Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Role of Video Games in My Life

A funny thing occurred to me today on the way through the living room. My roomates and I each contributed one video gaming console to the living room. A Super Nintendo , a Nintendo 64 and a Playstation. I should note that i keep an X-box 360 in my room simply because it is my baby. Maybe when I replace it once it becomes boring and obsolete will i bring it to the living bur not now.

Looking at those consoles and cartridges , playing those beeping and booping sounding games takes me back to different periods of my life. Mario was toddler, Sonic was young school boy, uhh...oh yeah then came the world of 3D and Krash bandicoot . Wow, good times one and all. Then in my early youth I discovered a game called Resident Evil 2. It was terrifying and also challenging with its endlessly furiating puzzles and monsters. The first ever horror and graphicly gory game I had ever played. I loved it! My box of games is much like a yearbook or photo album capturing moments in my life. Only these moments were somewhat a little less real. Apparently , saving the world from an alien invasion in a video game does not hold up as a notable accomplishment in life, but it meant a lot to me so rasberries to that!

After coming home from another day of the same old, same old thing there is nothing finer then shooting zombies, or dueling lightsabers, or even just dressing like a plumber and squishing turtles. It is my favourite form of escapism ( I do enough reading for homework!). Of course there are some nay sayers out there. Critical and skeptical folk who would suggest that video games are harmful must say so out of ignorance. Play it before you bash it. I will admit that the average player is missing out on a lot of exercise but thankfully there is the Wii. Have you ever played the Wii? Oh you got to play the Wii. It has encorporated physical activity into its gaming experience. The player actually has to get off the couch and make the motions for the on screen characters. Cool huh?Now we can all jump on those turtles for real! Wait,...that came out wrong.

5 comments:

  1. Kyle, I liked reading this because I don't play video games at all. Maybe its because I'm a girl, but I stopped playing when I was around 12, a few years after my Super Nintendo became obsolete. However, because I don't play video games, I would have liked to see this become more of a story. Maybe with dialogue, and a scene of you and your roommates playing together. Are you really competitive? Who usually wins? Do you fight over what games to play? Do you yell at each other as you're playing? I think its always amusing to see those really intense gamers who yell at the screen... are you and your friends like that when you play?
    I liked the line "there is nothing finer then shooting zombies, or dueling lightsabers, or even just dressing like a plumber and squishing turtles. It is my favourite form of escapism." I also liked that you referred to your 360 as your 'baby.'

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Kyle,

    I enjoyed your discussion of video games. I haven't played video games in a while either but it was good to come back to it.

    I agree with Whitney, more detail would have been great. A bunch of guys and their games is always a sight to see. I think that if you had worked your detail a bit more you could have developed it into a greater meaning. Why do you play video games? What do you learn from them that helps you to learn? That would have linked really well with your final paragraph.

    "Mario was toddler, Sonic was young school boy, uhh...oh yeah then came the world of 3D and Krash bandicoot ." This was definitely my favourite line. This was my experience too!It demonstrates a lot of voice and stream of consciousness thinking.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the tone of this post, it's informal and funny but with a clear topic. I like how you put your own spin on it and gave it a clear and distinct voice that is your own. Ex. "but it meant a lot to me so raspberries to that!"

    I like that you compared your box of video games to a yearbook or photo album. This comparison shows the reader that these games etc have a greater meaning to you, and represent certain parts of your life. It would have been cool to see this expanded a little more.

    I also like your use of alteration with "consoles and cartridges" and "beeping and bopping", it gives the piece flow and interesting language.

    Lastly, I like how you are speaking directly to the reader like when you ask questions in the last paragraph. This makes it a more interesting and personal read, like we are able to have a mini-conversation with you.

    Thanks for posting

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Kyle!

    A good funny read. I am an gamer myself, so I empathized alot with what you are saying. Particularly, when you were saying how completing games feels like an accomplishment, is something that rings strong and true. I believe almost all people who have played a game, whether a small puzzle or an epic 100 hour action feels its an achievement.

    However, I would have liked to see some more structure, such as dialogue and description. This piece almost feels like aimless musing as times.

    Good work!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kyle,
    I liked to read about your passion for video games, I was never into video games but we all have something that we treat as our “baby”. I would have loved to have a better picture created in your first paragraph. I was never into any video games, so it would have been good to have more description of the room, the game systems its self, the noises the games make, the controllers and other related video game items.
    Keep writing about things you love , even though I am not interested in video games, I wanted to keep reading your blog to see what made video games so important to you.

    Great blog,
    Cassie

    ReplyDelete