Holiday Gaming Memories

holidaysHappy Turkey Day, fools!

One of the most interesting things about holidays is the traditions that we and our families adopt, and the memories that form with them. For me, every Thanksgiving is a get-together with the family, along with some board games such as Risk or Apples to Apples. We also throw the football around a little. We’ve been repeating this for quite some time, and I enjoy it for the most part, especially the way we’ve all grown and changed over time. It really makes for some fond memories.

While gorging myself on food today, kind of wishing I was home finishing Dragon Age: Origins or jumping in on the second season of 1 Vs 100, it made me think about some of my favorite memories and traditions from my gaming background.

I think one of my favorite gaming holiday memories was Mario 64 on Christmas morning. I remember the Nintendo 64 was one of the hardest things to get for Christmas that year, and my mom managed to get one for us. I put in Mario 64 at like 6 AM before we left for my grandmother’s house, and I had to be torn away from it. All day long I kept itching to get home and explore the castle, get more stars and put on the flying hat.

Another memory from Thanksgiving a few years back was playing Halo 2 with some of my friends over LAN just a few weeks after it had come out. It was a group of us from high school (including Daniel and Nick and Jeff, I believe), and we hung out together and tried the game out. I’m almost certain that doing so is what made Nick go buy it when he got back to school, and then we started playing over XBox Live together.

In addition, two years ago I received Call of Duty 4 on Christmas day. While I had never really been into the CoD games before that, I had heard good things and couldn’t wait to try it out. After some of the festivities, I busted that thing in and experienced one of the best games of this generation.

So what about you guys? What are some of your favorite holiday gaming traditions/memories? Go!

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

12 thoughts on “Holiday Gaming Memories”

  1. You just blew my mind that CoD4 came out 2 Christmas’s ago… I thought that was just last year… jesus…

    I guess I remember getting Grand Theft Auto III and MGS II for Christmas… It was a long day, also having to be torn away from the machine to be brought to a family gathering.

    Single handedly the best 2-game-combo I’ve ever recieved. Both of them belong on a pedestal.

  2. COD4 for Christmas is one of the best examples for me. Got the PS3 in 07, so I played it and R&CF:ToD for 7-8 hours straight. Stood up too fast and nearly fainted! Also, the year I got the PS2 I got Dark Cloud (and a memory card!) so there were 2 whole new experiences for me (RPGs and saving data).

  3. When I got my Playstation 3 I was so mind blown that it came with wireless controllers I took it with me and help it under the dinner table.

  4. Well, I got my Xbox 360 2-years ago for Christmas along with the two games that came with it (Forza 3 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance). I put in Forza and was hooked. Then, a few days later, I picked up GRAW 2. That game is quite possibly the BEST 3rd Person Shooter I’ve ever played (Yes, Gears was good, but it wasn’t tactical).

    Unfortunately, as time went on, my Xbox broke (The screen would freeze up). Luckily, this happened yesterday and there were 2-weeks left on my Best Buy warranty.

  5. This Thanksgiving was a great one actually. My direct family just chilled at home, eating bagels for breakfast, watching Akira Kurosawa films, playing Assassin’s Creed 2 all the way through in about 3 days (EPIC!), and playing MW2’s campaign in one sitting AGAIN to show my family the epic story. So yeah, all in all, this Thanksgiving was one of the best.

    As for the past, since we usually went to faraway places to visit family, my brother and I’s (correct grammar? w/e) gaming time was limited to handhelds in the car. Limited is not the right word actually, since this was during the Golden Age of the Handheld. Back when Nintendo was awesome, the GBA was the console of choice, and RPG’s, platformers, and hack-n’-slashers dominated my hands. Ah, I miss those days so very, very much. So basically the trip was the best part of Thanksgiving. Until the dinner. But then it was trip back home. So Turkey Day pwns.

  6. Easily two years ago when I got both The Orange Box and CoD4 on Xbox. I spent that entire day playing Orange Box games without even touching CoD4, but after I was done with that it was CoD4 time.

  7. I always go back to this one but Christmas 1998…

    I got Metal Gear Solid and played it ’til the early hours of the morning everyday from Christmas night until i finished it.

  8. My favorite memory is from Christmas of ’97….that was when I got my N64 and GoldenEye. I spent all break playing that through about three times with my cousins. Those were great times…

  9. Christmas 2007. Played Mass Effect from the 24th clear through New Years. The conversation system in that game blew my mind.

    A close second would be any holiday where my cousin and I obsessively played through Halo: CE on co-operative. That happened quite a few times.

  10. [quote comment=”9258″]This past week. Batman: Arkham Asylum just rocked my world. Amazing.[/quote]
    It’s incredible, I just wish it was longer.

    […that’s what she said]

  11. [quote comment=”9261″][quote comment=”9258″]This past week. Batman: Arkham Asylum just rocked my world. Amazing.[/quote]
    It’s incredible, I just wish it was longer.

    […that’s what she said][/quote]

    Agreed. It was getting old at then end though. Hopefully the sequel will be longer.

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