Post by wafflerevolution on Sept 9, 2013 17:17:21 GMT
Subject: Mamba219, member of CCU since January 2008 (though I swear he's been around here a lot longer).
Some basics first.
Number of Systems: 10
Number of Games: 304 as of May 30, 2008
When did you start collecting?: Well, I got my first game when I was six, but I didn't really start "collecting" until I was 18.
What was your first system?: The original Game Boy.
What was your first game?: Donkey Kong Land, with my Game Boy.
Where does your screen name come from? The fruity chewy candy?
I was obsessed with the Advance Wars series. In that series, there is a character named Adder, who I thought was awesome. I was so obsessed with him and the games that I tracked down an Advance Wars-based forum called Advance Wars Bunker, or AWB for short. As I was registering there, I originally wanted to name myself Adder, but I thought that might be a bit too cheesy, so I started brainstorming other equally neat names. Mambas and adders are both snakes, so that's the one I ultimately picked. I still am fairly active on that forums' successor, Wars Central, as Mamba. The '219' suffix to my screenname came along a few years later. On AWB, there was a great member named Grit219, who was very kind to me and helped me deal with a great deal of personal issues that I couldn't share with people I actually knew. One day, he suddenly left AWB, and no one has heard from him since. I picked up using the 219 as a sort of homage to him.
When did you feel a tipping point from gamer to both gamer and game collector?
I suddenly realized around a year and a half ago just how many games I owned and how proud I was to own them, as well as how much I was willing to pay for certain games, like Suikoden II. This was soon after finishing Final Fantasy IX, a game that made me obsessed with RPGs. Ever since starting actively collecting, I've generally focused my attention on RPGs. Unfortunately I'm in college and as such have a limited income, so I'm unable to splurge on the more expensive PS1 RPGs or even just heaps of games all that often, and usually I have to choose between the two.
Well, there is no end to collecting RPGs, so you have plenty of time. Have you ever been dissapointed with any of the difficult to aquire games once you actually played it?
Not to speak of. For extremely expensive games, I usually take them on a short test run via an emulator (read: 1-2 hours) to make absolutely sure they're worth the price. So far, all of the ones I've bought have been. But, quite frankly, that's the extent of my playing most of my games. There have been a number of great surprises with regards to games like Radiata Stories, which is a standalone game that I had absolutely no prevailing expectations for. It was an amazingly fun game, and was yet another reason I have started collecting what most would refer to as "cheapo" games: you never know what you just might fall in love with.
What are your goals as a game collector, how have you developed them, and how do you feel about your progress toward them?
Well, my ultimate goal would be something like collecting all the "worth it" games for each system, something I'm really only close to doing on the Gamecube right now. Basically this definition means every RPG, every major platformer game for the system, every franchise game that I care about, and every game that I've played that's been remotely fun for me. If that's a pretty loose definition for you, I'd check out my collection page and look at the Gamecube collection, which is almost done. I only need to pick up a couple games to be completely finished with that one, all of which are on my wish list. All the other systems I own, I'm nowhere close to being finished with yet. As a collector, I've got a long way to go. But that's to be expected when you've only been actively collecting for around a year and a half, I suppose. It should be noted that I absolutely don't care about certain genres of games, such as fighters, racers, sports, or shooters, whatsoever, and only buy what are generally considered to be "the best of the best" for those genres, as well as rare ones I happen to see. This may change later but for now, I find them to be all the same, and throwing money at them is, for me, throwing money away. I will probably come back to those once I finish off older RPGs and platformers.
How many games, systems, etc. are "enough"?
Most people seem to say "there can never be enough". I say "when they stop making RPGs and good games in general".
I was worried about the RPG genre a few years ago, when there was a period where you could be waiting for the next JRPG to appear, but there is no shortage of them these days. What's your proudest moment as a game collector?
Last Christmas when numerous rare RPGs I'd coveted for over a year were placed in my hands at last. I'm speaking quite literally: last Christmas, I received Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, Tales of Destiny, Tales of Destiny 2 (really Tales of Eternia), Xenogears, Vagrant Story, Grandia, and the original Suikoden. I doubt many collectors here have had quite such a haul come in all at once. Coming in close second place would be actually catching all the Pokemon legitimately in Red Version, when I was around 11. I still remember the moment I caught the last one of them. That's not really collecting "games", but it's still collection-mania in a...less expensive manner.
What's your least proud moment as a game collector?
