Game with your friends in person this season…for once
the final month of the year has arrived and the threat of another snowmageddon looms on cold gray skies. Demand for milk and bread will stay high until spring, if it ever comes. But as my Magic 8-Ball says, “Outlook does not look good”.
What also does not look good is the December video game release list. Just as I suspected the big hitters came too early and now it seems all hope is to bank on DLC, expansion content, and the fancy new Xbox One X system.
XOX is on my radar but if you want my early take? The XOX is big, ugly, and an expensive powerhouse in terms of tech and 4k capabilities. Microsoft maybe kicking off a new console cold war so expect some amazing products to hit the shelves angled at pushing 4k and VR technology. 2018 looks to be an amazing year for gaming so get ready.
I suppose this is where I write a shopping list for hidden gaming gems, or knock out a top three hot titles to stuff the stockings or whatever. Truth is, I’m not that type of guy and maybe deep inside the recesses of my heart there stirs something resembling compassion, not that I would admit that in person.
Instead if you’re like me you have a huge library of video games you’ve barely touched from 2017. Perhaps fasting from the gaming glut and embracing more analog means this season with some friends and family would set your mind right. In which case I would recommend Scrabble or Clue, heck why not experiment with D&D with your flamboyantly geeky friends?
Chances are you’ve been begged ad nauseum to throw D20 over some beer and why not take the chance and be sociable for once. I found that my old Marine squad leader habits actually shine during a tense D&D session and though I suck at the roleplay aspects I absolutely love the freedom of tactics I get to play with. However, I would bet cash money some dusty boxes of childhood nostalgia exist in the attic, bookshelf, or basement waiting there for you to open up and reminiscence. Perhaps that is where my mind is no matter where I am during the holidays: remembering something about being alive and human in this world, it just so happens that these memories involve a game of some kind.
My very first board game was chess with my Grandfather when I was five in the Christmas of ‘88. The pieces were hand carved from white pine and the board was waxed with paraffin with green felt on its back.
The set must’ve been 80 years old at the time because it reeked severely of must and dust. I believe we played until I was 10 and never once did the old man let me win or take it easy on me.
For him there were no participation trophies and no quarter given to an opponent of any age or size. He was teaching and I was learning. I learned more about life as well as the game itself to which I became very adept well into adulthood and these lessons remain thirty years after the fact. Today I long to even own a set to teach my daughter, she is five now, a fine age to start learning.
I’m not suggesting giving up video games for Lent or anything but maybe becoming a paragon of charity before the New Year couldn’t hurt either. A cool place to donate some aging consoles and gear would be at Children’s Hospitals especially if you are trying to make room for that XOX or PS4 Pro.
The new Children’s Hospital at Erlanger would be a great start but if you would like a more net-centric approach you can go to gamechangercharity.org and donate those games you’d probably get ripped off in store credit anyway. It’s not like your version of Call of Duty will be 4k compatible, and what child wouldn’t want to find escape in blasting aliens or raiding tombs?
Games can change lives in meaningful ways but not so much as the solitary endeavor it can be but through the sharing and playing of the games themselves. The interaction of others around the games is what matters, people can open up stories shared and new ones formed. Whether it be with controller or game piece simply being present for the game is enough to make some old games feel brand new.
When not vaporizing zombies or leading space marines as a mousepad Mattis, Brandon Watson is making gourmet pancakes and promoting local artists.