With 1up closing down, my girlfriend wished for me to save a few choice blogs from going down with the ship. This is one of those blogs - completely unedited. Enjoy.
Originally published on June 1, 2011
I recently moved into a new place with my girlfriend. Up until this point we had only seen each other a couple nights on weekdays and a majority of weekends. Nights that didn’t include her in my plans would usually consist of hanging with the guys or settling in for a good night’s worth of gaming.
As Bob Dylan put it, the times, they are a changin’.
I’ve lived with people before, past girlfriends included. This isn’t my first rodeo. But I’ve never shared a one bedroom city apartment with someone before. Needless to say, this is a very different living situation than the one I have been used to.
We’re in each other’s faces all the time. I consider myself a minimalist. I don’t need a lot of space or things to be happy. But even I must admit that it is hard to escape and get some alone time under these circumstances. She’d tell you the same thing.
So we have to find ways to blow off steam in the same vicinity – even when we want nothing more than to be apart for a little bit. Mostly we fight. This is how I discovered how much I suck at Soul Calibur IV.
Okay, so I’m not terrible at the game, but I’m certainly no expert. I bought the game at the request of my lovely partner who also likes to game, just not as much as me. She likes fighting games; a genre that I have had little affinity for outside of the bloodstained Mortal Kombat series, which I’m actually quite good at. We’ve been able to find a balance of sorts – she’ll pummel me with unbloodied swords and in turn I’ll rip her limbs off in a gory spectacle.
It all works out rather well though I do, on occasion, express some minor concern with her preference in character: Tira.
For those that don’t have experience with the Soul Calibur series, Tira is a psychotic little thing with a deadly circular blade and multiple personalities. Her voice is like nails on a chalk board.
My girlfriend hates to fight Nightmare with her, so naturally he has become my weapon of choice as it were. The battles have become epic.
While Soul Calibur has brought a healthy level of competition to our relationship, Resistance has brought cooperation to the forefront.
I’ve always been a fan of co-op modes in games. As the phrase goes, I work well with others, so being able to share this with my live in girlfriend was a real treat. I bought Resistance a while ago when I bought my PS3 this past November. It was actually my girlfriend that recommended that I pick it up in the first place, but it wasn’t until she moved in that we got a chance to play it.
Co-op can be taxing on a relationship in the beginning. If there is no communication and each does their own thing then you are ultimately doomed to fail. For example, if you don’t tell your girlfriend that you threw a grenade at the enemy while she’s charging in and she gets a face full of hedgehog, well, she’s going to be mad at you. This may result in her hogging all the medkits when you only have one bar of health left.
It isn’t until you start working as a unit that the real fun really begins. What started off as an awkward mess, ended up in a graceful dance of bullets and carnage. I must say, we’re both very disappointed that Resistance 2 doesn’t include co-op, though it looks as though the third entry may fix that.
At the end of it all we have found new ways to have fun together, whether it be kicking the crap out of each other or by travelling through enemy infested territory as a solid unit.
The point is, choose your games wisely and they can actually add to your relationship. Decide to play WoW all day and it may lead to its downfall.
Please feel free to add your stories in the comments section below.
Happy Gaming.
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