Unfortunately over the years I've been through a lot, and a lot of my games have taken the heat for some of my real life issues. Some games I used to have I no longer do, like Rush 2, Waverace 64, Toy Story 2, etc. I also seem to have misplaced and had stolen a great deal of games over the years...which I really wish I hadn't. It's a depressing thing to realize you don't have a game you once did.
Are you talking about Toy Story 2 for the GBC? If so you are lucky to have lost it.
Nah, Toy Story 2 for the N64, it was actually pretty fun. I did use to have Toy Story 1 for the Game Boy, though. That is gone, too...
Where/how do you store it all?
I have a huge bookshelf which I use to store my non-cartridge games. My cartridge games, limited as they are, go in two small drawers nearby. When not at my home base, I keep the games in individual CD slips.
What's your favorite part of your collection?
You could really group this into two parts: my favorite games, and my rarest games. My favorite games include games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy IX, Star Fox 64, etc. Games that got me gaming in the first place. Rare games like Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, or SMT: Nocturne, games I never thought for a minute I'd ever possess, also make me extremely satisfied. And there's the PS2 section in general. Pretty small compared to some of the collections here, but for me it's just daunting thinking that I own all these games.
So would those be the most valuable and/or rare items in your collection?
[Yes,] probably most of the Shin Megami Tensei games I have, Suikoden 1 and 2, Valkyrie Profile for PS1, Xenogears black-label, and Atlus-made Disgaea. Coming in close behind would be games like Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, Tales of Destiny I and II, Dragon Quest VII, Dragon Quest IV...the list could go on, but needless to say I have a pretty fair amount of games that regularly go for more than full price.
What would you like to improve in your collection?
My older games. My collection sorely lacks in games from before the fifth and sixth generation, due to the lateness with which I started collecting and my focusing on the sixth generation. My focus remains on the fifth and sixth for now, but someday I plan to retreat to the fourth while simulateously focusing on the seventh...and so on down the line. On a more immediate note, my PS1 RPG collection has a great deal of work left to be done on it. I have a lot of the major titles, but I still need some of the more obscure ones by companies like Working Designs and Atlus.
What do you think was your best deal while game buying?
Probably finding a complete copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne at a store for $25 when on Amazon it was going for 90+. I did a major league double take that day and ended up spending a lot more than I had bargained for.
What item in your collection do you feel you overpaid for?
Both Metroid Prime games, even though I'm not sure I was the one who originally bought Prime 1. A dime would be too much. Also I hate buying games at full price, so any of those would also fall under this category. Most recently that would go to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Definetely not worth $50. Also I bought Persona 3 for $45 two days before they made the announcement about Persona 3: FES....that was kind of a bummer.
What do you feel is the strangest or weirdest item in your collection?
I have a lot of strange old Game Boy games from when I was a kid. Back then, I was nuts, and my parents dealt with it by buying me something every week. For a period of about seven months, it was Game Boy games, so I have a lot of weird, kiddy GB games, very few of which are listed on Gamespot at all, games like Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle, Animaniacs, y'know, kids stuff. I also have a lot of GBA games that I don't remember buying, like Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars, and Breath of Fire II. None of these games are really that strange, per se, but they are to me. Then there's the Japanese copies of Pokemon Gold and Silver I have. Long story short, I couldn't wait for them, and I was an impatient kid.
Do you still play your OGB?
Very rarely, since I now have a Game Boy Color and a GBA:SP that can play the games in some shade of color. I still have my old Game Boy though, it's unusual because it's bright red, and I don't know of anyone else who has a colored Game Boy.
What item(s) do you not have in your collection that people are surprised to hear you don't have?
An Xbox, and, by extension, the Halo games. Many people seem to think these are the holy grails of gaming, which I really disagree with. The Xbox and its, in my opinion, limited supply of quality games has never been worth the money to me. Not to mention it's big and takes up too much space.
Well it sure doesn't have many RPG's other than the KOTOR's and Morrowind.
That's for sure, and Morrowind is better for PC anyway. However, I'm also a big fan of adventure/platformers, but the Xbox lets me down there, as well. I'm sure there exist some pretty good ones, but hopefully they'll someday be playable on the Xbox 360. Besides, even if I were to get an Xbox, there'd be no way to transport it due to its sheer size.
Speaking of consoles, I was surprised that you don't have a PSP. It has become a great magnet for RPGs and with as much travel as you do it seesm like a no-brainer.
