Gaming Holiday Gaming

[Shinmaru]

I'm not a very big fan of Thanksgiving. I appreciate the overall meaning of the holiday, but I give thanks for the same things (family, games, etc.) every single year. It gets a tad monotonous when you realize you're doing the same thing over and over and over again. But I digress; the purpose of this thread is not to whine about Thanksgiving.

The reason I look forward to Thanksgiving is because I get to see many members of my family that I don't get to see too often; what's better is that just about all of them love gaming, heh.

So, I've taken the liberty this year of setting up a nice multiplayer gaming session for my family to go crazy with this year - big screen, surround sound, lots of room to play, etc. All downstairs, which is pretty convenient.

I'm heavily looking forward to having some great multiplayer fun with my family this year. I tried to do something like this for Christmas last year at my uncle's house, but too many people didn't show up, unfortunately. Hopefully, that won't be the case this year - I'm looking forward to kicking a choice *** or two in Super Smash Bros. ~_^

Anyway, my question is this - is anybody else doing something similar to this for Thanksgiving? Do you look forward to beating the tar out of your family members in a Thanksgiving free for all as much as I do? Or, if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, are you just looking forward to playing games today?

[Brasil]

Hmm...interesting question.

It's different for me regarding Thanksgiving, as we host dinner with my dad's side of the family, meaning no gamers at all. My Aunt Carol and Uncle Jon used to be heavy gamers back in the days of NES, but they've since grown out of it. So, really, my Thanksgivings don't involve massive multiplayer deathmatches. Although, since I now have Animal Crossing, I might be able to get Carol and Jon to get into Super Mario Bros 1...heh :D

My gaming deathmatch family party events occur usually around Christmas, at which time we get together with my mom's side. My mom's side has all my 15 cousins, 80% of whom are aged 16-22...prime gameplaying ages, lol.

The Christmas parties rotate between 4 families. My family, my Aunt Debbie and Uncle John, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Anthony, and Aunt Diane and Uncle Frank.

We hosted last in my Frosh year of college, so we'll host again my first year of Grad school (Holy ****...that's only 2 years away...I feel old.). I've found that heavy gaming has happened when we've hosted, when Aunt Kathy has hosted, or to a lesser extent, Aunt Debbie. Gaming used to happen at Aunt Diane's but that was back during SNES, lol.

But yes, Shin, I know exactly where you're coming from. To many, the holidays are times to get together with family and friends and reminisce over the joyful times we share...to intense gamers, the holidays are another day of the year to beat the living piss out of our relatives in video games. :devil:

[terra]

Aw, you guys are lucky. Although I suppose I shouldn't be talking, as I spent the majority of today playing the newly purchased Cube with my brother, and we only have two games :p. My extended family is scattered all over the world so we seldom all meet up, plus our ages are pretty diverse so I don't think there's much we could all play together.

I'll be sure to keep all this in mind for the next family reunion, though.

[Shinmaru]

I've gotten some time playing games but not as many family members showed up as I hoped :( Oh well - I still got to play some games, so I'm not complaining, heh. I haven't had much time for games lately (gasp), so I'm really catching up on things over the four day holiday (for the record, I still haven't beaten Metroid Prime lol - I'm so lazy :whoops: ) .

Also, my brother got this addicting electronic game called Bulls-Eye Ball (kind of like mini-skeeball) that we've been playing as much as the video games o_O; He cheated, so the high scores on the thing are really skewed; he's a dirty little rascal, that one lol. But, as soon as I learn how to get those marbles into the bullseye thingy in the middle of the thing (I'm practically a thesaurus :p), his high scores will be history.

EDIT: 880th post! Why am I pointing this out? No idea.

[Charles]

My Thanksgiving gaming was dedicated to Tony Hawk's Underground. I was able to sit down with my brother and cousin; we played quite a bit of story mode. The Tony Hawk games have always been great for that sort of thing. It's like a middle ground for us. We don't agree on many games--but we've have always enjoyed the Pro Skater series immensely.

[center][img]http://therob578.250free.com/tonyhawk.jpg[/img][/center]

Originally, I wasn't going to bother with THUG because I didn't enjoy last year's effort too much. But, the level design in this year's product is somewhat of a throwback to the roots of the series, so we were able to hit some sick lines without being distracted by tennis or monkeys throwing feces.

