Retro Monday: The Bedroom (Place)

In four days, I move house. I finally grow-up, and get a real place with my girlfriend. As well as all the exciting business of getting new furniture and putting up comic-book artwork and such, I realised the other day that my gaming habits are about to change, possibly for good. I thought this deserved to be talked about, and reminisced upon, so here we are. This Monday, I'm going to talk about a place, not a game, and why it is so special in my heart.

My set-up, in my old room about a year ago.

Notice the broken COD disc to the left,

on the Daft Punk Picture. I broke my first

copy by playing it too much. Oooh-Rahhh.

Obviously, in my new place we'll have a lounge. And this is where, amongst the comfortable sofas and coffee tables, will my new gameplaying take place. Fallout: New Vegas will be played sat on a sofa. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood will be played whilst sitting upright, and in a respectable fashion. And to be honest, it scares me a little.

If I think about it, it's been about 14 years since I last had my console in a living room. It was my NES, and it was in the front room, so me and my dad could play Super Mario Bros 3 together, and leave it on overnight, to save it. Ever since these heady days of Italian plumbing, my console has been upstairs, safe in my room, and tucked away. From the days of playing Rock n' Roll Racing on my Snes, to hastily ushering GTA 3 up to my bedroom without my parents aware of what it actually was, sitting on my bed, with my controller in hand, has been the way I've played games for almost as long as I can remember, and now all that's about to change.

What we all aspire to.

And I still do it today. In the house I currently share, my lovely TV is in my room, and I play my games like I've always done: horizontally. The mixture of extreme relaxation and gaming is one of life's finer pleasures, and in recent years, the addition of wireless controllers has meant on Winter nights the old problem of 'cold arms out of the covers holding the controller syndrome' has vanished. Truly what the technology was designed for. Countless games have been completed sitting down, and you can tell when a game truly grips you, as you're bolt upright, glaring intently at the screen. Indeed, when the game is so gripping it calls for a late-night session, it's far more acceptable to the missus to be sat in bed playing, completing that final level.

What we can all hope to achieve.

So, as things change, I'm not sure where I'll be without my trusty bedroom gaming. The place where gaming should be. I didn't write this Retro Monday today to be introspective, or self-obsessed, I wrote it because I wanted to share my thoughts on where we play our games. We always talk about amazing graphics and levels, but we seldom speak about how we enjoy them. I reckon I'm not the only bedroom gamer out there.

I'm already saving up for a second telly, to go in our new bedroom. Good job my girlfriend's got another Xbox!