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Gifts, gifts, gifts, but there is a present even more endearing this holiday

Christmas is a time for sharing, and that means games, controllers and sentiments

The season has slowly warmed up to the big day, and Christmas Eve is almost upon us. Santa’s sleigh is being loaded and the journey of love and merriment will begin in earnest Wednesday night.

Christmas is a special time, a time when (for many) we forget the trials of the past year or months, and instead open our hearts and our hearths – real or imagined – to the possibilities and a time of joyful peace.

Well, that, and viciously boarding someone in a hockey arena, or gunning down a handful of bad-boy wannabes in a hail of gunfire, or hacking, slashing, slicing and dicing your way through a myriad of realms. And let’s not forget running over pedestrians at excessive speeds. Wow, so much to do and all of it only a console video-game platform away.

Hey, Christmas is about toys too. We wanted them as children and thanks to the video gaming industry, we can want them as adults and not feel too guilty about the passion.

If store shelves in the area where I live were any indication, this could be a terrific year. And well it should be – the past year was loaded with solid games that pushed our capabilities and inspired our imaginations.

GameZone.com will be looking at the year in review in the coming weeks and putting out our list of what was good and bad about 2003. We will also be asking for your opinion about the games of 2003.

But I digress …

Christmas is about sharing, and while you are thinking in those terms, take it a step further and apply it to gaming. Share that console system, or buy an extra controller and find a game that you, your parent or child, or loved one can play together. Sports titles are obviously the easiest for head-to-head play, but why not check out a cooperative game, or a video game version of a board game. Buy a game for a member of the family who enjoys a particular style that others don’t. Make the console system a family entertainment center, not the source of individual, isolated joy.

The last thing that you want is to have kids, or adults, fighting over console time or console versus television time. That all tends to ruin the holidays.

As a game reviewer, I do get to see my share of games and my daughter is a recipient of all that gaming goodness. Sometimes she tends to take it for granted, until friends come over and see what she can play and then suddenly she is not only thrilled, but cocky and a mini-expert. Such is the joy of having a teen in the house.

But there is incredible joy in watching her walk her friends through games, or try to find a title they would like to play. She has her own favorites and has even requested one or two games for Christmas.

This year, though, she reminded me in a big way about the season, and what the true gifts are.

As I was weeding through her wish list, full of this CD or that movie, this electronic device or that computer system, I finally got to the bottom of the page. There was a simple notation and an arrow, instructing me to turn it over. On the back were some very simple words: “To make you happy,” and “Love.”

No gift speaks louder than a gift from the heart.

During this holiday season, take time to remind your loved ones of your feelings for them.

May this season be bright with the bounty of the heart, and may you all get what you truly wish.

Glink It