One of the hardest things to cope with growing older is the added levels of responsibility you have to take care of. From mowing the lawn, paying bills, and hanging out with your girl, one thing that continues to be put into the bin of “things to do” is video games. All of these responsibilities begin to take over, pushing out all of your free time to just staring at a blank wall. We both know that with the stressful nature of managing money and adult chores to do, the last thing you want to do is get frustrated by a boss or something in an imaginary game.
For me, getting in a hour of gaming each night is normal (when I don’t have to work on all of the awesomeness of Twisted Gamer Radio), so that’s about the average of my gaming time (around 14 hours a week). Something popped into my head this morning and made me remember one special gaming session in particular. This one sent my average gaming time per week into the stratosphere, and it was all through one sitting. My gaming time jumped up to almost 21 hours in that week. It hasn’t happened again, so I’m just waiting for the next game to pull me in for an extended period of time.
It all started on a typical lazy Saturday afternoon. I had just got my hands on Batman: Arkham Asylum for the PS3 (had to get those Joker Challenge rooms) and I awoke around 11am to eat my Fruity Pebbles and watch a little bit of The Mighty B! cartoon. Yes, I do still watch cartoons at my “older” age. Around this time there is usually a fork in the road decision wise. “Do you continue to watch TV, or do you plop in a game and play for a bit?” I chose the latter, and proceeded to sit on the couch for 7.5 straight hours. I didn’t get up for anything other than to quench my thirst for more Dr. Pepper and snacks.
The game no doubt is addicting, and should be played by anyone who are real big fans of the old school Batman (i.e. Micheal Keaton era). Sure, Arkham Asylum had its downfalls by making detective mode too overpowered, but the game does a near perfect job of sucking you in and making you believe you’re Batman. The game presents you with the ultimate choice on whether to go in fist pumping like crazy or taking out your prey methodically one at a time, setting and luring enemies into traps.
I ultimately fell into this kind of mindless trance while playing the game, not realizing just how much time had gone by. I was surprised to see it dark outside, my girlfriend telling me that she had prepared a 3 course dinner already and had plopped it down in front of me on the TV tray. Damn, I must have just tuned out everything! From the pots and pans clanking around in the kitchen, the microwave going off, her stirring mashed potatoes in bowls, all of that just didn’t register in my head. Even worse, I scarfed down my supper quickly while abiding my time watching a short TV show and then jumped right back into the action for more. Yep, that’s right. We’re now headed down the path of 8 and 9 hour gaming time in one sitting.
I started to feel the couch attach to my body. The small bits of food that didn’t make it into my mouth began to assimilate with my skin. For a second there I almost wanted to ask my girlfriend if she would set a bowl on the couch below me for me to shit in.
I have never done something like this before, and I don’t know when or if it will happen again. A great game like Arkham Asylum only comes out once in a blue moon, so who knows when something of that caliber will come down the pipeline again. Maybe Halo: Reach is that game? Red Dead? Both of these have got to have the multiple layers of gameplay and collectibles that Arkham did. Reach looks to have the combat and spaceship fighting in it’s cap already, but does it have enough for the depth side of things? Simply throwing in a few skull collectibles to go out and find aren’t going to cut it. Red Dead is a little different. You could advance through the story very quickly and get it over with if you wanted to, but where’s the fun in that? The fun is losing yourself out in the wilderness and mindlessly wandering around the vast terrain in the game. The Old West setting is gorgeous, and one that should be about to hold your attention for an extended gaming session.
I don’t know why this particular session hit me this morning, but I wanted to hear from you guys? What’s the longest amount of time you have spent playing a video game, and what video game was it? What needs to be in a good video game to make you lose track of time? Let me know in the comments.
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@daniel - That story takes the cake man. You've got it all. More hours of gameplay at one time, gross sickness, puke, swine flu…….it's got everything!
I will be sure to go to a few rest stops along the interstate or truck stop bathrooms and lick everything I can in order to get sick so I can take on your 10 hour gameplay session.
I've got a good one for you. When I was playing Oblivion Elder Scrolls IV, I had a whole weekend to myself. I locked my self in my room, only occasionally leaving for small bits of food, which I would leave right next to me as I played. I would say this went on for a solid 54 hours. I didn't sleep for two days. I couldn't stop. I kept saying "One more mission until I got to sleep" next thing I knew, it was morning…twice. That game is addicting + I'm crazy. I also once played half of InFamous, and then proceeded to beat it a second time straight through. This took me about 16 hours straight.
when kingdom hearts 2 first came out i played that for 3 days straight and only stopped for stuff like eating and sleeping.
haha, I did the exact same thing! Got it on christmas eve, and then played through the whole thing in 35 hours duing the following three days, which would give me an average of 7 hours a day.