It really does, and I hope to have one...someday. For a long time I didn't feel like it was worth it, but these days I'm wanting one more and more. The issue with getting it is simply monetary. I also plan on replacing my lost DS before getting a PSP simply because I have a pretty large stockpile of DS games already. But it's high on my list, certainly higher than any home consoles, and most games. Another thing about it is that the PSP seems to mostly have RPG remakes, and frankly, when given the choice, I prefer to play RPGs on a console rather than a portable. But there are enough other "worth it" games for the PSP to make me want it, regardless.
Is there any way you'd ever stop collecting?
The only way I'd ever stop collecting is if my entire family and my best friends sat down and had a kind of intervention like they would if I were a drug addict. Even then, I'd definetely need the three weeks in rehab. Also if I really hit rock bottom financially, I know that my collection is pretty decent collateral. But perish the thought. I'd make my wife pawn the majority of her jewelry first.
Do you have a funny story about your collection?
I could tell you about some of the looks I've gotten transporting massive numbers of CD slips with games in them past airport security, especially since I store them in the same compartment of my backpack as I do my condoms, but then I might get arrested for being some sort of video game terrorist. Lubricant and silicon might make some sort of bomb or something, who knows.
Have you ever had to move your collection to another house? What was it like?
No, but I have had to move parts of it to other locations due to the fact that I have three permanent residences. I believe I made a topic to this effect at some point on the forums. It's an incredible hassle and it always forces me to leave a significant portion of the collection behind, which is extremely irritating. Usually, I'm only able to bring two systems with me outside of my main home in Houston, which means I usually end up choosing my Wii and PS2, which combined have the largest total playable games out of my collection. However, this means two things: that I have to pick and choose my games very carefully based on what I *might* end up wanting to play during that period away from the base, and also that I have no way of playing favorites such as N64, SNES, or NES games away from my main home, which incidentally makes me care about collecting them less. To top it off, I tend to buy a fair amount of games when I'm away from the base, so those games need to have their cases transported. I always fly, so, often, a bit of damage is incurred on the cases. It's a shame, but that's the way my life is right now.
If your significant other told you no more games, what would you do?
We've been down this road, believe me. My fiancee (maybe wife by the time this is posted) is an avid non-gamer who has told me numerous times how she thinks games are stupid. Early in our relationship we compromised as to what we would do about activities that each of us did that annoyed the other, which for her was my gaming. For the first year we went out I basically wasn't able to game when she was here. Over the years though she's become more accepting, and has even found a few games that she enjoys watching, and even one she enjoys playing! I encourage all gamers with similar problems with their SOs to check out Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town for the Game Boy Advance as a possible solution to this problem. Ever since her week long addiction to that game (coincidentally timed with my extreme addiction to Final Fantasy IX, which was a godsend because she was out of my hair during that time) she has been far more lenient about my gaming even though it still irritates her a bit. Not as much as her heavy metal and rap music irritate me though.
You are the first person who has actually had that become an issue (insofar as our spotlights are concerned). So she is an "avid non-gamer"? I kind of assumed that anyone under the age of 30 was a gamer, but I guess that's not the case. How does that happen?
My fiancee is one of those people who just doesn't understand video games. She basically thinks they're a waste of time. I've never understood it, but I've known many people my age who agree with that sentiment, particularly women. I think women in general have a harder time understanding video games than men, since most of the games advertised are violent shooting games (CodingGenius or TGL might be a better to talk to about this than me, obviously). Also, when I've tried to include my fiancee in my gaming hobby, she usually becomes overwhelmed by the complexity of the games I play. When I try to show her games that are extremely uncomplicated (Super Mario Bros. type games), she either thinks they're too old or that they're too kiddy. This is probably my fault, and it's possible that she just hasn't found the type of game that's right for her, but with her prevailing attitude toward it, I doubt she will. She does somewhat enjoy Wii Sports, and she absolutely fell in love with Harvest Moon, as I've said, but that's totally it as far as games go for her. I should probably try to get some more Wii games that she might enjoy, I've heard that that's great for getting couples to play games.
What percentage of your games are still sealed?
I open every game soon after buying them as long as I'm able to play them. I always play every one of my new games for an hour before going back to whatever project I'm working on. Not only that but I very, very rarely buy new games, as it's simply cheaper to buy them used.
What percentage of your game have you actually played? Completed?
I'd say I've popped in and played around 95% of the games I own. Only occasional cheapo games I buy en masse escape my obligitory hour-long playtime. If you want to see all the games I've ever completed, I blog about it every six months, but suffice to say it's nowhere close to the number of games I own.
