email them or send a text message. You developers take total control of the get in touch with them. You interact transactions. with them. When I began thinking about what to - Bongo Bill write for this particular letter, I started Interaction. It is the one thing that with the issue theme, “Season’s I enjoyed your Boutique MMOGs games have above every other In response to “Club Xanadu” from Gaming”. Why is it that so many of us tie arrticle. Naturally I agree that such entertainment form out there. They do The Escapist Forum: A fascinating games into the holiday season? Sure, all smaller games represent a great interaction so well – and in fact, most article. I love how the article was titled the game companies push out massive opportunity for developers. However, I games do not work without some “Club Xanadu” in reference to “Citizen quantities of stuff – consoles, games, wish to point out that Puzzle Pirates was manner of interaction. A few years ago, Kane” which in turn was about ... ah guides, etc. to catch the holiday game makers Milton Bradley started a made for approximatey US $750k, not spending spree from parents. But so do “Family Game Night” campaign. Yes, it the ‘paltry $3M’ your article mentions in a lot of other companies. served their purpose, but really, they the same breath. If we’d had the were right. Games are a great way to foresight not to include the kitchen sink As a child, I remember, starting in early connect with family. And friends. And co- it might have been even cheaper, but November, watching my usual shows workers. then again, we might have eaten better, become more and more saturated with too. I would hate to make aspiring commercials pimping the most wonderful So, with this in mind, we bring you this ramen-eaters think that a game of PP’s and glorious toys starting in early week’s issue of The Escapist, “Season’s scope requires multiple seven figures. November. But games stand out as more Gaming”. Here, our authors share their important players during the actual own special gaming memories. We invite - Daniel James, CEO, Three Rings holidays. And I don’t mean just you to think of your own, even share videogames, but really any games; them in our forums and get in the mood In response to “ The Trivial Pursuit, Cranium and Bridge are a for some great gaming time with family Industrialization of Play” from The few of my family’s traditions. and friends in this holiday season. Happy Escapist Forum: I can understand the holidays and merry gaming to you and desire to keep your in-game economy So, why games, as opposed to movies or yours from us here at The Escapist. truly and permanently in-game, but books or other such entertainment personally the only ways I can see to devices? And then it occurred to me Cheers, prevent it from expanding outside the what the holidays are about: Being with game world are by either excluding the those close and important to you. And if economy altogether, or letting the you can’t be with them, you call them or whatever ... (and since when do game We don’t think of it now, but where and not only will they move in Japan, monsters have DNA?) would we be without the analog stick? It but they’ll also sell well in the US. seemed like a small difference at first, This whole article sounds so incredibly but it has made a huge impact in gaming - Scopique surreal, it sounds like its straight out of (imagine Halo with just two D-pads). I an old Sci-Fi channel film from the 70’s expect motion sensitivity and pointing or something, or the Twilight Zone. I control to do the same. really wonder how successful this guy will be because of this, though. I - Blaxton personally think it won’t grow much beyond where it is now, but I could be In response to “Little, Red Yen” wrong, and this could explode in a few from The Escapist Forum: It looks like years time. the 360 has a chance to get some sales this time around, with Blue Dragon. -Darkpen Although it’s just hit the streets in Japan, people are already saying that MS is still In Response to “A Better Way to underperforming in Japan. Getting huge Play” from The Escapist Forum: sales RIGHT NOW isn’t a realistic strategy Attempting to change the mainstream, or expectation, but now that MS has tasted push-button control style that has hither-to unknown success in Japan, dominated the past two decades or so is someone needs to wake up and continue kind of a big deal (to me at least). courting big-name Japanese developers to Maybe the change doesn’t seem like a take a chance on their hardware. big deal right now. The games are still first gen for the console cycle (and are Get Japanese developers to produce subject to all the problems that go along products for the Japanese market (which with that). They will get better; and, I even to me, who is not a marketing hope, they will bring gaming to a new ninja, is such a painfully obvious move), standard of control. “Where are the foot massagers?” massagers. As I finally usher Methuselah out the door and down the escalator to It’s six in the morning, the Saturday Brookstone, a half dozen bleary eyed before Christmas 2004, and my first customers, the stink of holiday panic customer of the day is Methuselah in wafting from them like skunk road kill, poorly pressed slacks and a tan have wandered in and begun to pick the windbreaker, as conspicuous in front of remaining meat off the shelves. the Grand Theft Auto 3 display as a Daughters of the American Revolution It’s my twelfth consecutive day of work. outing to the Apollo. His eyebrows are In the preceding week, I’ve personally mangled, overused scrub brushes transacted roughly $50,000 worth of superglued to his forehead, and he fixes videogames, put in 65 hours of work and me with the kind of expression a bad come to think of time in terms of the poker player wears when trying to buy piped-in music that jams holiday cheer the pot on a pair of threes. down the ear-hole of anyone within range. I know that Barbara Streisand’s “This is Electronics Boutique,” I explain, staccato Jingle Bells means it’s time to naively possessed of the illusion that this open, Garth Brooks’s God Rest Ye Merry will be information enough. An Gentlemen means it’s time to close and uncomfortable moment passes. I wait for the cacophonous electro-pop-synth him to cogitate. He waits for me to sell nonsense by Manheim Steamroller him a foot massager. Eventually I add, means it’s time to jam a DS stylus “We sell videogames.” through my eardrums.

