A Boy And His Dad's Blog

Now that you know about how I got introduced to video games, how did the little one, Noah, get into it? His curiosity started when he was around three.

Then and now, his interests are the same as any other boy, loves dogs, Hot Wheel cars, Thomas trains, and Marvel superheroes. TV viewing habits are, as you can predict, anything on Nick and the Cartoon Network. Usually when I'm playing something on TV, he'll look at the screen for a bit and then wander off looking for a toy or something. Then one day, he saw that I was playing Pac-Man Championship Edition and was amused by it. He liked that I was eating the ghosts and seeing the eyes scramble away. I asked him if he wanted to play it and he did for a little bit, but then got frustrated right away. He gave the controller back to me and wanted me to play so he can see some more ghost chomping action. A few days later, he came up to me and asked, "Can you play wukka-wukka?" When I heard that question for the first time I responded with the accurate, "Wukka...what?" And then I finally understood. He was talking about the sound Pac-Man makes when he eats the dots. I should've realized this right away, because everyone knows that wukka-wukka is the interational standard sound for Pac-Man. Later on, he got more interested in video games and requesting me to play them with his question asking techniques that reflect his visual interpretation. For instance, I was playing the first Lego Indiana Jones game for the 360 and he liked it a lot to the point he would ask, "Can you play Cowboy game again?"

When Super Mario Galaxy came out, the infatuation began. Mario mania had infected my boy and he is still infected today. Mario this and Mario that, he couldn't stop talking about it. And then when I was able to play as Luigi, he thought that was the most awesome-est thing ever. At the time, all the time, Super Mario Galaxy was the only game he wanted me to play. And hey, I love the game, but jeez, I can only take so much. So then I wanted to see what his reaction would be if I started playing something else that had Mario or Luigi in it, but from the past. So let's go back one console generation and see his reaction to Luigi's Mansion. With his cartoon rotation viewing habits that included Scooby-Doo, the mix of scary ghosts, a haunted mansion and Luigi was just about perfect for him. Alright then, let's go a couple more generations back. Dusted off my SNES and popped in Super Mario World. Pique interest was shown, but the minute I got the feather power-up, he flipped out. "Mario super hero? That's awesome!" We got this far, might as well go all the way. Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES. Verdict? "Mario raccoon? That's crazy! Hit the goomba with your tail da-da!"

This is all great, but there's one problem. For all this time, he had just been a spectator and not a participant. Lot's of times, I would ask if he wanted to play, but again and again, he would reply "No thanks." I don't know for sure if it was because it was too complicated for him to play, or just liked being the spectator and watch the game being played. But when Mario Kart Wii came out, it changed all that. His head nearly exploded at the fact that two of his favorite things, Mario and cars, are together in one package. When he saw how I was controlling the cars, he just couldn't resist anymore and started playing. That's my boy!

So there you go, that's his introduction. I really can't pinpoint as to why he got involved into video games, or why I got involved myself, for that matter. Was it the sights? Sounds? Tech? All of the above? I don't know, it's all different now as it was then, but still familiar.