Since the days of Goldeneye have passed, we've not really been into holiday gaming (at least as far as multiplayer goes). When it's all said and done, that game probably provides me with many of my fondest multiplayer memories. It's a great example of what a first person shooter should be and it proves that split screen console gaming can be very entertaining. Perhaps I should have busted out the dusty old Nintendo 64 for today. heh

Too bad I haven't run into Semjaza online. I'd like to force him into a game of pool. That also easily trumps most multiplayer games.

[Semjaza]

Pool rocks. I miss it. We should actually play some 9 Ball. Thanks to Super Monkey Ball I've discovered it is the best form of pool there is.

My brothers, cousin and uncle all played 4 player MK: DD for at least a couple of hours tonight. I wish I joined in.

[Brasil]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Charles [/i]
[B]Since the days of Goldeneye have passed, we've not really been into holiday gaming (at least as far as multiplayer goes). When it's all said and done, that game probably provides me with many of my fondest multiplayer memories. It's a great example of what a first person shooter should be and it proves that split screen console gaming can be very entertaining. Perhaps I should have busted out the dusty old Nintendo 64 for today. heh[/B][/QUOTE]

There's something about GoldenEye, 6 of your male cousins screaming obscenities while huddled around a 27 inch TV, the Bond theme pumping through the surround sound speakers, and the glorious sound of 4 ZMGs firing up the Complex that just brings a smile to your face.

GoldenEye held my holiday parties for a good 3 years. It was the perfect family holiday party game. Hell, it still is in many respects.

Like Charles, most of my fondest holiday memories come from GoldenEye. Actually, when my mom's side spent a week down in North Carolina in a huge-*** beach-house a few years ago, we brought the N64 and had some good old-fashioned Bondian goodness.

It was like things had never changed...apart from now I got my *** handed to me by the cousins I used to school in Bond just 2 years before that.

Good gaming never changes, I guess. :)

[size=1][color=blue]Changed the name of the thread to Holiday Gaming, since the topic has diverged to just general holiday gaming. No biggie; I'm glad to see some interest here. - Shinmaru [/size][/color]

[Magnum Apex]

[color=darkblue][font=trebuchet ms]Sadly, all my family and friends live in another country, so holidays get a little lonely for me. Still, Thanksgiving is an invitation to be a complete bum who plays video games all day.

While I, obviously, didn't play any multiplayer games, I enjoyed some quality solo gaming time. I finally got my hands on Prince of Persia and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for the Xbox. Persia feels like a throwback to the old days with the advantages of next-gen consoles, with all the platform-jumping puzzles and simplistic combat. On the other hand, while I'm not a big fan of Star Wars at all (In fact, I very much dislike it), KOTOR is so good that my aversion to the franchise is easily put aside for the purpose of entertainment. I also played a couple of season games in World Series Baseball 2K3, and watched a little X/1999 and .hack anime.[/color][/font]

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Okay, now I feel deprived. Anymore, I'm the only real gamer in the family. I'm the youngest in my immediate family, so most of my relatives are either past the "general gaming age," or they're too young. So yeah, no multiplayer gaming around holidays -- at least not any more than normal. In fact, for multiplayer gaming with my family, only one of my brothers ever plays together with me. I'm almost exclusively a solo-gamer anymore. :(

So yeah, I've been starved for multiplayer gaming ever since me, my brother and his friend would play the original Super Smash Bros. I mean, I've got friends to play with every now and then, but we usually own different games (so we can trade back and forth and end up being able to play more of the games for the same amount of money), so either I totally kick their butts or they totally kick my butt... You know, seeing as one of us owns the game and plays it a lot, while the other doesn't get to play it as much... This ends up making it not as much fun as it would be if we were all of equal skill at the games.

I can't wait for the gaming night we're going to be having at my church some time soon, though. I'll be able to get some real competition at Super Smash Bros. Melee, while being able to play on movie theater screens. I'll have to start practicing at SSBM again, heh. ^_^[/color]

[corrie3000]

How'd you get your family to do THAT?

My family never, ever would!

[size=1][color=blue]Try to put a bit more into your posts, please. This is basically spam, since it doesn't contribute much to the conversation. - Shinmaru[/size][/color]