“No.” This is not a response for which I am It is eight in the morning. The store has prepared. “I bought a massager here two been open for two hours, and I’m still years ago. It broke. I need a new one.” alone. The checkout line is averaging six people deep. A desperate father, one It takes me five minutes to explain that I among many, asks if I have the brand- know my 400 square foot store’s new Nintendo DS in stock. I consider it inventory well enough to know we don’t good customer service that I don’t point sell, nor have we ever sold, foot at him and laugh. Instead, he buys a copy of Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams for and for every one person manning the It is 2:30 in the afternoon now. The day know to be obscenely small. Many the PlayStation 2, a random shot in the actual job, there must be four more in is flying by in giant moon-leap bounds. A assistant managers mitigate this dark chosen like a number on a roulette the back room smoking and looking at woman has just come in and hurriedly unfavorable sum by reducing the amount wheel. Normally, I’d help him make a pornography. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. parked her kids in front of the interactive of work they actually do to more closely better selection, but were I to show such machines with strict instructions that match their pay scale. June is unusual in time-consuming initiative, the five people I can only track the three remaining they stay here until she is done that she does all the work, complains in line behind him might rise up as one to hours until my crew comes to my aid, shopping. Historically speaking, it’s a very little and succeeds at almost any lay fiery, furious siege to my register. and people stop looking at the second reasonable estimate to say that those task I put before her. Unfortunately, the unused register with the kind of children will be in my store for at least district manager doesn’t care much for I see in their impatient expression that contempt usually reserved for death-row an hour and a half and will eventually her, and that pretty much means that they imagine we are like county workers, inmates and Green Party candidates. camp out in a corner ripping out-of-date she has reached the ceiling of her magazines from their plastic covers or upward mobility. The day after Thanksgiving gets all the asking if I can put a different game in press. And it may be true that the total the Gamecube. I will have to ask them My other full time employee, Adam, is an volume of shoppers is larger on that not to sit on the floor in front of the awkward man-child who is exactly the aptly named Black Friday, but the PlayStation 2 New Release section at kind of person you might cast in the role Saturday before Christmas is historically least four times. of retail clerk were you doing a more productive from a sales treatment for an episode of Cliché perspective. Desperate gift givers make Finally, I have my full crew on the clock. Theater. He is wearing a black button-up great customers. Customers flow through the front door shirt with red Japanese characters like tiny blood cells, fat with cash emblazoned down the right side that I liquidity instead of oxygen, feeding the think might mean “I’m With Stupid.” I beating heart of specialty retail. The day adopt a don’t ask, don’t tell policy on the is in full motion, and I feel a strange translation. His black denim pants strain kinship with George Bailey fighting off at his girth, and his face is pudgy and the run on the bank at the Bedford Falls coated with a thin layer of something Building & Loan. that I suspect could be harvested as an industrial lubricant. As we work, he My assistant manager, June, is a girl of proselytizes with impassioned, almost some 20 years, Midwestern in every way academic rhetoric that graphic novels that a person can be, paying her way should be counted as serious literature. through technical college on a salary I sponsored by The third member of my team is Katie. The paper bag is filled with PlayStation 2 slightest. He still has me tally up the Katie is 16 and working at her first job parts and a stack of games that wouldn’t total amount I can give him for the because her parents thought it would move even if I offered them for free with broken system and games no one wants. teach her important life-lessons about candy. The system itself has a marijuana I waste 15 minutes of everyone’s time to responsibility. She is approaching the sticker centered on the console, and the come to an offer of $51. He declines and task with the kind of casual detachment smell wafting from the clutter makes me leaves. The music fades, and with a one can only achieve as an adolescent or wonder if that particular sticker is flourish of paper bag and sullen a corpse. Her friends wander past the scratch-and-sniff. Behind the kid, nine expressions, the dance ends. door, pointing at their watch or cell waiting customers unanimously adopt a phones, clearly describing great plans in boy-did-I-get-in-the-wrong-line expression. The clot having been excised and the what I assume to be some kind of blood flow now restored to normal levels, adolescent sign language. I don’t let “Does it work?” I ask. the afternoon rolls into evening, as Katie work the registers. nameless holiday shoppers shuffle briefly “Yeah,” he answers with a degree of in and out of our lives with half-hearted “I want to trade in my PlayStation 2 for certainty I wouldn’t find credible had he well wishes and desperate desires to be an Xbox.” A kid, who would be offended announced that gravity is what makes anywhere but here; a sentiment I that I think of him as a kid, lifts up a water flow downhill. increasingly share. grocery bag and sets it unceremoniously on the counter. At some point it has An all too familiar dance begins, as The tide