Closing Out 2014 with Gaming Memories!

I have no idea where the time went. How in the world did today get to be December the 31st!!!?
Looking back at my surprises in gaming..... would have to be me picking up a PS Vita and getting interested in a PS3 enough to purchase one. That just doesn't sound right if you are a retro gamer.
The game that made the biggest impression on me this year would have to be Journey on the PS3.
The game that had me smiling has been the Rayman games "origins" for my 3DS and "legends" on my Vita.
The game that has been a continuous on going madness has been the Skylanders games. Wallet sucking leech.
Online with other gamers has been "Ragnarok Odyssey" on the vita. No giant beast could stand in our way as we swarmed them and took them to the ground.
Games of the year would be "Little Big Planet" PS3, "Dungeon Explorer" PC Engine, "Soldier Blade" Turbo Grafx 16, "Street Fighter vs Tekken" Vita, Mario Bros 3 on GBA SP, Wario Blast GB Pocket.
The most fun that I am having right now is gaming on my recently acquired PC Engine and Hucard gaming. :
What I find creepy is the part on the Playstation Live area where people just sit in their house and let the world watch. I guesss we are going through a new form of "social changes" that I just do not understand.

Little Big Planet, Journey, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Soul Calibur V, and Call of Duty: Ghosts all got quite a bit of PS3 playtime toward the beginning of 2014 (after getting those games between Black Friday and Christmas of 2013).

The PSP (bought Black Friday weekend 2013 at the behest of the girlfriend) also saw quite a bit of play with 3rd Birthday and Dracula X Chronicles.

Over the Spring and Summer, I fell back to mostly just playing StarCraft II mods like Nexus Wars to zone out in the evenings.

Thanksgiving LAN of 2014 saw some great Halo: Reach multiplayer and Gears of War with Bluevoodu, MasterMario, and SpartanEvolved.

That pretty much sums most of the gaming of 2014 for me. It was a light year in gaming due to career changes and life in general.

The majority of 2014 I spent getting further ensnared by Steam. Between the two holiday sales I've spent a few hundred and yet constantly find myself shelving blockbuster titles to focus on little gems like Pixel Junk Monsters and Contraption Maker. I did manage to purchase most of the bigger titles bound to be classics but have yet to spend more than a few hours on each (some still not installed). Divinity Original Sin was a last of the year purchase that will carry me in to the new year.

On the physical side of the medium I spent more time collecting than playing. I tripled both my ps2 and NES collection and thanks to some end of the year sales at gamestop I added at least 40 titles to the DS collection. I did manage to binge play Zelda A Link Between Worlds and beat it without guide in a few days. Mario Kart 8 was a blast with the kids and during a bout of the flu early last year I watched my 4 year old beat the Lego Movie Game on the wii u from start to finish in an afternoon.

2015 is bringing the retooling of my living room home theater so my bedroom will get the hand-me-downs and I've already got plans for a retro friendly gaming setup. New years resolution is to procure, play and beat the final fantasy series in order of commercial release.

targetrasp said:

The majority of 2014 I spent getting further ensnared by Steam.

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Same here. Actually, this was the year I've become fully committed to the PC. I have no desire to own a PS4 or xbox One. Nearly every game is having a PC/Steam release now and the exclusives that don't make it, usually still end up getting released or I have no interest in.

2014 is the year I left console gaming behind and I haven't been happier. Bring on 2015.

The older I get the more pc gaming appeals to me. I enjoy collecting and reliving legendary games from the past but the last three generations of game consoles have continually transitioned more and more towards being a full fledged computer anyway I'm with you, why not just skip the middle man? The interfaces are cleaner and set up and general use is much simpler but a pc gives a much more customizable experience.

that's not to say I won't purchase a ps4 or xbox one but I'm done early adopting (except for keeping the kids in new Nintendo devices) so yeah I'll rock the pc for the new stuff but I'll still troll goodwill, ebay, flea markets, and yardsales looking for old console goodies.

I'm still continuing my retro game collecting, for sure. But I've even moved that over to the PC in the meantime until I can acquire more space.

Emulation has become much better in the past two years. Playing N64, PS1, SNES games, etc. In full RGB is just too awesome to pass up.

Along with my career change(s), I actually sold off a few of my old SNES cartridges and PS2 games. I even sold my GBA/SP. I was a bit sad to see it go, though the DS lite really took its place.

I do not have your GBA/SP.
I went through a period a few years ago where I was thinking very seriously of selling all of my console stuff and only focusing on my portables. My Wife talked me out of it. Where did I get this woman? I am glad she did. I would have been sick and would have regretted it.

I did sell off my Sega CD games when the CD unit died on me. I just couldn't see investing more money into an old ageing CD system. I feel the same way about any of the CD gaming systems I own. I feel very different concerning the cart based consoles. *cough* clones *cough*

retro junkie said:

I do not have your GBA/SP.

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I don't know... the more you tell me that it wasn't mine makes me question! /sarcasm :

retro junkie said:

I did sell off my Sega CD games when the CD unit died on me. I just couldn't see investing more money into an old ageing CD system. I feel the same way about any of the CD gaming systems I own. I feel very different concerning the cart based consoles. *cough* clones *cough*

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Sadness. The beauty of CD games though is that a majority of them can be ripped to your PC and played through emulators.

I know it might not be the same but I think it's important to preserve the games as much as it is to play them.

The first time I cleared any endgame primal for the first time in FFXIV was my favorite gaming memory in 2014. My guild is pretty casual so we spend a lot of time wiping while we learn stuff. The first clear is always exciting.