187: An Over-the-Shoulder Perspective on Gaming

[Graham]

A ton of people have already said it, but it's deserved: great article.

Being a younger brother myself, I know what it's like to be designated player 2. As I read about the victory you felt when you beat Rampage, it reminded me of the first time I challenged my older brother to a game of Primal Rage and, as he recalled the epic pounding I had unleashed upon him previously, he refused.

For me, gaming was the one place I could humble my brother after he beat me at a race or back yard sporting event. Maybe that's why I'm such a huge gamer now.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

I am an older brother, and I have grown up playing Coop with my brother, playing against him in multiplayer, and watching each other play singleplayer games, so this article was one I could really relate to.

 

[T-Blade]

This is me and my brother, We done everything you done, Except when my sister tried to play he unplugged her controller and said "Well done, You broke it!" or took out the power supply.
But I'm only 16 and I still look up to my brother, still looking for acceptance but it seems like it will never happen.
I play games with my brother all the time, Just the other day we was play halo 3 with two other friends and Lasered all 3 of them when they was trying to gank me, I was hoping for " Nice shot you bastard." or something but I all I got was silence.
I always try and convince myself that I will not look up to him, but every time my brother says " Hey, wanna play some games?" I just can't say no.
No matter how many times I beat my brother at something, he's never impressed and just like you I guess I will always be that Shoulder viewing gamer watching plow his way through games.

 

[Magus44]

Great article.
It did make me reflect on how I treated my little brother growing up. I was probably a bit selfish haha.
Me and my brother have grown up together playing games, and they are now a fairly large part of our lives.
I love playing games with my brother and without him I don't know how would have finished Halo and Gears on the Hardest difficulties.
Games have really brought us together, inspiring our creative talents and our bonds of kinship. He's one of the only people in the world who I would trust with my life.
Once again a great article. Its good to see another person who feels the same way.

 

[ntnimara]

As an older brother.. I have always tried to give my little bro the satisfaction of beating me now and then.

I realized it is very important for him.

Everything in this article feels EXACTLY like what my little bro would write in 10 years.

 

[RipperSU]

This reminds me of similar experiences with my older Sister. We both shared a NES together and eventually got our own Sega Master Systems (I had a MSII however, so I won that one). I did a lot of watching my sister play, thinking she was the best gamer ever. A few years later however and my sisters interest in gaming started to wane, while I started growing into a fairly decent player. These days, theres no doubt I could beat my sister at anything, but she has much more responsibility than me since she has kids to look after. Still, shes always up for a quick go on the Wii when the kids have gone to school.