a time to play

last week, my housemate/officemate brought his two kids for an overnight stay at the house. the boys, one 12 years old and the other nine, browsed through my collection of ps1 cds that's been gathering dust in the shelf. in about two hours, they tested all the games i have -- some of which i don't even remember playing at all -- while us adults drank beer and watched (we only have one tv so we let them have the fun).

it's amazing how fast the kids grasp the mechanics of each game on their first try. they didn't bother much with RPGs. in the end, the games that emerged as favorites (because they stayed up late playing these) were crash bandicoot warped and oz world.

thanks to the kids, i now remember the games in my collection. here's the list, and my status for each:

- final fantasy VIII: finished twice (first w/o walkthrough, next w/ walkthrough. quistis! *sigh*)

- final fantasy IX: finished

- legends of leigaia: finished

- legends of dragoon: finished

- thousand arms: finished

- threads of fate: unfinished

- tomb raider revelation: unfinished

- street fighter ex: played (i can finish the game boss only if i use guile)

- snk vs capcom: played (guile is still my favorite)

- oz world: unfinished (i find the character a bit gross, but the kids love it)

- crash bandicoot warped: unfinished (either the final boss is just too darn difficult to beat, or my hand-eye coordination is beginning to fail O_o)

- final fantasy VII: unfinished

- final fantasy VI: unfinished

- resident evil 2 and 3: unfinished

- fear effect: unfinished

- chrono cross II: unplayed (damaged? drats!)

- die hard: unfinished

- south park rally: unplayed

- battle tank: unplayed

- duke nukem: unplayed

- nba 2000: unplayed



the next day, with my permission and their father's strict reminder to be careful, the brothers browsed through *gasp* my most sacred corner of the house -- my pc table/shelf. there stored are my prized collection of comics, magazines (no smut in there, promise), and books. the pc used to have dune, starcraft and warcraft, but when i started working on my thesis, i deleted all the games except for pharaoh (cmon, everyone needs a break). they borrowed my entire collection of culture crash (oh dear, i hope they take good care of it *shudder*).



at the office, the pingpong table was wiped clean and set, so the kids played while the rest of us worked. at the strike of 615pm, we were playing with the kids and i ended up with blistered feet for playing on my formal shoes.



the house and office were again quiet the day after the brothers went home. the ps1, now free from dust, is back in its shelf, and the pingpong table is back in storage. everything is back to normal (except they still have my culture crash!).



ah kids!