girlfriend gaming

Girlfriend Gaming – We Play Def Jam: Icon

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The last time Steff and I played a rap-music-related game, we were caught by surprise. I figured that 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand at best would be ironic fun, but it turned out to be a fairly solid game. Steff, who isn’t into shooters at all, really got into it. It was good enough that I went out and picked up my own copy so that we could play co-op.

When she saw Def Jam: Icon at the store, she was hoping that it would be the fighting game equivalent to Blood on the Sand. Instead, the game broke her heart after the very first fight. In her words, the game was, “Utter disappointment.”
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Girlfriend Gaming: We Play SingStar Vol. 2

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SingStar has been the definitive video game karaoke experience for quite some time. The series has sold millions of copies around the world, while leaving all of its imitators in the dust. Though Steff and I are no strangers to video game karaoke, we’ve never actually played SingStar until recently, when she picked up SingStar Vol. 2 for the PlayStation 3. Was the game the perfect center-stage for our duets, or were we a few years too late to the party?

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2010 Year in Review: A Year of Girlfriend Gaming

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Back when I started this series, my girlfriend was in a different place as far as video games go. Steff has always liked video games, but never got into them on a serious level. Even though I’m a life-long hardcore gamer, it wasn’t (and will never be) a priority to me that she be a hardcore gamer too. I value her personal tastes and interests far too much to mess with the amazing person that she already is. My first Girlfriend Gaming post was about my perspective on this very subject.

Since I kicked off the series, my girlfriend has become much more invested in the medium. She now has about 20 games for her Wii. She also now has a PlayStation 3 with almost 10 games. On top of that, she’s playing or has shown interest in a number of hardcore games, such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, God of War, Bioshock and Assassin’s Creed. I’m sure that last point will make many a gamer guy jealous, but sorry, you can’t have her. It’s great that she’s enjoying games more and I’ll always support her with any interest she gets into. So why is it then, that I feel like I’ve partially failed as a gamer boyfriend?

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Girlfriend Gaming: What She Wants for Christmas

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Last week, my girlfriend and I exchanged Christmas wish lists. Unlike mine, which was comprised almost exclusively of video games, only one appeared on her list. Not to say that there’s only one game she wants, but our priorities are very much different. Santa will do his best to get her what she’s asking for.

She gave me the blessing to share with you some of the games she’s eying this holiday season. Besides the one on her formal list, we’ve gone shopping recently and she’s pointed out a few titles she’d like to get a hold of. Is your girlfriend/boyfriend interested in any of these?

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Girlfriend Gaming – The Co-op Adventures of 50 Cent and Tony Yayo

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As I watched my girlfriend shoot up dozens of terrorists in 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, I longed to join in on the fun. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t feature local co-op, which is par for the course for this style of game. Instead, I picked up my own copy and we recently had the opportunity to play online co-op together. Without spoiling anything (as if anyone cares about the ‘amazing’ story contained in this game) we started playing at the point just before you fight a helicopter, and ended our session just after we shot down the third helicopter. Yes, that plays out as ridiculous as it sounds.
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Girlfriend Gaming – She Plays 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

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My girlfriend wasted no time in building up her PlayStation 3 game catalogue. After just 24 hours of buying the console, she had already obtained six games. Her system came bundled with NHL 11 and Infamous. She then went out and bought Batman: Arkham Asylum, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Bioshock and most curiously, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. When she sat down in front of her new PS3 and chose what game to play first, the choice was clear to her. It did not involve hockey, super powers, caped crusaders, plasmids or Snake Eyes. Instead, she christened her PS3 with desert cities, a non-Indiana-Jones crystal skull and Tony Yayo.

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Girlfriend Gaming – Hands-On With Kirby’s Epic Yarn

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I fell in love with Kirby’s Epic Yarn from the moment I saw the debut trailer at E3. The art style and creative gameplay I saw in that trailer really wowed me. The moment after I saw that trailer, I sent pictures and videos over to my girlfriend, who I thought would love it just as much as I did. Turns out, I was wrong.

She had some concerns about how the art style would translate into gameplay. In particular, she thought that the fabric aesthetic might be gimmicky at best and detrimental at worst, especially since you can see through Kirby and many of the other characters. It’s been out for a while now, but we finally got a chance to play it for ourselves.

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Just Dance 2 Review

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When Just Dance first came out, I did not expect it to be the smash-hit that it ended up becoming. It won millions of people over with its great concept, song list and it was fun to play. Even though I had some problems with the game’s design as far as how it reads inputs, most people were too busy doing the MC Hammer dance.

Though I didn’t purchase the first game, I played enough of it with my girlfriend to know that I would probably have fun with the sequel. On launch day, we both went to her local Best Buy and bought our own copies. Does Just Dance 2 serve up the goods, or does it just get served?

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Girlfriend Gaming: How Ubisoft Won Her Brand Loyalty

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Ever since she got a Wii for Christmas last year, I’ve noticed that my girlfriend looks at Ubisoft in a very positive light. She as built up quite a collection of Wii games for herself, many of them published by Ubisoft. Thanks to her positive experiences with Ubisoft games, she’s become a Ubisoft fan in the same way that I’m a fan of Capcom. When she sees that Ubisoft logo on the game box, she expects that game to be good. When we visited the Ubisoft booth at Fan Expo, she was hyped to receive a promo code on Ubisoft games and tried to cash it in the moment we got back to the hotel. To her disappointment, it didn’t work on pre-orders and she’d already bought every other Ubisoft game she wanted.

How did Ubisoft win her over to the point where she equates their brand with good games?

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Girlfriend Gaming: God of War Collection

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For the last few months, my girlfriend has made it clear to me that she’s wanted to play God of War. Each time she’s said that to me, I’ve given her the same puzzled look. When I think about video games she likes, I think of stuff like Just Dance, Crash Team Racing and the Raving Rabbids series. Based on what I knew of her taste at the time, I thought a series where players kill thousands of monsters in brutal fashion wasn’t up her alley.

I picked up God of War Collection recently for two reasons. One, because I’ve been curious about this series for a while now and two, because I wanted to see if my girlfriend would actually get into it. I’ve yet to start this game on my own, but she’s already killed Medusa and can’t wait to play more.

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