If you haven’t eagerly waited to get your Christmas mitts on a new game, you needn’t read on. The “wait” can be synonymous with video games, and not just in the sense of patience testing load times. But in the world of games, there are often whispers (online articles) about games, many months, or even a year or two in advance of a game coming out. Combine that with the very real chance of delays, and eagerness can turn into desperation for the select few.
With Christmas upon us, millions of gamers around the world are no doubt hoping their Christmas acquisitions contain that one ‘must have’ game. Although, since Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 recently earned $1 billion in 15 days, I’m thinking Christmas came early for some.
For me, it’s Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, the approaching PS3 Japanese Role playing game, from the efforts of Namco Bandai Games and the big point of interest, Studio Ghibli (think Spirited Away). Alas, I’m already seeing how Ni No Kuni loosely rhymes with Need So Sooney, as its release date is towards the end of January. But if you can’t hold it in your hands, pre-ordering is the next best thing.
Christmas past
Wind the clock back to the first half of the 90’s, and I remember the wait being a little too much for my brother and my 8 year old self. If a couple of Christmas gift games were discovered in a wardrobe while the parents were out, who wouldn’t want to give them a whirl early? Even if it does lead to a date with Mum’s wooden spoon.
Of course it was a different era for games back then. The lack or complete absence of the internet, meant you could receive a game or two for Christmas, and very likely have never heard of them before, which made it pretty easy to tell mates that you have “the best game ever”. Also, if you wanted to find out cheat codes for a game, you would need to rack up a hefty phone bill to call some games hot line (I’m starting to think that wooden spoon wasn’t for cooking at all).
Plenty of Christmas days and plenty of memories of gaming “relics”. The Sonic the Hedgehog’s, the Super Mario Bros, even black and white Might and Magic on one of the very early Apple Macs. The Nintendo Gameboy, the Sega Master System, all of these now dusty pieces of hardware, would have lit up the faces of many kids and kids at heart back in the Christmas days of old.
If you are wanting a walk down gamers memory lane, all is not lost. The online Playstation store can offer the likes of Alex the Kidd in Miracle World from 1987. There is even a Sega Megadrive Ultimate Collection game that was released on the Playstation 3. There are also low budget “Indie” game developers who have paid homage to old school games with the likes of Braid, Fez and Super Meat Ball.
I’m sure millions will be getting something new from the gaming world this this Christmas, be it the new Nintendo Wii U, a portable PS Vita, or that long awaited game. Just be sure to enjoy what you have now, look forward to what’s around the corner, and don’t forget the ghost of Christmas games past.