ebbs, and after a remarkable become afternoon, and until now, the impatient fathers slowly merge into the four hours the mother returns for her pulse of the store had been healthy. This single moving line like LA rush hour sons who have formed their own shanty transaction is the retail equivalent to traffic in a construction zone. I explain I town between the used DVDs and the throwing an embolism. will test the system. He explains that magazine rack. I stopped hassling them maybe it doesn’t always work, but out of pity hours before, even changing usually it does. I explain that we the Gamecube game just the one time. consider that to be a broken system and Remarkably, the line which had wrapped can offer only $30. He has the temerity around the checkout counter is gone, to be incredulous that we would only and we are all surprised to find in the offer him $30 for a system that doesn’t aftermath that the sun has set, and it’s work with a pot sticker on top. I 7:00 at night. I try to remember if I ever apologize, not meaning it in the ate lunch. I send Katie home early and spend the “I’m just browsing,” says the only again. It’s 10:20 when he asks to buy a next 45 minutes fixing everything she customer in the store. He is wearing a PlayStation 2 and half a dozen games. touched. On her way out the door, nice suit, five o’clock shadow and impossibly bubbly and cheerful, she cologne. I explain that I’ll be closing the I apologize, because I don’t have a apparently secretes some tidal wave of store in just a few minutes, words which single system left in the store to sell, but young pheromones, and a group of I actually see go in one ear and out the I give him a line on a couple of places I passing boys absorb her whole and make other. Then I partly close the gate, the know should have them in stock. He way for the food court. Adam is next off universal mall symbol for I want to get thanks me for my time, wishes me the the hook with his jacket on and keys in the hell out of here. He wanders first Merry Christmas all day that’s felt hand, before I’ve taken a second breath aimlessly around the store, as though genuine and wanders out of my store after dismissing him for the evening. willfully rejecting my hints. I remind him into the largely empty mall. June stays for a while, straightens up the that we are closing, and he looks up as store, alphabetizes the remains of the though surprised. I expect him to Xbox section, which looks as though it apologize and leave. Instead, he asks for Sean Sands is a freelance writer, co- had been ransacked by determined cops advice on which system he should buy founder of Gamerswithjobs.com, and with a search warrant. Eventually, I tell for his son. owns a small graphic design company her to leave as well. near Minneapolis. He does not miss his And then, a strange thing happens to stint in retail even a little. It seems right to close the store myself. me. I lean against my yellow counter, A day this long should be experienced on and instead of ushering him out the door its bookends alone. I start to look with a baleful glare and mumbled forward to counting the cash, tallying up profanity, I ask probing questions, get a the final numbers of the day and feel for what he’s looking for, find out enjoying a store empty of customers and about his son and what kind of games chaos. The hours that had darted by like would be appropriate. I invest myself in passing cars on a busy highway are now this man and his Christmas gift, partly minutes that creep along with because I realize he’s not going to leave interminable persistence. I try to keep anyway, but more because I haven’t had myself busy, to recapture that time to really sell anything all day, and chronological detachment that makes the by God, when I want to be, I’m good at day sweep past, but I keep eying my it. He loosens up, and we talk along a watch until 10:00 finally comes. few tangents and minutes start to slip by My grandmother is a quiet woman, often except it’s played with tiles instead of overshadowed by boisterous children and paper cards. You draw and discard tiles a husband who cracks fart jokes as if in an attempt to arrange a suitable 14- they were sonnets. When she does talk, card hand, which usually includes at she converses like one unaccustomed to least one three- or four-card straight, speech: Her stories have no endings, or, three or four of a kind, and one pair. for that matter, beginnings. Instead, she There are three numbered suits - dots, releases a tide of words that rambles bams and craks - as well three dragon through logic and grammar with little suits and four winds; rounding off the concrete connection, something like an set are 16 “flower” tiles and a variable e.e. cummings poem or a transcript of number of jokers. Unlike the freeform someone flipping TV channels. But her Chinese version, the American version laughter is clear and unmistakable: a usually includes a card of Standard sudden, frequent surge of belly-shaking, Hands to which all winning mahjong eye-crinkling mirth. Once you hear it, hands must be compared; if your hand you’ll never forget it. isn’t on the card, it isn’t valid. Additionally, every American game starts Don’t be fooled, though. Her blithe, with a “Charleston,” or the passing of unassuming nature is a careful three unwanted tiles from one player to distraction, concealing deep wiliness and another in a shuffle around the table. cunning. You can’t pull one over on her before she’d pull five over on you. How Jewish women in particular intercepted a Chinese game from the Nowhere is this more evident than when 1800s is still something of a mystery, she plays mahjong. even according to most official histories of the sport. But the game is one to Named after sparrows, mahjong (or which all Jewish women, devout or no, “maajh” to many American players) is