My 3 most vivid Christmas gaming memories 'Tis the season. Dec 23, 2011 6:41PM PST

My earliest one is so old that I don't remember how old I was at the time.  I'm going to guess 11 or 12.  My family is the kind that goes to church every Sunday and attends all the holiday events.  That Christmas I was sick and didn't make it to the Christmas Eve ceremony.  I played the heck out of Ice Climber while I had the house to myself.

The next earliest one is from 1997, which would make me 21 at the time.  That holiday season is a blur, except for playing Diddy Kong Racing on the N64.  The snow levels and overall feel of that game coincide well with the holiday season.  That game could've been made by Santa himself!

My most recent vivid holiday gaming memory is from 2003.  I'm not really sure what makes it stand out so much to me, but I was playing Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Shenmue at the time.  Maybe it stands out because those are two great games to be playing under the glow of multicolored Christmas lights.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!  

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• My favorite X-Mas memories....

  Posted: Dec 23, 2011 12:00AM PST by  San_Andreas
  

  1. 1989 - my first Game Boy. Got a battery pack for my birthday 3 weeks later after my mother got tired of buying more AA batteries. :)

  2. 1994 - my SNES and Zelda.

  3. 1996 - Nintendo 64

  4. 2000 - Final Fantasy IX and Majora's Mask

  5. 2001 - PS2

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• Diddy Kong Racing..

  Posted: Dec 23, 2011 12:00AM PST by  octoberfleshed
  

  when I was 10 in late 1997 with my family and friends.  We used to play that game all the time when we'd visit our cousins in Virginia and played the hell out of it at our house.  Man, those were some good times.

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• Funny how integrated Nintendo is in all of our childhoods.

  Posted: Dec 24, 2011 12:00AM PST by  SamuraiTerry
  

  So many Christmas memories revolve around getting a Nintendo console.  NES, Gameboy, SNES, Gamecube, DS, but the 64 might stand out the most just because of the first real jump from 2D to 3D.  Crazy to think that those graphics were mind blowing at a time. lol

  My favorite memory I think is going to be this Christmas.  I'm getting an iPad 2 which will be the most expensive Christmas present I've ever recieved.  Going to be playing Civilization Revolution, Swords and Sorcery, and Infinite Blade 2 and have impressions up in the coming days: )

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  • As far as Christmas goes...

    Posted: Dec 24, 2011 12:00AM PST by  octoberfleshed
    

    Nintendo certainly comes to mind for me, however, we owned a Genesis first.  I was about 8 when I REALLY got into games (and consequently that was when we got an N64) so for me it was slightly coincidental.  Either way, yeah....I <3 games because of Nintendo lol.

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  • Awesome

    Posted: Dec 24, 2011 12:00AM PST by  Raised_on_Nintendo
    

    Looking forward to reading about those iPad games.  When I play new games, I sometimes wonder what it'd be like being a kid playing for the first time.  Like with Skyward Sword.  Would it be my favorite Zelda if it was the first one I played?  Or some of these gorgeous HD games.  What would it be like if Uncharted 3 was the first game I ever played?  How would the 8-/16-bit era be perceived if that was the case?  How relevant is Nintendo, or even Sega in the minds of these young newbie gamers?  Would make for an interesting poll.

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  • I'm in a great place to gage interest.

    Posted: Dec 26, 2011 12:00AM PST by  SamuraiTerry
    

    As I wait for my art teaching job I sub at a pretty big High School, around 3,000.  I'm always amazed at what I see kids still into.  COD is of course the biggest, but kids still talk about Zelda, Pokemon, and even Sonic.  Besides me there are 5 kids that I have met that have 3DSs and hope to see that number grow after Christmas.  Street Pass is pretty awesome when your in a place to really take advantage of the feature.  

    Also sitting in the teachers lounge I can see other gaming trends.  When all the mom/teachers are all talking about Kinect, I knew it was going to be pretty big (also I got one for my kids this Christmas:D).  

    Still messsing around with the iPad.  Its a pretty awesome little device.  Debating if I should go digital with my comics. hmmm

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• Ha, got one too! =D

  Posted: Dec 24, 2011 12:00AM PST by  ForteII
  

  Last year, I beat  Metroid Prime 2: Echoes  for the first time on Christmas Eve,  just BEFORE everyone came for dinner!   

  
  

  Saving a planet just in time for Xmas sounded like all in a day's work for Ms. Aran, I guess...

  
  

  

  Happy Holidays!  These sorts of coincidences are always awesome.   LL