no fighting games for the NES, so I just went to the arcade and burned quarters there.
When I heard that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters was going to be released for the NES, I was ecstatic. Since it was due out right around Christmastime, I begged and nagged my parents to buy it for me. On Christmas morning, as I tore through my presents, I came across a suspiciously video-game-shaped one. I opened it up, and found TMNT: TF all right... but for the Genesis.
I was heartbroken. I turned to my folks with what must have been a pitiful look on my face, and told them "Thanks guys, but you guys got the wrong one..." My dad just grinned, and without saying a word reached behind the couch and pulled out a brand new Genesis.
Of course, TMNT:TF wound up being pretty bad, but that was still the greatest gaming Christmas ever. =)