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MacEG

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Co-op gaming with the wife: How the west was won.

This was a post in the general discussion but decided to post it as a blog post too.
 
 
 
 
Post by MDomier entitled "Husband, Father, and Gamer = No Sleep." Was going to write about co-op gaming but decided against it so as to not Bogart/ make his post go off topic. Link to his is below.

  http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion/30/husband-father-and-gamer-no-sleep/415413/#2 
 
Co-op gaming. Sometimes I want her to enter into the virtual worlds that I enjoy with the same fervor and excitement of a kid on Christmas. (Read: NINTENDO SIXXTTYYYY FOOOOUUUURRRRR!!!) Co-op games like Gears of War (1 and 2) just seemed out of her reach and upon her playing it with me, regarded the game as "gross" and "ugly". "Gross?! Babe! This is a masterpiece of Epic Games! Sure, the story kind of sucks, the multiplayer is wonky, the characters are kind of weird but but but.... you can chainsaw a Locust in half! IN HALF WOMAN!" 
 
This was going to be an uphill battle. My first small victory actually came when I found my old Nintendo 64. I came home to find my wife playing through Mario 64. AWESOME! Except, if anyone has played that game after playing in HD, you realize those "amazing graphics" of the Nintendo 64 seem to have resolutions a little below my 5 year old cell phone. Whatever, I'll take this victory. Baby steps.
 
So we still play through Mario 64. The graphics look dated but the fun is still fresh. Still, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. It's not exactly co-op and it's not exactly next gen.
 
Then Gearbox released Borderlands.
 
This game was the bamboo novelty back scratch-er that reached that itch. The game was awesome from the simple customization of the characters and the menus to the fairly intuitive menu system. The NPCs in the game were funny (Scooter anyone?) and the balance was awesome to a point where it was a true co-op experience with the wife. No longer did I have to let her win in Street Fighter or kill everything in sight in Gears while she blindfired in halfcircles. ("Yeah that's doing something.") Soon, I would do something stupid and she would be the one picking me up to the point where I was actually hindering her skills. Thank you Gearbox. 

This didn't come without some self-imposed limitations though. Within the first week, most of my friends has already beat the game and were on their second play though with their 3rd character (or something equally ridiculous that made me rethink who my friends were). I decided not to play the game with them online unless it was with a different character and only up to a point in the story that me and my wife were at. Going through the game though at a slower pace gave me a greater appreciation for the game by letting me focus on the sound design, art assets, menu setups, characters, etc. I don't regret it at all.
 
So, you've read my story. What kind of co-op games do you GBers play with significant others or what stories do you guys have?

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