I got up in the mornings, and then just star playing. Since it was christmas though, eating took away some playtime.
In retrospect I guess this is sort of a tradition. I often get a game for christmas which I dive into the following days. Did the same thing with the original Kingdom Hearts, and also Valkyria Chronichles and Little Big Planet. KH2 was the one I completed fastest though.
I played Wind Waker and Twilight Princess for 50 to 55 hours straight (each) until i beat them for the first time. No sleep, no stopping to eat, and just drinking from a single bottle of Dr. Pepper for caloric intake and caffeine.
I did take bathroom breaks though.
I found the same situation when Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion released. I picked up the pc version went to play in almost the same setting as mentioned above, the difference was I had corn pops and watched Naruto on my computer first. I started around noon I looked up and it was midnight!? I couldnt sit to go to the bathroom because my ass was asleep, I didn't know it was possible for your ass to fall asleep, but it is. My wife even left me to my own devices for it all too, except to remind me when I said I had to pee. It's great to be a guy at those times.
Good article, so true. Now that I can buy any system or game I want, and have a great home theater to enjoy them on, I just don't have the time.
Work, home maintenance, yard work, social/family responsibilities, etc.
Ah, to have the free time from my youth to go with my game backlog of today.
And yes, Arkham Asylum was a great, great game.
My most epic gaming experience was..you ready for this..Scarface! Yup this American classic gangster movie-turned game captivated me for almost a whole week while I was sick with the swine flu! The only thing to break my smuggling operation was a few brief pukes in the porcelain!
Oh I’d say my total time played that ‘session’ was well over 70 hours….uninterrupted time I’d say roughly 10 hours at a time, with puke intermissions.
So if you ask me, to beat the record…just get reeeally sick with something contagious and WALA you’re in the running!
When I played pokemon fire red for 20 hrs within 2 days…I threw up at the end…
Wow and here i thought i was the crazy guy, I played God of war in god mode for 28 hours, took five minutes to eat though as i was reminded that humans must eat, and once i bought mass effect and decided to try it at night, bad choice i played until dawn and then had to go to school without sleeping, so when i came back i wanted to sleep so much but then i saw the xbox and fell to the temptation, the next day i didn't go to school but i had a great time.
Fallout 3
24 hours straight fri-sat night, only stopped to piss and drink energy drinks. Refused to shit because that would have taken more than a min. No sleep and no food. Great game, better music.
I don't want to set the world, on, fi-re……..
Just Cause 2
19 hours straight. 5 am to 12 pm. Peed once or twice. My butler(I'm rich) served and fed(yeah, as in putting the spoon into my mouth) me lunch, but I didn't pause the game.
It was a fun session, but not too good for my body. *Further details censored* lol..
these are all nice stories, but koreans take the cake. they let their kids die while on gaming binges. that is superior dedication.
As far as myself, world of warcaft was my biggest time investment. there were various instances where I stayed up for 36+ hours grinding reps or levels or badges etc. and solid 2 weeks+ blocks where I did nothing but play that game eat and sleep. That is how it has to be if you want to be ahead of the curve in every area and pushing new content as it is released. it is for that reason that I stopped playing. I could not stand being one of the infinite random toons that just take up server space due to my lack of time played. And even at my peak, I considered myself casual compared to a lot of my online friends and guildmates.
One year the day before Valentines day I pulled a muscle ion my back at the gym. I went to the doc and she gave me vicodin and muscle relaxers. valentines morning my wife went and bought me an XBOX 360 that came with Gears Of War 1. I sat on the couch hopped up on pain pills and myuscle relaxers for three days. I beat the campaign on regular and then again on the hardest level. My most gaming ever in a three day stretch without a doubt. If I had to guess I would say I put in about 20-30 hours in three days.
Dragon warrior 3 for the nes. Stayed up for 20 straight hours stopping only for bathroom. Didn't eat or drink. Forgot I had a dentist appointment the next day and kept falling asleep in the car on the way there and in the dentists chair. Ah good times. As an adult I've pulled many 10 hour plus gameathons. Easy to do when u only sleep 4 or 5 hours a night. Lol
[...] you haven’t already done so, we’ve got a pretty good discussion going on over in the “What Is The Longest Session You’ve Gamed For?” post about just how long you’ve gamed for in one sitting. Please be sure to go on over and [...]
My longest that i can remember is a 13 hour session without leaving my room playing GTA IV in the same free mode match with the same guy. Played from 2 PM to 3 am
Mine has to be an all nighter I pulled playing Rainbow six Vegas 1 on 360. I played from around 10pm until well past dawn. About 6:30 am.
mine would be around 13 hours straight playing uncharted 2 without leaving the game
[...] in the name of gaming. I found everything from self-deprivation of basic human needs (sleep, food and bathroom breaks) to physical angst or injury brought on during time spent at the [...]