Mamba, thanks for taking the time for the feature.
My pleasure, Shane.
Some basics first.
Number of Systems: 10
Number of Games: 304 as of May 30, 2008
When did you start collecting?: Well, I got my first game when I was six, but I didn't really start "collecting" until I was 18.
What was your first system?: The original Game Boy.
What was your first game?: Donkey Kong Land, with my Game Boy.
Where does your screen name come from? The fruity chewy candy?
I was obsessed with the Advance Wars series. In that series, there is a character named Adder, who I thought was awesome. I was so obsessed with him and the games that I tracked down an Advance Wars-based forum called Advance Wars Bunker, or AWB for short. As I was registering there, I originally wanted to name myself Adder, but I thought that might be a bit too cheesy, so I started brainstorming other equally neat names. Mambas and adders are both snakes, so that's the one I ultimately picked. I still am fairly active on that forums' successor, Wars Central, as Mamba. The '219' suffix to my screenname came along a few years later. On AWB, there was a great member named Grit219, who was very kind to me and helped me deal with a great deal of personal issues that I couldn't share with people I actually knew. One day, he suddenly left AWB, and no one has heard from him since. I picked up using the 219 as a sort of homage to him.
When did you feel a tipping point from gamer to both gamer and game collector?
I suddenly realized around a year and a half ago just how many games I owned and how proud I was to own them, as well as how much I was willing to pay for certain games, like Suikoden II. This was soon after finishing Final Fantasy IX, a game that made me obsessed with RPGs. Ever since starting actively collecting, I've generally focused my attention on RPGs. Unfortunately I'm in college and as such have a limited income, so I'm unable to splurge on the more expensive PS1 RPGs or even just heaps of games all that often, and usually I have to choose between the two.
Well, there is no end to collecting RPGs, so you have plenty of time. Have you ever been dissapointed with any of the difficult to aquire games once you actually played it?
Not to speak of. For extremely expensive games, I usually take them on a short test run via an emulator (read: 1-2 hours) to make absolutely sure they're worth the price. So far, all of the ones I've bought have been. But, quite frankly, that's the extent of my playing most of my games. There have been a number of great surprises with regards to games like Radiata Stories, which is a standalone game that I had absolutely no prevailing expectations for. It was an amazingly fun game, and was yet another reason I have started collecting what most would refer to as "cheapo" games: you never know what you just might fall in love with.
What are your goals as a game collector, how have you developed them, and how do you feel about your progress toward them?
Well, my ultimate goal would be something like collecting all the "worth it" games for each system, something I'm really only close to doing on the Gamecube right now. Basically this definition means every RPG, every major platformer game for the system, every franchise game that I care about, and every game that I've played that's been remotely fun for me. If that's a pretty loose definition for you, I'd check out my collection page and look at the Gamecube collection, which is almost done. I only need to pick up a couple games to be completely finished with that one, all of which are on my wish list. All the other systems I own, I'm nowhere close to being finished with yet. As a collector, I've got a long way to go. But that's to be expected when you've only been actively collecting for around a year and a half, I suppose. It should be noted that I absolutely don't care about certain genres of games, such as fighters, racers, sports, or shooters, whatsoever, and only buy what are generally considered to be "the best of the best" for those genres, as well as rare ones I happen to see. This may change later but for now, I find them to be all the same, and throwing money at them is, for me, throwing money away. I will probably come back to those once I finish off older RPGs and platformers.
How many games, systems, etc. are "enough"?
Most people seem to say "there can never be enough". I say "when they stop making RPGs and good games in general".
I was worried about the RPG genre a few years ago, when there was a period where you could be waiting for the next JRPG to appear, but there is no shortage of them these days. What's your proudest moment as a game collector?
Last Christmas when numerous rare RPGs I'd coveted for over a year were placed in my hands at last. I'm speaking quite literally: last Christmas, I received Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, Tales of Destiny, Tales of Destiny 2 (really Tales of Eternia), Xenogears, Vagrant Story, Grandia, and the original Suikoden. I doubt many collectors here have had quite such a haul come in all at once. Coming in close second place would be actually catching all the Pokemon legitimately in Red Version, when I was around 11. I still remember the moment I caught the last one of them. That's not really collecting "games", but it's still collection-mania in a...less expensive manner.
What's your least proud moment as a game collector?
