It's a famous saying, that baseball is America's favorite passtime. but i'd like to respectfully disagree. sure, this may have been the case decades ago, but the American culture has evolved since then. Children don't go play at the park and run around on the streets like little hooligans anymore, we tell ourselves this change occured because our children weren't safe and we were afraid of predators lurking out in the unsafe world. but in the back of our heads we all know this change happened because little kids no longer want to go out and play, they'd rather sit inside and play video games all day.
I grew up with two older brothers, they were eight and nine years older than me. so i grew up very exposed to the idea of video games and childhood laziness. sure, i went to the park when i was a little kid, but the whole time i was there i just wanted to be sitting at home playing my playstation. the game series i initially grew up with were Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and the Command & Conquer Red Alert series.
We had a sega saturn, a nintendo 64, a playstation. we got a playstation 2 on release date. i got a gamecube when i was in 8th grade. when i was in highschool i got a job just so i could purchase a nintendo Wii, thinking back, that one wasn't worth it. video games were part of our blood, the only time i got along with my brothers was when we were playing wrestlemania 2000 on the n64, or when we used to play street fighter alpha 3 everyday and i couldn't figure out how to beat E.Honda, my brother was a legend when playing E.Honda.
Late 2002, i'd heard about an amazing game that was released, Marvel vs Capcom 2. I was a fan of the series, so i made my mom drive me around from store to store trying to find it. We finally found a copy of the game in an EB games 20 miles from where we lived, i took all of my birthday money, and christmas money, and every other dollar i could find and bought it. I arrived home and i immediately ran to my PS2, put the game in, and played. I'd rushed through it, unlocking every character, beating it on every mode.
My brothers and i played it non-stop for months, it was our new favorite game. I had reached a point though, where i'd defeated the game on every difficulty, i'd unlocked every character, and i found myself a little bit bored trying to beat my brothers and losing every single match. So i ended up selling it, cause apparently it had been pretty rare, and using the money instead to buy the next installment in the GTA series, Vice City. And then i recall saying "i'll just get number 3 when it comes out."
Seven and a half years later, i'm sitting amongst 400 other high-schoolers. a plethorah of steel folding chairs, middle of a basket-ball court. many of us were alike, and many of us were different, but the only thing we all had in common, was that we were waiting for a transition, one we'd almost forgetten about over the course of the past four years, the transition from high-schooler to graduate. walk up on stage, they hand you a diploma, you switch your tassle to the opposite side, and you've officially graduated.
About a week later i was having a graduation party at my house, it was really exciting and all, then my brother and one of my cousins ran out and back in. they stopped the music and tried to grab everyone's attention, at first glance i thought they were trying to ruin my party. they called me over to them and told me they had a gift for me. they then handed me a copy of Street Fighter 4 for the PS3, a console i didn't have. then they said "maybe you can trade it in to get something a little more fitting" as they handed me a brand new Xbox360 elite.
I was excited, i'd always wanted an Xbox360, but i really didn't want to get a job. and i was reserving my birthday present for "can i have my own car now?" That night when all of my friends had gone home, i ran up to my room, plugged in my xbox360, numbered in my credit card info, and bought Marvel vs Capcom 2. i always thought, if only i could play this game online, to continue the challenge, would be amazing. and now that was available.
I have yet to have a single day since May of 2010, where i haven't hopped online and beat some people down in MvC2. And there hasn't been a single day, in the past almost-decade, where i haven't anxiously waited for the release of Marvel vs Capcom 3. My brother and i went out and bought a nice HD tv a few weeks ago, primarily so we can enjoy MvC3 the way it was intended to be enjoyed.
I'm currently attending the University of Colorado's Leed's school of business. i have a set plan, to get this internship, do this this and that, and to graduate by 2014. my classes are difficult, and consume 80% of my life, but even now i cannot think of those classes, all that is on my mind is Marvel vs Capcom 3.
TLDR VERSION:
i grew up with video games. MvC2 was always my favorite. MvC3 comes out in 6 days and i'm pooping with excitement. My gamertag for XBL is kryzor. Add me if you wanna get your ass kicked in MvC2 sometime, or if you intend on getting MvC3 soon, i can probably hand you your ass on a silver platter in that too.
I'M SO EXCITED. capcom has never let me down before, even with super turtle fighter 4.
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