Co-Op Couples: The Thrill of the Hunt

Editorial

Jim "txshurricane" McLaughlin Thursday 01st of October 2009 10:34 PM

Nightmare, I tell you! Niiiightmaaare!!

I couldn't get to the Toys R Us in time on Sunday, so I bided my time. Monday was pretty terrible; trying to work while hoping some little kid didn't snag the last band kit was excruciating. I could picture myself like an angry woman on Black Friday, shoving toward the "R Zone" to declare what was mine and defending it with my life. I think at one point I even scratched gouges into my desk chair arms. Marc tried to placate me earlier that morning with a very kind offer that I knew he was good for, but despite his kindness I was on edge.

The most ironic part of all this was that I was on the hunt to find something that would encourage my wife to continue turning the Guitar Hero experiences that we loved into an episode of The Smurfs, but with less blue. (No, Mr. Murphy, I am not discriminating against Smurfs.)

Finally, the work day was over, and I took full advantage of our babysitter in order to travel halfway across Houston and over the ship channel in my quest to claim a band kit. The look on my baby daughter's face was hilarious -- she badly wanted to know what the heck that huge, colorful box was doing occupying Daddy's entire front seat. What she didn't realize is that this box would guarantee future nights of co-op...and that it was worth all 40 hours of effort to get it.

Dinner was served, the baby was put to bed, and my wife arrived home from work. The hour had finally come for her to see the new drum set! I already had the game booted up and the instruments connected. She saw that I'd been trying it out and smiled sweetly. "Is it fun?"

I grinned like a child. "Yeah, pretty fun. What song do you want to play?"

And after a grueling two days of hunting through the city for a discontinued item, my beautiful, graceful wife sat down behind the drum set and queued up the stupidest song to ever appear on a music game roster: "Me and My Gang", by Rascal Flatts.

Holy crap.

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Tags: editorial guitar hero co-op couples guitar hero 5

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Reader Comments

bapenguin at 11:25 PM on 10.1.2009

LOL. That intro was priceless.

pheriannath at 11:35 PM on 10.1.2009

You took advantage of your babysitter?

pheriannath at 11:36 PM on 10.1.2009

Seriously though, Nick loved the intro, but I loved the ending.

Biohzrd451 at 08:30 AM on 10.2.2009

Very awesome story.

I think of Black Friday we should enforce Thunder Dome rules when people are fighting over an item. Two men enter one man gets the wii.

DjinniMan at 08:55 AM on 10.2.2009

Excellent as always Jim! The avatars have been very popular at our house too. Also, the ending > the intro.

smurphster at 09:49 AM on 10.2.2009

there's nothing wrong with being small and blue

very nice editorial. i can't say i've ever endured that much fuss for a video game/accessory but i can definitely relate to that feeling of FINALLY sitting down with my wife and play something we've both been anticipating. its a great feeling.

Parflagush at 10:24 AM on 10.2.2009

This reminded me of my action figure collecting days - driving all over the state to search for those rare pieces of plastic. Good times.

phrozenfearz at 10:29 AM on 10.2.2009

Ending was fantastic. Good write up.

txshurricane at 11:30 AM on 10.2.2009

Wow! Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone. I had fun writing this, and my wife let me take some liberties.

Mike - I knew I'd worded that wrong and left it anyway. Fodder for the shameless.

roland at 11:45 AM on 10.2.2009

I also agree that the ending topped the beginning! And great piece!

The only time I've had to run all over town for anything gaming related was finding Viva Pinata 2 for the lady last Christmas. I didn't think about ordering it in advance, assuming that it would be easy to find. Ha! Two days before Christmas, I went to every gaming store in town, and was almost ready to drive to Kansas City, when I finally found one copy half hidden behind another game at Hastings. Tam had loved the first one, and VP2 was the only game she had specifically requested last year.