The Glass Urchin

Author notes

Love is River City Ransom

auilix

on July 7, 2008

Whatever happened to the late, great genre of multiplayer coop games? Granted, there aren’t too many traditional, side-scrolling beat ‘em ups on the market any more (3D beat ‘em ups come close… but there’s always some kind of problem with them, usually pertaining to how they aren’t done in awesome 16-bit color).

Video gaming is just such a part of life for me… It actually had a hand in how I met Mike (although it might have been a deterrent as well…). Since it probably won’t ever make it to comic form, I’ll recount it here.

My good friend and roommate at the time Shivi had just met a nice guy at a party. We actually went back to his place to use his bathroom and that’s where I met Mike, his roommate. I think the first thing I said to them was “Why don’t you guys have a Playstation 2?” I’m good with introductions like that. A few days later, Shivi was going to go out on a date with her guy, but for some reason he also brought his roommate Mike with him. I, of course, was playing video games, so I declined the offer when she asked me to go out with her. “Pleeeease!! I don’t want to be there with him and his roommate!” she begged, but I could not be taken from my video game. Ironically, the video game was Suikoden IV and, as any fans of the Suikoden series knows, the game was utter crap. I hated playing nearly every moment of it, but I wanted the save file so I could play Suikoden Tactics, the sequel. Even so, it was only until she offered to buy my drinks did I give in… And that’s how I really met Mike (and noticed how cute he was). So I suppose it’s thanks to Shivi and not thanks to video games that I hooked up.

Later on though I had to ditch the “Do ya want a cup of coffee?” routine (since we both hated coffee anyway), and go for a “Do ya want to play some games?” approach. It actually worked… Our first few dates usually ended with us snuggling in bed playing and beating Zelda 1 and 2 together on Gamecube.

So I’m not sure what the moral of that story is, but… Keep playing video games kids! And try to use them to aid your social life, not detract from it!