#1: The Passion (a holiday tale)
My #1 gaming moment of 2004 didn't come wrapped in plastic. Nor did it have some billion-dollar ad campaign
preceding it. My #1 gaming moment was a total surprise, a melding of old and new…
It started innocently enough. Heading home from the big city, holidays with the fam-fam. This year, my aunt & uncle?who now live in Rome?were visiting with their two sons, ages 3 & 6. Toby, the older of the two, had asked to play some video games, and I eagerly accepted his request before realizing that I?d left my Xbox up at my apartment.
We headed upstairs and I dug through some shelves in my old room, uncovering a yellowing SNES, two controllers, and
a stockpile of games. I was afraid that Toby, even at six, would scoff at the likes of a system older than he
was, but apparently, the young?ns in Italy don?t stick too close to the gaming scene (Toby does own a GBA SP, but had
never played a GameCube or PlayStation). We plugged in my old friend and fired up a game of Super Double
Dragon.
As I pondered how I?d ever found this game cutting-edge, I turned to Toby, expecting him to be as unfulfilled as I
was. But to my surprise, he was completely swept up in the same magic that had possessed me some twelve years
ago. It was the zombie-like stare, the frozen posture, the inability to heed his mother?s commands? ah yes,
another gamer is born!
This was my #1 gaming moment of 2004 because it was entirely unannounced, it was completely free (relatively), and it provided a human point of contact for me and my young cousin. Now some of you might be rolling your eyes at that last statement, but it?s true. What a lot of non-gamers (if there is such a thing?) don?t realize is that video games have the potential to bring us together. Yes, of course they can be abused and become unhealthy, but these games also possess a social nature?again, this is one reason why I find Xbox Live to be so important to this generation of consoles. As we play these games together we experience a full spectrum of emotions that we create through our virtual actions?no, video games are entirely different than simply watching TV. Video games are culture.
I can?t express how exciting it was to share this experience with Toby. I smiled, coaching him through the second level of Ninja Gaiden (from the SNES Ninja Gaiden Trilogy). Jump, stop, no wait, jump, slash, okay? now jump! (And let me you, it must be in his blood, that kid has skillz!) Sure, his mom was moaning that?d I just opened a Pandora?s Box, but in my heart I knew it was much greater than that?
Happy Holidays, here?s to another fine year of gaming!
