Gaming over the Holidays

[McStabStab]

Around this time of year my work starts to wind down, outside its sweater weather (depending on where you live), and the digital store sales are poppin’ off. I have a lot of fond memories of gaming over the holidays and look forward to many more.

What are your holiday gaming traditions or memories? Do you play some couch co-op with the fam? Clean out your wishlist and stock up your backlog? Take a break from gaming entirely?

 

[Zloth]

<shrug> Just more time to game. With the extra time, I'm more likely to play one game in the daytime and a different one at night, I suppose.

Take a break from gaming entirely?

GHA!!! (Zloth starts backing away a lot faster!)

 

[Brian Boru]

Take a break from gaming entirely?

Heretic! Ready the stake and kindling!!

stock up your backlog?

Not stock up, but definitely eyeing the Black Friday offer of Far Cry 6 for ~$17—may be time to pull the trigger… so to speak —which would likely take me into the New Year, given a replay or two.

Other than that, nothing much different.

 

[Slasken]

Will probably play some Terraria on LAN with my kids, and see if there is a family game on PS5 we can play. I have a Switch also, but the wifi doesn't work on it. Maybe get an ethernet adapter for that one and enjoy some Mario kart and other Mario-oriented games.

 

[McStabStab]

Some quick memories from myself:

We always do a few rounds of Jackbox with my family and it always is a good time playing Trivia Murder Party or Quiplash while we’re all together. Usually it ends in laughing so hard we cry.

Additionally, one year my aunt gifted my brother and I a bottle of absinthe. After everyone went to bed, we got our laptops out on the kitchen table and queued into CS:GO together. We stayed up until the sun came up passing the bottle back and forth until it was gone, having a great time and laughing loud enough we probably woke some family members up!

 

[Pifanjr]

I had a couple of vacation days left, so I'm hoping I can use at least some of that extra time to game. There's plenty of chores still to do though.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

In the past, we have usually bought games for the kids as Christmas gifts, so when we're free from family gatherings, we're usually playing those. For gifts like that, it usually ends up being console games, though, because you can still get physical copies to open, and those were what the kids wanted.

 

[mainer]

As much as I love the late spring and summer months here in Maine, there's something about the short daylight hours (sunset is @ 4:09 PM today) and colder weather that is equally exciting for me. More time indoors for gaming, or other projects, such as modding projects, when it's cold & dark outside for the majority of a 24 hr day cycle. Lights out, game on.

One of my fondest memories from this time of year (without going back to my childhood days) is from 11/11/2011, the day the original Skyrim released. I was stunned by the visuals, the dragons, the NPC interactions/conversations between themselves, the wide-open exploration, that I think I played Skyrim well into February of 2012. Exiting that cave when escaping Helgen, seeing the stary sky, the wind in the snow-covered trees is a memory that still sticks with me today. I always get the Skyrim-itch this time of year.

 

[Johnway]

no real gaming rituals over the holidays. With family around i'll be spending time with them. That said, i make a point to try and start a game as close to christmas as a sort of fresh start/ treat. For some reason i have it in my mind that i want to play yakuza 2 over the holidays. its coming up to december and i suspect that i'll be playing that during the holidays or starting another game....

Edit: i suppose when i have time off, i do some digital painting. Spoilers: My next one is nearly finished and its game related...

 

[DXCHASE]

I game over the holidays like i game any other time really except i get to do it a little longer and stay up when id usually have to sleep for work

 

[Zimbaly]

My gaming tradition is to change my name on Steam to Zimta Clause and play random games under that name, I also will sometimes buy random people, random steam games on my friends list. I make sure they're super good discounts cause I'm super cheap!

 

[Biggly]

I game over the holidays like i game any other time really except i get to do it a little longer and stay up when id usually have to sleep for work

This.

I'm not doing much solo gaming atm, just a regular Friday night co-op with friends (Deep Rock Galactic, Worms Armageddon, GTFO, Among us). Might do some more VR. And I'll probably end up buying a couple of old PCs off Gumtree to part out or fix up, just to scratch my hardware itch.

Business as per usual.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I've been able to get in some more time with Requiem. Also last night, I got a chance to play It Takes Two with my wife. She's becoming a much better gamer than she was when we first started playing.

Tonight, we're having our family Thanksgiving dinner. My son is home for a few days, and he says they're going to have a Smash tournament on the Switch tonight.

 

[PointnClicker01]

my work starts to wind down

Ah, I wish! This time of the year is always the most hectic for me as all my bosses remember all the little yet time consuming things that have to be finished by the end of the year, and hand them over to me... So there's not a lot of time for gaming unfortunately but the little time I have I invest on smaller and relaxing games.

Do you play some couch co-op with the fam?

My family is from the non gaming sort, not even board games. So instead of gaming we mostly do other things over the holidays like watching movies, listening to music or just enjoy the slow pace of time at home.

Take a break from gaming entirely?

Haha, that's a bold thing to ask in a gaming forum. For me it's actually the opposite: Since I almost have no time for gaming until christmas and by the time 2023 has started, I will be on excavation for a month (which actually means having no time to game either) those short 10 days of the year are my only chance to play some of the bigger games on my list. This year I think it will be Detroit: Become Human and maybe the Myst series. I'm looking forward to it!

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I will be on excavation for a month

What do you mean by that? Like an archaeological dig?

 

[JarlBSoD]

I have a bad tradition of firing upp the first X-com Ufo Defense (the 1993 game) and play some untill i remember how much i suck when all my tiny little soldiers die a horrible death mid game

 

[PointnClicker01]

What do you mean by that? Like an archaeological dig?

Yes indeed One of my student jobs includes being part of the excavation team on site, definitely the best part of the job.

 

[Brian Boru]

all my bosses

You may want to read this thread.

I will be on excavation

You may want to play this game.

an archaeological dig

Yep. She's really an Irish scientist, real name Archie O'Logical.

Should I lay off the good cheer?

 

[PointnClicker01]

You may want to read this thread.

Thanks for the earworm

You may want to play this game.

What a coincidence! I recently bought the game in a Lucasgame package Probably won't have the time to play it this year though... But it definitely sounds like a thrilling adventure in space!

Archie O'Logical

Sounds like the perfect pseudonym for me

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Yes indeed One of my student jobs includes being part of the excavation team on site, definitely the best part of the job.

That's really awesome. Can you tell us where you're going?

 

[Frindis]

My holiday tradition is playing Alien Isolation with my nephews. We play it for some hours then repeat the tradition next Christmas. This will be the third year of doing so and I reckon we might be doing it for a couple of years more before we finish the game.

 

[Brian Boru]

sounds like a thrilling adventure in space

I played it ~25 years ago—can't recall a thing about it other than that I enjoyed it enough to still remember its name. I enjoyed most LucasArts games at that time.

where you're going?

I'm betting Egypt, but don't let me stop you wondering Where in the World is PointnClicker01?

 

[PointnClicker01]

I'm betting Egypt

Your bet is correct But I won‘t tell you the region I‘m going, it‘s a public forum after all

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Your bet is correct But I won‘t tell you the region I‘m going, it‘s a public forum after all

That's really awesome. When you get back, you should let us know how it went.

 

[Brian Boru]

When you get back, you should let us know

Indeed, and we should have a pool on it in between—winner gets an artifact!

I'm picking Abu Simbel