Unfortunately over the years I've been through a lot, and a lot of my games have taken the heat for some of my real life issues. Some games I used to have I no longer do, like Rush 2, Waverace 64, Toy Story 2, etc. I also seem to have misplaced and had stolen a great deal of games over the years...which I really wish I hadn't. It's a depressing thing to realize you don't have a game you once did.
Are you talking about Toy Story 2 for the GBC? If so you are lucky to have lost it.
Nah, Toy Story 2 for the N64, it was actually pretty fun. I did use to have Toy Story 1 for the Game Boy, though. That is gone, too...
Where/how do you store it all?
I have a huge bookshelf which I use to store my non-cartridge games. My cartridge games, limited as they are, go in two small drawers nearby. When not at my home base, I keep the games in individual CD slips.
What's your favorite part of your collection?
You could really group this into two parts: my favorite games, and my rarest games. My favorite games include games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy IX, Star Fox 64, etc. Games that got me gaming in the first place. Rare games like Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, or SMT: Nocturne, games I never thought for a minute I'd ever possess, also make me extremely satisfied. And there's the PS2 section in general. Pretty small compared to some of the collections here, but for me it's just daunting thinking that I own all these games.
So would those be the most valuable and/or rare items in your collection?
[Yes,] probably most of the Shin Megami Tensei games I have, Suikoden 1 and 2, Valkyrie Profile for PS1, Xenogears black-label, and Atlus-made Disgaea. Coming in close behind would be games like Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, Tales of Destiny I and II, Dragon Quest VII, Dragon Quest IV...the list could go on, but needless to say I have a pretty fair amount of games that regularly go for more than full price.
What would you like to improve in your collection?
My older games. My collection sorely lacks in games from before the fifth and sixth generation, due to the lateness with which I started collecting and my focusing on the sixth generation. My focus remains on the fifth and sixth for now, but someday I plan to retreat to the fourth while simulateously focusing on the seventh...and so on down the line. On a more immediate note, my PS1 RPG collection has a great deal of work left to be done on it. I have a lot of the major titles, but I still need some of the more obscure ones by companies like Working Designs and Atlus.
What do you think was your best deal while game buying?
Probably finding a complete copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne at a store for $25 when on Amazon it was going for 90+. I did a major league double take that day and ended up spending a lot more than I had bargained for.
What item in your collection do you feel you overpaid for?
Both Metroid Prime games, even though I'm not sure I was the one who originally bought Prime 1. A dime would be too much. Also I hate buying games at full price, so any of those would also fall under this category. Most recently that would go to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Definetely not worth $50. Also I bought Persona 3 for $45 two days before they made the announcement about Persona 3: FES....that was kind of a bummer.
What do you feel is the strangest or weirdest item in your collection?
I have a lot of strange old Game Boy games from when I was a kid. Back then, I was nuts, and my parents dealt with it by buying me something every week. For a period of about seven months, it was Game Boy games, so I have a lot of weird, kiddy GB games, very few of which are listed on Gamespot at all, games like Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle, Animaniacs, y'know, kids stuff. I also have a lot of GBA games that I don't remember buying, like Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars, and Breath of Fire II. None of these games are really that strange, per se, but they are to me. Then there's the Japanese copies of Pokemon Gold and Silver I have. Long story short, I couldn't wait for them, and I was an impatient kid.
Do you still play your OGB?
Very rarely, since I now have a Game Boy Color and a GBA:SP that can play the games in some shade of color. I still have my old Game Boy though, it's unusual because it's bright red, and I don't know of anyone else who has a colored Game Boy.
What item(s) do you not have in your collection that people are surprised to hear you don't have?
An Xbox, and, by extension, the Halo games. Many people seem to think these are the holy grails of gaming, which I really disagree with. The Xbox and its, in my opinion, limited supply of quality games has never been worth the money to me. Not to mention it's big and takes up too much space.
Well it sure doesn't have many RPG's other than the KOTOR's and Morrowind.
That's for sure, and Morrowind is better for PC anyway. However, I'm also a big fan of adventure/platformers, but the Xbox lets me down there, as well. I'm sure there exist some pretty good ones, but hopefully they'll someday be playable on the Xbox 360. Besides, even if I were to get an Xbox, there'd be no way to transport it due to its sheer size.
Speaking of consoles, I was surprised that you don't have a PSP. It has become a great magnet for RPGs and with as much travel as you do it seesm like a no-brainer.