will eventually be drawn; it’s like some the Chinese equivalent of gin rummy, inevitable phase of the life cycle: birth, bat mitzvah, mahjong, menopause, would encounter and play this perfect It was only after I lost seven straight death. My mother plays, just as her game and make the universe complete. hands of mahjong to my silent, smirking mother before her, and her mother’s grandmother that I learned that this mother, and so on. Indeed, even before On the surface, this reaction shouldn’t competitive streak was hereditary. The there was mahjong, there was mahjong have been surprising. When I play board truth was I’d never even stood a chance. in our blood, and I suspect that while games, I appear incredibly competitive, Moses futzed with stone tablets and even blinded by my own aggression; I’m My grandmother is a champion mahjong mountaintops, Zipporah lounged in a the kind of person who trash talks player of some local renown. Every tent with her sisters and aunts, peering Scrabble opponents and body-checks month, she hones her skills against at a row of tiles before pausing, bridge partners. I become a woman unsuspecting raisin-women at the local smirking, tapping the ledger once, then possessed, speaking in over-the-top Jewish Community Center (or JCC), twice and drawling in a smoky voice, smack-talk tongues and swearing, memorizing the card of Standard Hands “Maajh, ladies.” spitting and scheming my way through and testing out strategies for intelligent the game. I do it mostly for fun, of discards. Last year, she placed third in But my grandmother could put ol’ Zippy course; I only cheat when I know I’ll get the mahjong tournament at the JCC to shame. I first played maajh against caught, and I only talk trash when I’m Senior Olympics (the kind where bridge my grandmother when I was 7, and I about to lose. and canasta are listed as full-contact still remember the day when she broke sports). That wily old broad beat out out her wooden box with the ornate But staring at those ivory tiles, I knew dozens of track-suited biddies - even a carvings on the sides. As she opened the something was different about mahjong; few Chinese gals - to score $50 and a set for my aunts and me, I looked upon something important that I’d never felt bronze medal, which she displays with the shimmering ivory tiles and lusted before. Suddenly, I didn’t want to joke pride above her sewing machine. with an unfamiliar, instinctual greed. around - I wanted to win. And I didn’t Instantly, I knew that this game was my just want to be victorious - I wanted to Among her family, whom she engages game, that it had always been my game. crush my opponents like a 16th century far more often, my grandmother is a It had been designed with me, and only conquistador, with smallpox blankets and notoriously difficult opponent (my cousin me, in mind, that all toys and religion lightning-god guns. That little Pandora’s Devon calls her “the end boss”). She and human history - indeed, all Box had conjured within me genuine plays mahjong as if it were war, sparing evolution, even the dinosaurs - had been competitiveness, and to my surprise, I no quarter for youth, illness or closeness intelligently designed so that one day, I was hooked. of blood relation. She crushes a 7-year- old as easily as a 70-year-old, never sponsored by sweating, never stopping. Every holiday, whenever she loses, she has the power Aside from that first game, I have few from Yom Kippur to Hanukkah, she holds to instantaneously erase her opponents’ concrete recollections of playing against court at a rickety card table with her memories; to convince them they didn’t my grandmother, just vague impressions ivory mahjong set, schooling us all in the actually win, that it was just a blip in the circling like the stories she tells: art of defeat. space-time continuum. meandering, bleeding into one another, with no beginning or end. But every game I think it took me more than 15 years to The secret to my grandmother’s talent, feels the same. The hands change, the beat my grandmother at mahjong. I of course, is that she is always playing tiles differ, and yet she and I return again can’t say for sure, because I don’t mahjong, even when she isn’t. I see the and again, rebuilding the wall, throwing remember the first time I won against doodles of Chinese characters adorning out East, Charlestoning again and again. her. I know it must have happened, shopping lists. I’ve noticed the books on because I have won (occasionally) mahjong strategy that used to, but no Maybe one day I’ll be as good as she is, against her in the past. But the original longer, appear in her library book basket. and someone will feel about me the same event occurred with so little ceremony I’ve even heard her mumble “East” in her way as I do about her. (Probably not. She’s and lasting sense of triumph that I’ve sleep. I can recognize obsession when I too damn good to brook comparison.) long since forgotten it. Maybe it’s her see it. But more than that, mahjong fault. Maybe she’s so good that carries into other aspects of her life. I But I know that once you know how to even know why her stories make no read her, she’s an open book. My sense. She Charlestons with words, grandmother rarely speaks when she thinking several discards ahead before plays, but she does laugh as she peers she speaks, which confuses anyone who at her tiles, tapping the ledger once, converses with logic or a consistent twice, before calling out in a smoky timeline. But not me. I know her secret. voice, “Maajh.” She doesn’t ramble; she speaks in Maajh. Lara Crigger is a freelance science, tech That first impression of mahjong I had was and gaming journalist whose previous incorrect. This game was not designed for work for The Escapist includes “Playing me. It was custom-crafted for her. Through The Pain” and “How