Hi. I was a long time 1upper, until back end changes, flips, and non-corrections made the site completely uninteresting to use.

I took a short hiatus from video games, with my last purchased and played game being Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Wii. After running through the byzantine collection of trophies and stickers, without anyone to play with (I was working a contract position in a town with a very small population), I realized the game was the opposite of fun without people to play with. And then I got a new job and then the wife got pregnant and then video games became irrelevant.

But as Christmas was coming around the corner, my interest piqued again. Not because of the new releases, as I only own a Wii and Power PC Mac, with exactly -2 new releases of interest between them. No, it was Christmas time, and it never seems like Christmas without video games to play. And with a whole bunch of Wii games that are actually good but never sold on the cheap, I figured it was time to cash in.

First of all, I got my hands on Super Mario Galaxy again. It was my sole "proper" Christmas gift from the wife. I had owned once and got about half way through the Luigi portion of the game when I traded it in. I was once a notorious game trader, cashing in former conquests for new booty, but after trading in Super Mario Galaxy (on Super Smash Bros, I believe), the will to live was sucked from me. After regretting the mistake for the better party of the year, past mistakes were righted by my 9 month pregnant wife. This is suprising in and of itself, as she doesn't approve of video games on principle. But after 9 months of running around to doctor's appotinments, getting the nursery ready, and talking about nothing but baby, I think she decided to give me the gift of man-boy-ness.

With my Christmas bucks, I made two purchases. First, Sam and Max Season One, which I am so very happy to see on the Wii. I loved Zack and Wiki, and hopefully this is as much fun. I haven't had time to sit down with it yet, but the minute I do (probably after my wife is recovering in the hospital and I have to stay at home outside visitor hours), I'm going to blast through a couple episodes.

Then I picked up NHL 2K9. Not particular happy about having to get it, mind you. I'm a huge EA NHL fan, and after all the great press two years running on the franchise, I was excited to sink my teeth in to it. But since a rocker chair and rent is more important than an Xbox, I had to make do with what the Wii gods offered. It's alright, mostly because I'm a huge hockey fan and it's great simply to play some hockey.

Either way, I'm playing games again, and that's a good thing. Up here in Newfoundland, we have a baby bonus and ongoing supplement monthly cheques, so I may have a little more cash floating around than I expect. So maybe I can go "next gen", or at least a TV so I can read the goddamned menus on NHL 2K9.