Happy New Year!
As previously mentioned, we have a very social home, and we host a New Year's party every year. Of course, we have some great party games set up! And the highlights of our New Years parties are often, naturally, video games.
We've cycled through all sorts of favorites. During the Dreamcast years, popular multiplayer games included Virtua Tennis, Red Dog (No kidding! MP is lots of fun!), Fur Fighters, and lots and lots of Unreal Tournament.
Fast forward a few years, and 16 player Halo LAN parties ruled the night. (With a bit of Crimson Skies and Mech Assault.)
A few more years and we grew into Gears of War 2/3, COD: BO Zombies, and ODST: Fire Fight LAN matches that kept us up long past the Times Square Ball dropping.
And some games have always been in the rotation, including many renditions of Bomberman, Guitar Heros and Dance Dance Revolutions.
If I had to pick a favorite New Year's party video game moment, it would be split between two:
Playing 4 player Rock Band all night until we finished the last set list and watched the credits. We had no idea this game had a credits screen. Or any ending.
Then there was the night many years ago where my greatest 2D fighter/Dance Dance Revolution rival and I decided to settle our score once and for all. I tended to barely win more often on Street Fighter Alpha 3, and he would generally defeat me on Dance Dance. So the obvious next step was to load up Street Fighter Alpha 3 on a Playstation, plug in two dance pads instead of controllers, and fight each-other as God intended; skill against skill alone.
It. Was. Hilarious.
We wore ourselves out after only three matches (I got him two out of three!) because, let me tell you, it's harder than it looks. But so worth it. Ryu and Ken twitched and jerked about like they were in a Lady Gaga video. And I hope that's the last reference to Lady Gaga I ever make, ever.
Other than video games, we've kept coming back to some other favorites including Jenga, Battletech, HeroScape, and Jamaican Scrabble.
Well, whatever you do this year and into next, I sincerely hope you're New Year's Eve is as fun as ours! Feel free to share some great New Years Eve experiences (gaming or otherwise) and stay safe out there!!
