The holiday season is always a hectic time for gamers. So many games come out that it's impossible to play all of them, and it feels like a special kind of torture to be swamped with so many now, but starved of releases elsewhere in the year. But this isn't a time to reflect on the terror our pocketbooks feel when the holiday deluge hits. It's a time to celebrate all the amazing memories that come out of it!
Can you point to that one holiday season that was the best? Did you get a lot of presents, or did you see an avalanche of games landing with the snowflakes? Today our editors weigh in on the holidays that we identified as the most promising.
Justin Davis - Mobile Go-Getter
Christmas is always a special time for game-addicted youngsters like myself. Christmas meant new games! Sometimes the results were disappointing (I'm still not sure why 10-year-old me asked for Winter Olympics: Lillehammer '94), but usually the Christmas season was spent blissfully ignoring my family to devour my bevy of game experiences.
No Christmas game experience is more memorable than unwrapping Grandia in 1999 and popping it into my PS1 late one night after everyone else had gone to bed. Of course the game itself is fantastic, but what jumps out at me is Justin, the game's hero, sharing my name. Justin's a very common name, but hearing Sue shout my own name at me during the game's fully-voiced opening moments threw me for a loop.
"Did I put my name in anywhere? Even if I did, how would the game be able to say it out loud? HOW DID GRANDIA KNOW?"
I was not a smart kid.
Ashley Jenkins, Social/Community Butterfly
Two holidays stick in my mind, not because they were the biggest for releases, but because they were the first steps on my journey into gamehood. The first was Christmas 1989. That year my brother, sister, and I got a totally sweet NES. The cartridge had, not one, but three games on it--Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, and World Class Track Meet. I didn't realize it at the time because I was so busy scheming to get more turns than my siblings and cheat mercilessly with the track pad, but that was the first step on the road that's led me to where I am now.
The second major holiday was Christmas 1993. That was the year Myst came out. I'd never played a PC game like it. At the time I mostly just loitered in the game aisle because I liked reading the boxes, but when my step dad asked what I wanted for Christmas and I pointed to a particularly compelling box that featured a mysterious-looking island and the promise for a grand adventure, my fate was sealed. Sure, I later broke down and spent all my allowance on a guide because I had no idea what I was doing in the game, but that's not the point, is it?
Meghan Sullivan - Database Queen
This holiday season is wonderfully diverse. Besides the usual batch of AAA games like Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 3 to choose from, gamers have a very eclectic mix of titles they can try out over the holiday break. For gamers on the go, there’s Rayman Jungle Run. For those who want something a little more off the beaten track, games like Journey, Dear Esther and Faster Than Light provide a unique experience. And for gamers with kids, the Wii U provides family-friendly titles like Super Mario Bros. Wii U and Nintendo Land. In short, there’s something for everyone this year!
Sean Allen, Community Punching Bag
In 2000, the Playstation 2 release was my favorite gaming Holiday. I remember getting Timesplitters, SSX and Madden, 3 of my favorite games of all time. Not only did I receive these games, but my parents had made us open the games before the system, telling us "We would get a Ps2 in a few months." For the entire morning, my parents made us think they had not bought the Ps2. At the final gift, they tricked us in to thinking it was for my mom, when instead it was the Ps2. Best Gaming Holiday ever.
Can you think of that one holiday that meant more to you as a gamer than any other year? Write a blog about it and you could win a sweet Halo 4 action figure set! Not feeling verbose? That's cool too. Sound out in the comments or tweet us at @IGN and we'll share your thoughts too.
Ashley Jenkins heads up the community and social media team for IGN. She speaks semi-fluent meme and has a vendetta against beets. Follow her on Twitter at @jinxcellent or IGN and send pictures of cats.
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