Ahhh, yes. Video games and Christmas. Name a more iconic duo. As a child, Christmas and video games were synonymous with each other. And as a man child, this is still true. My parents knew my love of video games from an early age. So they did their best to make sure something gaming related awaited us under the tree. Today I thought it’d be fun to reflect back on childhood Christmas memories with a gaming theme. 

Remember you can watch this topic on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MVkDyIDA78

My mom’s work allowed her to layaway the latest consoles. The first console I remember her surprising us with was the Gamecube. I remember turning the box around and seeing all the games you could play on the back. The main reason I’m mentioning this is because this was a surprisingly profound moment in my life. Back during the 6th generation of gaming, PS2 was my console of choice. Yet as an adult I’m nostalgic for the Gamecube. Part of that is the Nintendo charm no doubt. But the other part was the endless wonder the back of a box can do for a child. That Christmas made the Gamecube feel like it was the greatest machine on earth even if the little lunchbox would go on to be underrated in our household.

I’ll do my dad’s gift next. My dad loved going to flea markets, antique malls and perusing Craigslist. He would often see gaming bundles for sale. One year he surprised us with a PS2 lot. Later on he would do the same for a PS3 lot.  The PS2 lot had The Hobbit, Black and Bruised, SplashDown Rides Gone Wild, the Scorpion King, Yu Yu Hakusho and maybe one of the Outlaw Golf games. This was a pretty awesome group of games. Splashdown was probably the game we played the most. As it’s just a little arcade water skiing game made ridiculous. It’s a fun weekend kind of game.

Now the PS3 I cannot really remember too many of the games that came with it. However, it did have Heavenly Sword. I remember the hype for this game was unreal back in the day. The funny thing about Heavenly Sword and the Hobbit is I didn’t get to play too much of them back in the day but I enjoyed my time with both. So much so that when I grew up I was determined to buy these games again. I played through the first two or so levels of the Hobbit and really liked it. And while I haven’t seen the movies or read the book, I do live with a one year old so I’m basically terrorized by a Hobbit everyday when you think about it.

Now the other console mom surprised me with back in the day was the Xbox 360. A console that would go on to consume my life for the next decade. Who would have guessed the profound impact this console would have on me. It turned me into an achievement junkie. My cousin who lives 10 hours away from me grinded  through some of the most fun co-op games I’ve ever played like Borderlands and Battle Block Theater. It provided some of the most fun single player games like Bioshock and GTA4 and 5. And my brother and I beat Halo 3 on the hardest difficulty back in the day. 

Sure, The first couple did get the red ring of death, but once my mom finally got me one that worked, I’ve kept it ever since. I want to say I got the 360 around 7th grade. I entertained myself with games like Perfect Dark Zero until I got those life changing big experience games like Fallout New Vegas and some of the others I’ve discussed today. And who could forget the countless amount of time we sank into Modern Warfare 2. I lost count on the amount of Mountain Dew that was consumed playing that game.

I took this console to college my Freshman year after all and had friends would come over to watch me beat Red Dead Redemption and Bioshock Infinite. My wife and I beat Resident Evil 5 on co-op with this bad boy. So just remember if you ever think I’m a Nintendo fan boy, of which I am, I’ve probably put the most amount of time into my Xbox 360. I doubt my mom knew how long my 360 would stay with me when she bought it for me, but I still have it to this day.

That gets me to the final gift I want to talk about today. I had just gotten the Wii U for my birthday with Cat Mario on it. I knew what I wanted for Christmas too. I had big plans you see. I wanted 3 games that year and I wanted them bad. Wind Waker HD, the latest Madden and Far Cry 4. Far Cry 3 was the talk of my high school and I missed out on it. Far Cry 4 had just came out and you could bet your bottom dollar I wasn’t missing out on it this time around. Christmas day starts. I make my way down stairs and see 3 game case shaped gifts. Bingo. I opened the first gift, Wind Waker HD. We’re off to a great start. Gift 2- that year’s Madden. Man, I love it when a plan comes together. Gift 3, what’s this… Nintendo Land? You better believe I confronted her. I said mom, how could you mess this up? I gave you the playbook and everything. And even though it’s been 10 years I’ll never forget what she said to me. “I know you really wanted Far Cry 4, but Nintendo Land just looked like a game you’d like more.” I had never been more defeated. I could just picture the Gamestop employee snickering because he won a bet with a co-worker he couldn’t sell a copy of Nintendo Land. But you know what. My mom was right. Nintendo Land is more my kinda game. Oh wait, I don’t know that because I never got to play Far Cry 4. Thanks mom.

All joking aside, I now love Nintendo Land. People hate on the Wii U but I’ve yet to bust out 4 player Nintendo Land and everybody not have a great time. This story strengthened my love for the Wii U and my connection with it. I now go to bat for this game and say it’s one of my favorites on the console.

There you have it. All the Christmas memories I wanted to discuss today. My parents knew how much I loved video games and made sure they did their darndest that way I had something new to play waiting for me on Christmas. I probably didn’t do a good job telling them back then but I will always be grateful for those memories because they influenced me so much. Looking back I know how hard they had to work to pull these things off for a couple of spoiled brats who didn’t know how good they had it back then. As we know, video games aren’t cheap. I have a daughter now and I can only hope I make half of her dreams come true the way my parents did for me. So this Christmas be thankful for what you have in life because someone had to work hard to make sure you have those things.

But that does it for this post. Tell me down below what your favorite Christmas gift was growing up. Video Game or otherwise. Merry Christmas guys.