Friday, February 4, 2011

007- License to Kill

For Christmas my wonderful sister in law bought us a Wii. We were shocked and excited and so so grateful.
As Jon gripped the newly opened Wii, I saw the reflection of highschool "gaming" nights form in his eyes. I unfortunately know what those nights look like, it's not pretty. I'm a firsthand witness to the phenomenon of sweat panted boys, mentally locked in a basement with screen glued eyes. Words were rarely spoken, the mouth was used to chug mountain dew rather than talk. It was blaspheme for a girl to even be there, I could break their concentration they said. I remember saying goodbye to Jon there at night, only to return the next morning to find the "gaming" boys unmoved and eerily awake.
I quickly rippled his highschool reflection and stated my "stance" on video games which is:
"I'm all for video games (minus the horribly violent ones) if you allow it to be something we can do together rather than an isolating activity." Jon has always doubted this philosophy of mine, believing it to be a nicer way of saying "You will never be allowed to play video games, because I'm never going to play with you." The boy obviously was not acquainted with my "gaming" history.
Although my history is oldschool and ends around the time N64 was replaced with well...um...whatever it was replaced with, I played my fair share of games. Part of it can be attributed to having a brother that could litterally convince/force me to do anything (see: me jumping off the roof onto the trampoline) So many games of Blitz, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Brothers were played gainst or with my will. But the other part can be explained by a simple love for Mario Kart, 007, and Donkey Kong 3. The thrill of getting a lightening bolt, sneaking up on an opponent, or collecting enough bannanas for an extra life, kept my fingers moving and my self enjoying.
So a few saturdays ago, Jon found himself seated on the couch, controller in hand next to his wife also with controller in hand. We had purchased 007 for the Wii and I was beyond excited. We began to play, both a little timid as we tried to guage the others seriousness. Jon kept looking at me as if expecting me to abruptly call off the game and dramtically declare our home a nintendo free space. Around the 5th time he was killed by my player, Jon realized I was serious. We sat there and played for over an hour; laughing, yelling frustrations, and even trash talking some. I turned to him while playing and asked,
" So how does it feel to play nintendo with your Wife?" he thought for a second as his fingers pressed and manuevered. He replied with, "Ya know, Strangely Competitive."
I smiled and we continued playing.
I didn't win. In fact I lost badly and no, I won't share the score. However I will share how it felt to play with Jon and hear his words "strangely competitive."
It felt...
Strangely Fulfilling.