Read Play Blog

I stumbled across this from Karsyn! Read Play Blog is a monthly gaming-related meme hosted by Read Me Away and Happy Indulgence Books that goes up on the 16th of every month. This has just gotten underway, so there are only two sets of questions so far; like Karsyn I'm going to answer those now and then the following months I'll answer on the 16th like everyone else.

Ready?


Start!

How did you get into gaming?

Lawyer Mom went right back to work after having me and my brother. Dad worked, too, so they hired a full-time sitter for us: a woman whose son became like our favorite cousin. He was some years older than us and very into video games; I remember playing (or more, watching him play) Legend of Zelda on the NES and going head-to-head in the versus mode of Sonic 2. He also had a GameGear and a Gameboy (there was no Nintendo v. SEGA rivalry in that house, believe it or not!) that he trusted us to play with when he was at school.

My brother and I both became hooked. From the SNES on, we had a console of our own we could play at home. SNES to Dreamcast to GameCube to Wii; now I live with JV who owns a GameCube, a PS2, a PS3, an XBox 360, and a Retron console that plays Genesis (sorry, I'm in Europe: Megadrive), NES, and SNES cartridges. He also has a Dreamcast tucked away somewhere.


What do you recommend for new gamers?

It depends so much on what you have and what you like. I think Minecraft is a nice introduction to gaming, because you can do whatever you want and make it as easy or as hard as you want. I think platformers are good, too. They're easy to get the hang of, even if they're fiendishly difficult, and I think that's what most people think of when they think "video game." Little Big Planet is a lot of fun, and it has a good coop mode so if you're not very good, you can get someone else to play with you and help you out.

I recommend you ask a friend who likes games (and you!) to make recommendations, or to ask if you can join them (if possible) on a game or two so you can try it out yourself with a friendly hand to guide you.


What game you are currently playing?

I've finished the main storyline of Ni no Kuni and have moved on to the "postgame" content. I say "postgame" because I still haven't beaten the final, FINAL boss. Lately, though, I've been playing the PS3 version of Minecraft with JV. When I have nothing else I feel like playing, I pop in Fallout 3 and run a few side quests here and there. I finished the main storyline in that, as well, or most of it (not the storyline in the DLC; I think I have a few quests left in that). There is just so much to do in that game, I don't think I'll ever finish it.

Theoretically I'm also playing Demon's Souls, but if I'm to be honest, most of my gaming time is taken up with Ni no Kuni and Minecraft.

JV also just bought Diablo III, a game I've been looking forward to for FOREVER, but I'm hesitant to get started with it now because I know I will be addicted by the time I clear the first dungeon.


What is your favorite gaming genre?

I will play most anything, truth be told. The easier question is, what is your least favorite gaming genre?, and that is FPS. I don't like the mechanics of the FPS most of the time (at least Fallout 3 gives you the VATS aiming system!) and I don't like the "gritty war shooter simulator" genre of Call of Duty (or as we call it, CALLERDERTY) or Wolfenstein or Battlefield or so on. It seems like a lot of bullshit macho posturing.

Anything else is fair game. I enjoy mellow puzzlers (Karsyn mentioned MYST in hers, and that game was my childhood), I enjoy platformers, I enjoy puzzle/adventure RPGS (Zelda, Ookami, etc.), I enjoy RPGs and JRPGs....anything, really.