Let's play... project: Preamble

So, I'm starting my huge Game Nerd Project today by starting a new local account on my Xbox 360 and planning for my Dragon Age Origins adventure. Not like it's a new adventure or anything, I've played it maybe a.... trillion times? I think... Anywho... Before i do get down and dirty in Ferelden, I thought about saying something about gaming in general. This desire was further fueled when i stumbled upon a forum thread at a Swedish forum targeted at families and all that goes with having one. It's an old discussion, one I have reacted upon in the past. My reaction? GAMES ARE NOT JUST FOR KIDS! Honestly, knowing what it is, especially now-a-days, with the blood and the gore and the maiming of people, and general realism of almost all genres, not only the horror one, would you put your 5-year-old in front of Mortal Kombat? Or Silent Hill, which is really scary? Or Resident Evil? If you would, that's okay. Because if you do, or consider doing that, i take for granted you know WHAT IT IS! Don't come crying to me if  you get shocked, do the research. Don't know a title? CHECK IT UP! Don't just go and buy it and let your kid play without you knowing what it is and what consequences it will have on your kid. I don't know your kid, so i don't know what scares him or her. I'm all for kids playing video games. Handled the right way, it's great that kids play, they learn a lot. Solving puzzles and action-reaction and consequence thinking can really be enhanced. So I'm not against kids playing, i just think parents should be aware of what they let their kids play. And play with them, god knows how many great bonding sessions i had with my mother over some Mario way back when. So get going. Play a video game with your kids. Just know what it is you're playing. And test your limits, and your kids. That last game a delightful kiddies romp through the forests with a cartoon character? Good. Now you have the option of getting more of the same, or trying something darker and heavier. Try it, go ahead. Too much for your kid? YOU CAN ALWAYS GO BACK! Maybe the darker game is for next month, or next year. Or never. As long as you take it slow, do it WITH the kids and take the time to TALK, TALK, TALK with the kids about their experience, you will have some of the best time with them.

So let me talk a little about my own childhood gaming experience. Now, I grew up in a picket fence kind of place, close to the capital yet not really at the rich end of the scale. The Swedish term "Medelsvensson" would probably apply, though I don't like the term. Fact is, sometimes we were poor, sometimes we were "rich", but somehow we could always afford games. My first ever game memory was my ototo's 4th birthday, I was then 6, and he got a Nintendo for birthday. A classic NES, with a Super Mario Bros. 3 along with it. Now, neither console or game was new, per se, they had both been on the market for a few years. Guess what? My brother REFUSED to play. Gaming wasn't really new to either of us, we had older friends that played, and we had both played Mario before. Still, he wouldn't play for months. Mom tried to coax him into playing, but finally gave up. Instead I was allows to put my little hands on the game, me and my mom played in 2-p mode, alternating between Mario and Luigi. Was it every other time, or until one player died, or....? I don't remember, it was so long ago. Must i say my brother eventually came to play too? Of course he did. Since then, I think we've owned every game console easily available on the Swedish market, each giving me memories I treasure. With the exception of Sega, maybe because back then you either had a Nintendo or a Sega. And because my parents decided on what to buy, or I would have had Sega as well.

So, what were my favorite games for each console i owned? Hard to tell. But the ones i remember go something like this:
NES: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Duh!) MetaCritic score: Actually, there doesn't seem to exist one, maybe its to old. Gamespot.com User Score was 9,3/10 anyway.










SNES: ActRaiser! Oh, old gem, how I struggled with you. Took me maybe a month to clear that first level. MetaCritic score: Still, none. I have the theory anything before 2000 is too old. Gamespot.com UserScore: 8,5/10. I played good games in the early 1990's.






GameBoy: We did have a GameBoy, but i don't think I played it all that much. I don't remember playing it.


N64: Super Mario 64! What else? 3D and all. Wow, I tell you! Wow! One of my many "Wow" moments in gaming. MetaCritic Score: 94! I'm impressed, both at the score and the fact it had one. Though it might be on the re-release for the NintendoDS 3D. Honorable mention: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. One of the coolest games ever. Link was one of my first Game Crushes. And now, well, since after playing that game, I too play the Ocarina.


PlayStation: Mmmmm..... Let me think....... FINAL FANTASY VII. The most AWSOME game of the 1990's. And I got it for my birthday. I am my mother ever grateful for this. And yes, a lot of yaoi has come out of that game, from my ever-so-.screwed-up mind. MetaCritic Score: 92.







GameBoy Color: The only memory of GameBoy Color i have is that my ototo played Pokémon on it. I didn't. I wasn't all that impressed with it. It was fun and addictive while you played, but not memorable. And I barely got to play, because he would always monopolize it.


Nintendo GameCube: For me an odd choice, because i was never a sports fan: 1080* Avalanche Snowboard game. I love snowboarding... GameCube kind of came and went. Except for the Mario Party games and LoZ: Wind Waker, I don't remember having ANY games for this console. MetaCritic Score for 1080* Avalanche: 73







PlayStation 2: Hmmm.... tough choice. I think I will go with Kingdom Hearts. The first one. Mixnig Disney and Final Fantasy sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it really wasn't. MetaCritic Score: 85 Honorary Mentions: Final Fantasy X and XII (yes, I do like them, sry), Yakuza 1 and 2, and a bunch of others...







Xbox: Oh, my.... let's see..... all of the BioWare games... Actually, that's it! All of the BioWare Games.... all like... 2 of them. I swear, time goes by so fast, I had to check so the games I thought was on Xbox wasn't for 360. Was the original Mass Effect for Xbox? No! It was for 360! Is it that the 360 is that old? I think so. Anywho, my favorite game for the Xbox was Star Wars The Knights of the Old Republic. Star Wars + pre-movie story (really, really pre-movie story) + BioWare.... What can go wrong? MetaCritic Score: 94 Honorary Mention: Lord of the Rings The Third Age. It was a really good fun little adventure through Middle Earth, with the fellowship in the background and another fellowship in the foreground. It's weird no one dares touch that mythology and make something of it. Or maybe they only remember the Lord of the Rings books....


Anyway, that was my extremely long ramble on one of my favorite topics. Later I will post my first session of playing Dragon Age Origins..... now, all i gotta do is decide how to play it...