To Be A Guitar Hero.” Her email is lcrigger@ gmail.com. Christmas in Britain is heralded not by to our selfish needs by applying their sleigh bells, the first flake of snow, a Dickensian doctrines to our computers date on the calendar or an extra bucket and consoles. So, for all you forlorn of coal for the fire. You know it’s officially gamers out there who’ve lost the spirit The Season when you hear Slade’s time- (or had it taken from you), here’s a few honored, glam-rock anthem “Merry Xmas tinsel-topped tips to rejuvenate your Everybody!” floating on the stale, thrice- Chrimbo charisma. recycled air of the overcrowded shops. Visit Old Friends But when you hear Noddy wailing his The best place to start is getting right winter war cry as Halloween decorations back to your gaming roots. The majority still litter the shelves, it becomes of us who’ve grown up with games did so increasingly harder to get into the because of those computers and Christmas spirit once December finally consoles we unwrapped one rolls around. People are full of sagely unfashionable Christmas morning in the advice on how to recapture the essence ‘70s or ‘80s. and excitement once felt around this time of year, but it generally involves Times have changed considerably, and some kind of charitable volunteer work, these days, whenever we want baking cookies, shoveling the snow off something, we just buy it on the tick. some lazy pensioner’s driveway or going There’s no saving up, waiting for to church for a fresh head full of Christian birthdays or holding out for the guilt. That might be alright for people commercial season to roll around. As who care, but what about the rest of us? much as our must-have-it-now society has made kings and rich men of us all, Well, just like every other problem we it’s also robbed us of the excitement Escapists face throughout the year, this which comes from eager anticipation. one can be solved by videogames. Gamers are fortunate enough to be able Back in the day (when only the wealthy to bend the haughty, altruistic Christmas owned credit cards), the months of pseudo-wisdom of the socially conscious painstakingly waiting for December 25th increased the value of our desired to load from an audio cassette is a major opportunity to spend time researching being on show for quarter of the year systems dramatically. The long weeks of part of reliving the experience (not and acquiring games (again, not and people stressing out about absence while waiting for the wrapping dissimilar to the enduring wait for the emulated, but on their original media), overbearing family commitments at the paper to come away instilled a fondness computer in the first place), and a few and poring over old magazines to whip beginning of November all conspire to that’s still going strong today, and one games of “dead arm” or “slaps” while the you up into the prerequisite, pre- make Christmas feel like any other month. that’s distinctly lacking from any game loading screen of Green Beret taunts you Christmas frenzy. But by carefully selecting your videogames system we’ve acquired in recent years. from the 14-inch TV screen will be to match the time of year, a certain almost as nostalgic as the game itself. Oh Baby, It’s Cold Outside “winter wonderland” essence can ring With any luck, you’ll still have your old Reliving the past is not the only way throughout your well decked virtual halls. warhorse stashed away in the attic, and It’s the Thought that Counts videogames can bring you closer to there’s no better way to kick off your Each year offers you another chance to Christmas, of course. Modern titles It may sound obvious, but throwing up Christmas buildup than by blowing the recreate that long lost feeling of offer something older games cannot: some powder on the slopes of your dust off an Atari 2600 or a tape-loading, seasonal satisfaction. visual realism. favorite snowboarding title goes some 8-bit computer that lit up your holiday way toward making up for the lack of season two decades ago. If your family’s anything like mine (and What with global warming, real snow outside. Any variant on this I’m sure it is, with perhaps a few less overpopulation and mass poverty theme (like snow mobiles or sleds) can Of course, back then, there weren’t alcoholics, if you’re lucky), no one has bumming out the holiday season, it often widely available online multiplayer any idea what to buy each other. Maybe simply doesn’t feel like Christmas. The games or wireless networking. Those your parents got tired of storing your blazing hot winter sun, the decorations square eyed memories will come flooding childhood in their spare room and gave back all the more vividly if you can get away that old computer or console, so some other likeminded 30-something asking them to take to eBay’s virtual with a gap in his soul to come round and high street and track down another is play a few sweaty-palmed, white- a pretty decent way to put some of the knuckled games of Target: Renegade or excitement back into your cold, Commando. Classics from a Christmas gray December. long forgotten – waiting to take you back to a simpler time when games were 2-D, Despite being something of a sheep were scared and men were proud. manufactured sentiment, a self-inflicted wait for your computer controlled youth And don’t be tempted into using an to begin again on Christmas Day will be emulator. Waiting 10 minutes for a game well worth it, and also offers you the be equally suitable, and should a few price games or on the cover of official sustainable and family-oriented flakes of the real stuff actually start to Sega magazines. The demo made Christmas gift than yet more plastic dolls fall, the effect is exponentially increased. excellent use of the console’s internal in pink cocktail dresses. This is another Snowboarding games also serve to clock, and when December 1 rolled way in which we can revive the remind us – in our ever increasingly around, the scenery took on a winter videogame-oriented Christmas spirit: by sensible adulthood - of the fun side of wonderland theme. passing it along to a new generation. snow, and stems the downbeat grumbling about muddy sludge, wet feet It also changed at other times of the By getting our kids excited about the and frozen car windshields. year and was replete with hidden extras, prospect of a computer or console being but the real charm is in the magical rammed down the chimney on Christmas This harsh side of winter is also well Christmas fantasy dreamed up by Sega’s Eve, we can apply everything we’ve represented in games such as Max finest.Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams discussed for rejuvenating the holidays, Payne; which eloquently waxes lyrical of reappears every year on eBay, so while also enjoying them vicariously the biting wintry sleet and is replete with get bidding. through the new experiences of an satisfying, crisp, crunching sound effects uninitiated gamer. It shouldn’t be too of the snow underfoot. The morbid When a Child is Born difficult to get them excited about theme of the game would undoubtedly Much as I endeavor to avoid the fact, games, once they see your anticipation help the statistically increased number of we’re all growing up. Inevitably, this building alongside their own. It provides manic depressives who appear around makes parents and people of increased them with a wonderful portal through Christmas to reminisce about a less responsibility out of many of us, but a which they can relive the Christmas cheerful seasonal experience. We cater cunning gamer can put this side effect of experience in years to come (when Slade to everyone, at The Escapist. maturity to good use. will undoubtedly be heard at the back end of July), and keep the tradition of Special mention has to go to the Some friends of mine were around the seasonal gaming going strong. wonderful Sega Saturn Christmas special other day with their 4-year-old, and the of NiGHTS Into Dreams. This was a way she took to my Xbox 360 was a modified demo of the originalNiGHTS matter of some astonishment to her Spanner has written articles for several game, which was initially a little tricky to parents. Indeed, she quickly had us all publications, including Retro Gamer. He get hold of. It was bundled with the involved in her game in one way or is a self-proclaimed horror junkie, with a console in Japan around Christmas ’96 another, and very soon, my friends were deep appreciation for all things Romero. and was either given away with other full wondering if a console might be a more Hopes and dreams: Hey, they’re wanted a joint present for my two great wonderful things. They get us through occasions this year. He asked if I wanted bad times by giving us something to look “one of those bloody Wii things.” forward to, and they prevent us from being complacent by making us yearn Of course I want one of these bloody Wii for what the future brings. I’m currently things! Yet, freezing like a skittish, focused on the next year of my life, hungry bear that’s stumbled across a within which I aim to relocate, change fast food restaurant’s bin, I panicked. I jobs and totally re-adjust my life and my handed the phone to my wife and told priorities. Among the plans I’m putting in them to work it out among themselves place to ensure that happens, it would under the premise that I wanted a be easy for me to miss simple pleasures, surprise. A few days later, I received to ignore what can make me happy in some scarves (plural), gloves and the interim. And Christmas is coming! pajamas. They are brushed cotton pajamas, and they breathe really nicely, Now, my birthday falls at the end of but y’know, I can’t play videogames in November, a mere month from the new and innovative ways with them (or celebratory date assigned to the greatest can I … ?). All they’ve done is raise the child ever born. I like to think that such question about what they actually closeness indicates possibilities of agreed to get me. I mean, I was offered miraculous greatness in my own life, but a Wii – granted, it wasn’t actually some 29 years of evidence suggest available to buy at that point – and I otherwise. In fact, all it does is make turned it down and got some clothes. Is other people really struggle with what to one of the Nintendo wonder-consoles still get me to show me that they love me, within my grasp, I wonder? even when Nintendo is releasing a new console. My father called me just the This all makes me sound so horribly other day, telling me that I am pain in materialistic though, doesn’t it? I’m not, the neck to buy for and asking if I I promise. I don’t want a Wii out of selfishness. I it had been and how lovely it had been company. My granddad doesn’t look at it as something that’s going to to see them having fun instead of sitting understand the design philosophy of the finally get my family playing together. I around just being in the company of latest Mario game, but he does know watched the videos on the Nintendo site others on Christmas Day. how to swing a golf club. My dad has no the same as everyone else, but the concept of how to take on the Third marketing ideal of “look at all these Imagine if a Wii achieved that. Imagine if Reich as a one-man army of people who will buy our console” was my granddad did a round of golf, and got righteousness, but he does get how to lost on me. All I could see were the satisfaction from doing so. Imagine if he hit buttons on a guitar in time to flashes possibilities of my own family laughing and his son completed an inning of on the screen. My only fear is that the and smiling like the people in the tiny bowling together, something that neither complex button