It really does, and I hope to have one...someday. For a long time I didn't feel like it was worth it, but these days I'm wanting one more and more. The issue with getting it is simply monetary. I also plan on replacing my lost DS before getting a PSP simply because I have a pretty large stockpile of DS games already. But it's high on my list, certainly higher than any home consoles, and most games. Another thing about it is that the PSP seems to mostly have RPG remakes, and frankly, when given the choice, I prefer to play RPGs on a console rather than a portable. But there are enough other "worth it" games for the PSP to make me want it, regardless.
Is there any way you'd ever stop collecting?
The only way I'd ever stop collecting is if my entire family and my best friends sat down and had a kind of intervention like they would if I were a drug addict. Even then, I'd definetely need the three weeks in rehab. Also if I really hit rock bottom financially, I know that my collection is pretty decent collateral. But perish the thought. I'd make my wife pawn the majority of her jewelry first.
Do you have a funny story about your collection?
I could tell you about some of the looks I've gotten transporting massive numbers of CD slips with games in them past airport security, especially since I store them in the same compartment of my backpack as I do my condoms, but then I might get arrested for being some sort of video game terrorist. Lubricant and silicon might make some sort of bomb or something, who knows.
Have you ever had to move your collection to another house? What was it like?
No, but I have had to move parts of it to other locations due to the fact that I have three permanent residences. I believe I made a topic to this effect at some point on the forums. It's an incredible hassle and it always forces me to leave a significant portion of the collection behind, which is extremely irritating. Usually, I'm only able to bring two systems with me outside of my main home in Houston, which means I usually end up choosing my Wii and PS2, which combined have the largest total playable games out of my collection. However, this means two things: that I have to pick and choose my games very carefully based on what I *might* end up wanting to play during that period away from the base, and also that I have no way of playing favorites such as N64, SNES, or NES games away from my main home, which incidentally makes me care about collecting them less. To top it off, I tend to buy a fair amount of games when I'm away from the base, so those games need to have their cases transported. I always fly, so, often, a bit of damage is incurred on the cases. It's a shame, but that's the way my life is right now.
If your significant other told you no more games, what would you do?
We've been down this road, believe me. My fiancee (maybe wife by the time this is posted) is an avid non-gamer who has told me numerous times how she thinks games are stupid. Early in our relationship we compromised as to what we would do about activities that each of us did that annoyed the other, which for her was my gaming. For the first year we went out I basically wasn't able to game when she was here. Over the years though she's become more accepting, and has even found a few games that she enjoys watching, and even one she enjoys playing! I encourage all gamers with similar problems with their SOs to check out Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town for the Game Boy Advance as a possible solution to this problem. Ever since her week long addiction to that game (coincidentally timed with my extreme addiction to Final Fantasy IX, which was a godsend because she was out of my hair during that time) she has been far more lenient about my gaming even though it still irritates her a bit. Not as much as her heavy metal and rap music irritate me though.
You are the first person who has actually had that become an issue (insofar as our spotlights are concerned). So she is an "avid non-gamer"? I kind of assumed that anyone under the age of 30 was a gamer, but I guess that's not the case. How does that happen?
My fiancee is one of those people who just doesn't understand video games. She basically thinks they're a waste of time. I've never understood it, but I've known many people my age who agree with that sentiment, particularly women. I think women in general have a harder time understanding video games than men, since most of the games advertised are violent shooting games (CodingGenius or TGL might be a better to talk to about this than me, obviously). Also, when I've tried to include my fiancee in my gaming hobby, she usually becomes overwhelmed by the complexity of the games I play. When I try to show her games that are extremely uncomplicated (Super Mario Bros. type games), she either thinks they're too old or that they're too kiddy. This is probably my fault, and it's possible that she just hasn't found the type of game that's right for her, but with her prevailing attitude toward it, I doubt she will. She does somewhat enjoy Wii Sports, and she absolutely fell in love with Harvest Moon, as I've said, but that's totally it as far as games go for her. I should probably try to get some more Wii games that she might enjoy, I've heard that that's great for getting couples to play games.
What percentage of your games are still sealed?
I open every game soon after buying them as long as I'm able to play them. I always play every one of my new games for an hour before going back to whatever project I'm working on. Not only that but I very, very rarely buy new games, as it's simply cheaper to buy them used.
What percentage of your game have you actually played? Completed?
I'd say I've popped in and played around 95% of the games I own. Only occasional cheapo games I buy en masse escape my obligitory hour-long playtime. If you want to see all the games I've ever completed, I blog about it every six months, but suffice to say it's nowhere close to the number of games I own.
Mamba, thanks for taking the time for the feature.
My pleasure, Shane.