Now That Steam’s Summer Sale is Over…

I can go back to my boring life. I think I cried on the inside when it was over. That had to have been the best sale of video games ever. I love Steam more and more because of it. I was able to get most of my games on my wish list for a fraction of the price due to that sale. So now that I have all the games to occupy me on those lonely weekends when my son is with his dad. I am complete. Now all I need are my 20 cats and I’ll be set.  That sale should have lasted a little longer. I missed the final day because of my crappy internet service. I couldn’t get on Steam for a full 24-hours. I felt like I was missing out.

I’ll end up postponing my video game marathon for at least a couple of weeks because I haven’t been feeling too good. I don’t know what it could be but it’s dampening my mood as drive to play the games I bought. If it’s gone by this Friday when my son’s dad come and get his son for the weekend, then it’s on like Donkey Kong.

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Put Your Finger in Your Ear and Scratch…

It’s going to be a crying shame when my son is an adult. I love Pac-Man but as time progresses, Pac-Man and games alike are becoming a thing of the past. Eventually, not even a remake (Pac-Man Championship Edition) will be enough for anyone to play them. One day I’m going to pull out an emulator and play Pac-man and I’m sure Adam and his little friends are going to look at me like I just stepped out of a National Geographic for gamers (I wish) circa 1952 and I won’t give a damn. I don’t know about anyone else but I refuse to let the good games die; they are a dime-a-dozen these days.

I wish I still had my Sega Genesis and NES consoles. I was trying to hold on to those forever; to pass them down to my son. Nah, I wouldn’t have passed them down to my son, he wouldn’t have want them.

I’ve always been a gamer and forever will be until arthritis cripples my fingers to the point I’m inadvertently holding up gang signs. Even then, I won’t need my hands unless I lower my standards and play my video games via Kinect for the Xbox 360. I’ve been a PC gamer for some time now and it looks to me that I feel as if I’m too good to play anything on a console. I spoiled myself. With games like Pac-Man and Super Hang-on becoming a thing of the past, all it does it make me hate time even more. Time is obviously not on technology’s side or we would still be playing video games on the Atari. I had the pleasure of owning one of those as well.

Makes you wonder how old I am. I’m only 24 but I know where the good games lie and it’s not in the crap that people are playing today. I look at the video games that’s being distributed and its insulting. No original idea, no decent plots, no anything. Just “The fools will buy anything we make so just put this character in the game this way, give him/her a sap story; throw a world domination plot in there with a few guns and make them buy the DLC for unnecessary and absurd prices”. Disgusting I know but once the gamers raise their standards, companies like EA and Activision will continue to milk you for all you got.

I know one thing, my son(s) (or daughter) will know the history of gaming before he/they/she ever picks up a controller. Yea, it’s that serious. You, the “I’ll buy and try anything once” made it that serious.

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Things a Gamer Mom Misses After She Have Kids

This may be a short list or a long one; don’t know yet. I’m just going with the flow. My son is asleep, classwork finished, pizza is in the oven, husband is happy, so I’m taking advantage of the moment to reminisce on the things a gamer mom miss. Feel free to add more in the comments if I’ve missed any.

1. Late night game marathons. Oh how I wish I can stay up late and play video games until my thumbs and trigger fingers cramp. I can no longer do that. I have to go to sleep when my son goes to sleep because he wakes up at the crack of dawn ready to play — or lay on his back and squeal until mom wakes up.
2. Uninterrupted gaming. Those days are pretty much over. My husband plays games day in and day out without worrying about the baby bothering him because he know I’m going to get him. When it’s my turn to enjoy a little game time, I have to wait until he’s in the bed for the night to play. Even then that’s short-lived because of reason # 1.
3. Working gaming controllers. I had this one white wired Xbox 360 controller since 2005. It’s gone through spills, throws, stomps, the whole 9. All it takes is a curious 6 month old to put a short in it resulting in me having to buy another one. My old controller now belongs to him. The newer ones feel cheap and in the need of some oil in the triggers; never heard of squeaky triggers until now.
4. Co-op sessions with the husband. This one is self-explanatory right?
5. Video game money is now diaper, milk and clothes money. Before, all I needed to do was pay for rent, buy clothes and food to buy for me. Now when a new release come out that I really want I have to wait until I have a little spending money for myself; which is never. This saddens me some times.
6. No more violent games. Well he’s only 9 months but soon enough, I’m going to have to cut back on shooting games and stick to racing games and The Sims franchise when I do get a chance to play. So that means, no Gears of War 3. No Left 4 Dead. No Resident Evil; just Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and SimCity 3000.

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My Son is Either Going to Hate Video Games or Love Them

Ever since he’s been home from the hospital, my son has been fascinated by video game controllers. I’m not sure it’s how they light up or he wants to play along with dad and I. When we hand him a controller that’s not plugged in, he looks up at the screen as he’s pressing buttons, he immediately gets upset — for good reason. Babies are a lot smarter than we give them credit for and my son is proof of that. I’m just worried what all this will mean as he get older. Will he hate video games, or love them? Am I scarring my son by not allowing him to play along with dad and I? I mean he gets really mad when he realize he’s not playing. Remember my son just turned 8 months, he’s been into video games since the first time he saw me playing Left 4 Dead.

With his mom and dad being huge gamers, he may not be all into video gaming when he gets old enough to actually play. He may want to go outside where real people are and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t want to give my son bad habits early or lead him to believe that this is what people do all day is sit in front of a television making imaginary characters move, jump and shoot all day. I don’t want my son growing up to hate video games because of his parents — that’ll be terrible.

Maybe I’m teaching my son the wrong habits a bit early. Don’t get me wrong, as soon as he can walk and enjoy other things besides his food, his bottle and video games, we’re going to go places, just him and me. Unlike my other half, I know when to turn video games off and go outside and take a walk. My son and I will be all over Cleveland, Ohio this summer: going to the new aquarium that just opened in the flats, the Metro Parks Zoo, playgrounds, the museums; I’ve wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History for some time.

It’s up to me to teach my son that there is more to life than virtual life. There’s life outside of video games.