Player Two: In Which A Colleague Goes Retro, and Level Up Gains a Gamecube Correspondent
Posted April 17, 2007 11:02:25 AM
At Newsweek HQ, most of our colleagues are either boomers in name or boomers in spirit, which means there haven't been many serious gamers among our ranks. But from the increasing number of game-related conversations we've had with our office mates, it's clear that this is starting to change. When Newsweek.com associate editor Andrew Cohen mentioned that he and his family had just acquired a Gamecube for their console-free household, we knew we had to get him to write about it. Here is his story.
After many years of inconsolable adult-onset console-lessness, my wife finally agreed to allow a videogame machine into our home. The rationale: my 9-year-son, who is new to competitive ice hockey, was advised by his coach to learn more about the game's strategy and various positions by playing it virtually. Up to that point, my two kids' gaming activities had been limited to Game Boys (not even the DS) and what's free on the Web (e.g. Miniclip.com.)
Armed with my special dispensation, I quickly sorted through the available hardware options and decided that the newest generation (Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3) represented way more gaming firepower and expense than a newbie household could handle. Seeking to take baby steps, I waited until after Xmas and toddled toward Half.com, where I picked up a used Gamecube (two controllers, two memory cards and seven games included) for a mere $75 (plus $15 shipping.) Not bad, and there's still money left for college.
My son could hardly contain himself when the box finally arrived, especially since the parcel was in the possession of the U.S. Postal Service for a full month--three weeks of which were spent in the back room of our local post office (thanks, guys.) Within minutes, we had the machine hooked up and running, and my son was blasting and grinding at will (Metroid Prime and Tony Hawk's Underground, respectively.) Unfortunately, the NHL 2003 game seemed like thin gruel by comparison, especially when my willing-to-play wife wasn't able to get it to work in two-player mode.
For myself, now that the shackles had been removed, there was only one visit to the local GameStop standing between the fulfillment of my adolescent fantasies. So while my anime-addicted teen daughter treated herself to the latest version of Harvest Moon (which I hope will serve as interactive methadone to Japanese cartoon heroin,) I gravitated toward the promise of exuberant vehicular lawlessness and fighter-jock heroics in the form of used copies of the racing game Need for Speed: Underground and the Star Wars-spinoff Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.
But to an office-dwelling keyboard-and-mouse man like myself, the Gamecube's multifaceted controller was disconcerting. Let's see, there are all the buttons--A, B, C, X, Y, Z and pause along with the left and right shoulder buttons--the gray thumbstick; and a cross pad. And you need all of them. What the hell? F-1 Ferraris and NASA lunar landers don't have this many controls. And so, racing against my son, I crashed a lot. (What the hell?) And each time, the controller vibrated weirdly in my hands, like a novelty joy buzzer. (What the hell?) I've been a licensed driver for 20 years; my son doesn't even know what a transmission does. And he beats me every time. (What the hell?)
With all of this daunting complexity staring me in the face, I decided to focus on one game and master it. Rogue Squadron II fit the bill: it's a relatively simple space combat game with absolutely beautiful graphics, and it has an extensive training mission on Luke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine to show you the ropes. Soon I was hunting womprats like a native, and though I still haven't beat Biggs and Wedge in the race to Toshi Station, I feel confident that I'll do so once I've logged a few more hours in the cockpit.
Meanwhile, a return trip to GameStop yielded a copy of the highly satisfying NHL 06, which has brought my wife fully into the videogame fold. We're still showing some restraint, as our Gamecube doesn't get used every day (I play it maybe once a week) but it's nevertheless rewarding to have taken this baby step into the world of consoledom. By this time next year, I may be ready to cruise eBay in search of a gently used Wii console. It takes all the old Gamecube games, right? [Editor's note: Why yes, it does.]
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