mashing of traditional movie. All I could envisage was me, off of them probably imagines ever happening consoles will only translate into complex camera, laughing and joking and again now. How ace would that be? hand waving that will only serve to watching them enjoy themselves. confuse my grandparents in new ways. It’s not all about the Wii, though. My sister I know it sounds daft. But, hey, I’ve had and I have chipped in together to give my But, hey, there are going to be plenty of great success with similar things. A dad the opportunity to be the Rock god great games that don’t overdo the new couple of years ago I bought a board he’s always wanted to be. We’ve bought control method. And with any luck, five game called Play That Tune. There’s a him the Guitar Hero controllers and the years from now, I’ll be asking my father if roll-out piano that you step on to play sequel to the most rocking game ever! he wants “one of those bloody Wii 2 things.” notes (badly), and other people have to The night I’ll be spending there plays in guess what the whole arrangement is. my mind constantly, me and my old man My grandparents were around on riffing together, experiencing the glory of Darren Sandbach is a freelance Christmas Day, and my grandmother the stage and, if we’re lucky, the love of videogame journalist who spends too wasn’t really able to stand on the piano. our groupies. much time playing multiplayer games all Instead, we rolled it out across both of alone. It does give him a sense of their laps, and they pressed the buttons This is the kind of thing we should be belonging, though, so that’s ok. He instead. As her hands were pressing expecting from games and consoles hangs out at www.alwaysblack.com keys that were, well, laid across his constantly: recognizable and intuitive “bits,” the pair of them were giggling and interfaces that allow a coming together laughing like a couple of school kids. of people, a way for generations to Afterward, everyone said how much fun connect and enjoy one another’s In late December of 2005, I found myself In exchange for returning him to his with little to do on a cold Friday evening. rightful owners, I would receive a piece of My wife works late, and since it was just holly that would turn my horse into a a day before Christmas Eve, many of my reindeer for a short while. I could hardly friends were occupied with holiday think of something more Christmas-y, obligations. Desiring to be anywhere and decided an evening spent liberating a other than the ice-blasted plains of the four-legged fuzzy thing from the forces of Midwest, I searched for solace in the evil, with guildmates, was just the thing virtual worlds I’d traveled to over the past to cheer me up. Enthused, I queried my year. Though it took me most of the guild chat channel to see if anyone else evening, I managed to kindle some was interested in participating. holiday cheer, receive a few presents and even catch up with a few old friends. Silence. My guild channel was silent. I was used to quick acceptance of any sort of When I sat down at my PC, I merely group offering, and the lack of response intended to keep the shadows on the seemed very much out of character for the wall at bay. I loaded up World of guild. Confused about the silence, I Warcraft (WoW). Zoning into Iron Forge, opened my social window to see who was I received well wishes from my online. As I scanned the names in my guildmates, other holiday refugees guild window, I grew even more confused. seeking escape. Grateful for the (albeit The guild leader no longer appeared to be digital) human contact, I greeted them a part of the guild. My friends list revealed and considered what elements of the he was online, and so I asked him what Winter Veil (WoW’s version of Christmas) the deal was. I discovered, much to my quest I had left to accomplish. Rather sorrow, that in the week I’d been offline, than focusing on character advancement, the guild had changed directions. Rather the Winter Veil quest line rewarded than a raiding guild, the guild’s focus was players with snowballs, eggnog, cookies now “hardcore RP.” The former leader told and so on. One quest I hadn’t yet me he’d been overthrown in a completed centered on rescuing Metzen Christmastime coup. I wish I could say I the reindeer from kidnappers. was shocked. After being bounced from guild to guild all year by bad luck, though, I could do little more than remove myself. ready to give up yet. As if on a mission, hardly finished getting my hotbar in order No one even asked why I’d left. my mouse cursor went to the games when the first private message appeared folder, and selected the small black icon in my chat window. What I’d hoped to be Unsurprised but a little sad, I set out to with the yellow star. The game launcher a low-key zip around the galaxy was save Metzen and win my prize alone. flashed onto the screen, and all the about to turn into a homecoming. Following the helpful directions of some baggage I’d been carrying around came Christmas-themed goblins, I tracked right back to the surface. My mouth Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I was ready Metzen’s kidnappers to Searing Gorge. tightened, and as I entered my to say hello to old friends, but after that username and password I breathed a private message, I didn’t have much The spawn site for the kidnappers was so frustrated sigh. choice. The PA’s hunt leader had just had overrun with players that they hardly had remodeled her house with one of the the chance to take a swing or two before I was returning, once again, to Star Wars new Mustafari bunkers, and I just had to they died. Some sort of impromptu party Galaxies. see what she’d done with the fountain. was going on. Someone had even set up With private messages scrolling up my a streaming server to broadcast While the game was patching, I