In Third Person

Merry Christmas to you and yours. As a video game blog, I hope you found every game you wanted under the tree this year and that you provided your friends and loved ones with the gift of game as well. Between my brother and I, we received a bunch of games that I can't wait to dig into. Hopefully with my week off at work I can actually make a dent in them!

Having listened to the latest episode of the Joystiq podcast where they read and play clips of Joystiq readers share their favourite Christmas memories, I thought I would share one of mine with you.

It was the Fall of 1994. At the time, I was a regular reader of video game magazines, so I was fairly well informed as to what was happening in the video game scene at the tender age of 10. What caught me off guard though, was this personally-addressed video I received from Nintendo. Check out some of it below:



I knew of this game, but when I watched this video, it BLEW MY MIND. The graphics at the time were flat-out unbelievable. It looked really fun to play too. But man, THOSE GRAPHICS! In hindsight, maybe I was caught up in a pretty face and nothing more, but after seeing that video for the first time, I had to have that game.

Between that point and Christmas, I must have watched that video 100 times, eagerly hoping that Santa would drop a copy under my Christmas tree. I don't think I've ever eagerly anticipated anything that much in my life.

When the moment of truth finally happened and tearing open the wrapping paper revealed Donkey Kong Country, I was overcome with excitement. I popped that game in and played it all night.

Since then, I've had much better gifts, and in hindsight DKC may not be the best game ever. However, nothing (yet) has quite matched that moment in terms of sheer joy.

Feel free to share your gaming-related Christmas stories with me!