Our Holiday Gaming Memories

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">As we celebrate Christmas this year&comma; we look back on the gaming memories we have had over the years with gaming&period; Here are the games we fondly remember&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;"><strong>Corey Atwood<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><iframe src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;HHiHmsK6lcw" width&equals;"560" height&equals;"315" frameborder&equals;"0" allowfullscreen&equals;"allowfullscreen"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>For me&comma; the holidays are a time of year rich with fond video game memories&period; I vividly recall unwrapping my NES in 1988 while my sister&comma; with incorrect eagerness&comma; shouted &&num;8220&semi;Atari&excl;&&num;8221&semi; I cherish the memories of my first holiday vacation from college&comma; which I spent obsessively beating my first PlayStation 2 game&comma; <em>Eternal Ring<&sol;em>&period; Unbeknownst to be at the time&comma; this mostly-forgotten launch title sparked my continued love affair with From Software&period; Warm and fuzzy as these holiday memories are&comma; I don&&num;8217&semi;t have one specific title I play every year&period; However&comma; as someone who loves both gaming and holiday tradition&comma; I do have one very personal Xmas ritual&period; Bathed in only the warm glow of the Xmas tree and roaring fireplace&comma; I thoroughly enjoy snuggling up under a thick blanket and playing a handheld system&period; There is something about the close glow of the small screen in a darkened room that just seems more intimate and cozy than the garish brightness of a television&comma; on which I play most of my games&period; Last year&comma; I spent most of the holiday season beating Earthbound &lpar;using only the screen of the Wii U&rpar;&comma; while this year I am focusing on <em>The Legend of Zelda&colon; Tri Force Heroes<&sol;em> and <em>Terraria<&sol;em> on my 3DS&period; The weather outside may be frightful&comma; but the games are so delightful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;"><strong>Jerry Dobracki<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;29542" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-29542" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-29542" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;01&sol;06085524&sol;elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-screenshot-&lowbar;4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion&comma; Bethesda&rpar;" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-29542" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;The <em>Elder Scrolls IV&colon; Oblivion<&sol;em>&comma; Bethesda&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Generally at Christmas time people have more time to game due to breaks from school&comma; lucky vacations or because of traveling &lpar;handheld&rpar;&period; I have two games that bring back memories of the holidays and that I played a lot during the holidays&period; The first game or games are <em>Resident Evil<&sol;em>&comma; I remember my first break back from college I rushed home and tore through<em> Resident Evil<&sol;em> 1 and 2 over my break&period; Then my next break in college&comma; I played through Resident Evil 3&comma; which was the first game I ever pre-ordered&period; As I moved to the newer generations&comma; the <em>Elder Scrolls<&sol;em> games became my Christmas game of choice&period; The music&comma; the architecture&comma; and the overall feel just make me think homey and Christmas time&period; <em>Oblivion<&sol;em> was the first one that I played during the holidays and the theme &&num;8220&semi;Sunrise of Flutes&&num;8221&semi; takes me right back to those Christmas feels&period; <em>Skyrim<&sol;em> doesn&&num;8217&semi;t have the music that takes me back&comma; but all that snow does&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;"><strong>Chris Penwell<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">While I haven&&num;8217&semi;t got a specific Christmas ritual when it comes to gaming&comma; memories of getting the Nintendo 64 and the Gameboy Color spring up to mind&period; I remember how I jumped up and down when I was given the Nintendo 64&comma; my first gaming console&comma; for Christmas&period; I loved playing <em>Super Mario<&sol;em> 64 on it&comma; despite my father getting all the stars while I&&num;8217&semi;m scratching my head&period; Even though I am not a fan of Mario at all at this point due to Nintendo&&num;8217&semi;s oversaturation of the character in recent years&comma; I still remember fondly of the beautiful worlds that Shigeru Miyamoto and his team created&period; Bob-Omb Battlefield in particular is engrained in my memory&comma; and I hope at some point that instead of making another cop-out sequel or 2D title&comma; Mario takes another step on the NX like <em>Galaxy<&sol;em> did on the Wii&period; The music of <em>Super Mario 64<&sol;em> is extremely memorable as well&period;  I also remember playing hours upon hours on the Gameboy Color with Pokémon Gold&period; Unlike many&comma; Gold is my first Pokémon game&comma; and I loved it&period; The music is so memorable&comma; the simple battle system works so well&comma; and exploring the world is so fun&period; Like Mario&comma; I hope that Pokémon gets a revamp on the NX with a completely 3D adventure like<em> Pokémon Colosseum<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">I also fond memories of playing <em>Dragon Quest VIII<&sol;em> and <em>The Legend of Zelda&colon; Twilight Princess<&sol;em> over the holidays&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s always great to play a fantasy J-RPG over the holidays&period; Another fond memory I have from Christmas is when my sister and I were playing <em>Tomb Raider II<&sol;em> and locked the annoying butler in the meat cellar&period; We found it hilarious that we could do that in the game&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;