Okay, okay; I know I just wrote a 1500-word feature on this subject, but I wouldn't be an unscrupulous freelance writer if I didn't milk an idea until it was crying, chapped, and swollen. Please see my 9000 posts about Mother 3 for more on this.
So now that my credibility has safely been disposed of, it's time to move onto more important topics: namely, Thanksgiving. For nearly all of us, this holiday signifies a wanted or unwanted family reunion; and with this gathering comes sitting around for extended periods of time while stuffed full of food. Obviously, this situation is perfect for the playing of video games. We are fortunate that the industry is kind enough to schedule their most important releases of the year around this period of maximum immobility.
Since the purpose of this post is to share our Thanksgiving-related gaming memories (as if you couldn't tell), I'm going to go ahead and start with my own. Thanksgiving of 2004 marked two memorable events: the recent release of Metal Gear Solid 3, and also one of my brief flirtations with food poisoning--in this case, it was a post-Thanksgiving Taco Bell menu item. Yes, I was young and stupid.
This is one of the few instances in my life where I could have sworn I almost died--if not from the extreme dehydration, then from my nightmarishly vivid fever dreams. For about 24 hours, I lapsed between two different realities: my own, and the jungles of Groznyj Grad. Obviously, the part of my brain the likes video games decided it was time to stage a mutiny, which led to a series of very realistic hallucinations where I was hiding, murdering, and generally being scared shitless. And even though all of this happened in my mind, I still count this altered state as one of my most memorable gaming experiences.
So can any of you out there top my burrito fueled ride to Hell in the department of Thanksgiving gaming memories? I'm sure someone has an awesome story about grandma blinding the family dog with a flying Wii-mote.
Related Links:
The 61FPS Review: Metal Gear Solid 4 Part 1
The Ten Greatest Opening Levels in Gaming History, Part 2
Bringing Sexy Back: Yoji Shinkawa