noticed screen, I put on the best duds I could Christmas-themed dance music, and the the community manager had find and set off for the starport. call was going out to the rest of the thoughtfully listed player-run holiday server: PARTY IN SEARING GORGE! events for each server, and beneath my As I made my way to the PA’s burgeoning server name something caught my eye. city, I couldn’t help but reflect on planet I wanted holiday cheer, but the online My old player association (guild), a Rori’s beauty. The city was a reflection of version of a Christmas rave wasn’t really group I’d fed and clothed for months in the natural wonder the designers had what I had in mind. Dejected, I rescued 2004, was holding a holiday party. And envisioned for Naboo’s sister satellite; the Metzen and headed back to Ironforge, but they were holding it as of about 10 PA’s architect (and mayor) loved I couldn’t shake my holiday blues. Even minutes ago. I quickly logged in to check fountains, and cascading water was running around on a horned deer didn’t out the festivities. everywhere. Familiar landmarks guided make me feel better. The mood in the air me toward the city’s center. Just off the was festive, but having to leave behind The orchestral strains of the Naboo theme main square, I found myself in the first yet another guild (my third or fourth for rose from my speakers as my Mon crowd I’d seen off of Tatooine in quite the year) was just too depressing. Calamari tailor stood up from the couch some time. Almost 20 people were in his palatial home. I was no longer gathered to catch up, hang out and Back to the desktop. My wife was due formally a part of the PA, but apparently survey the new digs the hunt leader home in an hour, but I wasn’t quite my presence didn’t go unnoticed: I’d would now be calling home. After a long and mostly lonely night, the were having something very closely For most of the year, we take our virtual response I received when I pulled up on approaching a Christmas party. worlds for granted. We never reflect on my old banger of a speeder was nothing the spaces we inhabit, or truly realize short of jaw dropping. I’d been gone With my wife due home shortly, I made my how much those virtual spaces inhabit quite a long time, but I was not goodbyes. I was tired, exhausted really, by us. For better or worse, the “reality” of forgotten. Enthusiastic emotes began the memories my tour had dredged up. I’d the massive games we play extends flooding my window, and the done what you’re not supposed to be able beyond the PC, Ventrilo server and guild disconnected malaise I’d been to do: I’d gone home again. forum. Games in this genre have the experiencing washed away in the ability to change the way we think, the outpouring of goodwill. Old friends, I promised to try to come back more way we feel and most tellingly, the way business partners, hunting buddies and often, but even as I said it, I knew I was we interact with others. During the even the clique of drama queens who lying. What I loved about Star Wars holidays, when the games themselves had forced me out of the PA in the first Galaxies had long since been removed. As change to reflect the season, it’s a great place were all expressing their a parting gift, I set off a fireworks show I’d chance to reconnect with what makes appreciation for my return. had riding around in my pack for about a them fun to play. It’s not the raiding, and year, lighting up the sky above their city it’s certainly not the epic loot. The It was right around the time I found for something like two full minutes. I reason we play World of Warcraft or Star myself doing dance moves next to a couldn’t just log out, either. For some Wars Galaxies is the same reason we jukebox that I realized I was smiling. A reason, I physically had to get on my travel home for the holidays: We need to bunch of people had gone off to hunt, speeder and drive away, to distance connect with people that can make a but there were still six or so of us left myself from these people and their place, difference in our lives. behind grooving and talking about old before I could really leave the game. times. Many of them were dressed in Michael “Zonk” Zenke is Editor of Slashdot Christmas red and green, and the theme When I finally did log off, my Mon Cal Games, a subsite of the technology from the Mos Eisley cantina played on. was sitting proudly in his home again, community Slashdot.org. He comments As I took a moment to look at the scene his back straight in the old couch he’d regularly on massive games at the sites from outside myself, I realized how made himself. When I dropped back to MMOG Nation and GameSetWatch. He incredibly dorky the whole experience the desktop for one last time, I knew it lives in Madison, WI (the best city in the was, but my smile didn’t dim a bit. These was time to call it a night. I sat back in world) with his wife Katharine. Michael is were people I’d never met and wasn’t my chair to collect my thoughts, and not a game journalist. even that close to, but just the same, we heard the jingle of keys outside my apartment door. My wife was home. EDITORIAL PRODUCTION BUSINESS Executive Editor Producer Publisher Julianne Greer Jonathan Hayter Alexander Macris

Content Editor Layout Artist Director of Advertising Joseph Blancato Jessica Fielhauer Susan Briglia Russ Pitts Jason Haile Chairman of Themis Group Contributing Editor Lead Web Developer Thomas S. Kurz JR Sutich Whitney Butts

Research Manager Web Developer Nova Barlow Erik Jacobson Tim Turner Contributors Lara Crigger IT Director Darren Sandbach Jason Smith Sean Sands Spanner Michael Zenke

Issue 76, © 2006. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. To contact the editors please email [email protected]. For a free subscription to The Escapist in PDF format please view www.escapistmagazine.com