Gaming presents

[WindKnight]

OK, my family do not as a rule understand my hobbies (gaming, miniatures and anime) so generally they get me to write a list of things to choose from when it comes to birthdays and Christmas.

My mum recently went on holiday to Australia, and decided to bring me home a game as a present and surprise me, and given she had seen (and loved) Avatar while she was out there, and decided that as we both loved SF (though not always the same SF) she'd grab the tie in game.

Now, I thanked her for the present (the fact she had got a game, and on the right system, showed she had put thought in) even though it was not game I would have picked personally. I'm currently playing the game, and while its not a game I would recommend, or, again, would have chosen myself, I must admit I am getting some enjoyment out of it (even if it manages to be even more heavy handed than the film is on how humans are evil).

So this leads me to ask, have you ever had a non-gaming friend or family member buy you a game without any guidance or advice from yourself, and how has their choice gone down with you?

 

[spinFX]

LOL buying a game in Australia?! We pay like 40% more for games than the US. And our dollar is almost the same as the US.

I have NEVER had a family member buy a good game for me without guidance. My Nana buys things like mini golf, chess etc. Basically flash games from a bargain bin Oh and my Mum bought me Perfect Dark because I wanted it for Xmas, but she got me the GBC version. I was like "Thanks Mum!" but on the inside I was like "Gooooooooodddddd dammit".

 

[BluenetteDiviner]

Not with me, but a friend of mine had a bit of an incident.

They liked the playboy stuff, like the pencil cases and stuff like that. But their parents (being a bit naive i think) bought them a playboy computer game. I can only imagine the horror on her face. But it was an entertaining story at least.

She was too nice to actually tell her parents why she didn't want it and just hid it away, never to be seen again. Or to play it in secret, i don't know what she does behind closed doors. XD

 

[Abbyrose07]

Last time I told my mom I wanted a Playstation 3 controller for Christmas she bought me some strange off brand controller...I guess that's what I get for not being there with her when she bought it lol. Now she usually just gives me money or I go with her to pick them out. My dad still plays video games but he has bought me video games that I myself wouldn't buy and I ended up selling them on ebay not to long ago.

 

[Coaxill]

Aliens vs Predator on the xbox 360 wasn't have bad. I'm obsessed with Gigerian art and the aliens in particular so me mother decided it would be a good pick.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

My mom generally isn't to technologically literate and sometimes doesn't understand my love for games. But she generally can get my wishes right when it comes to games.

 

[SturmDolch]

My friend randomly bought me "The Hobbit" for my birthday. It wasn't even a best friend, just a friend. But he spent that much...

It was actually a good game. I just didn't play it that much. But it was solid and seemed to be truer to the source than the films were to the books.

 

[Composer]

my uncle got me battlefront
like the very day after my friends and i where talking about it.it was epic

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Well, my grandma got me Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 when I was younger... I am so thankful. Pretty much an introduction to the best music out there.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

My mum bought me a few games over the years, but only because I told her exactly what games I wanted, or because she had taken some vague interest in watching me play the demos for said games. The list includes Abes Oddysee, Jak 2 and pretty much all of the GTA games starting with 3, either because I was at the time too young to buy them myself, or because I was stuck in work and unable to go and pick them up on release day.

And yes, before anyone asks, she knew exactly what the games were like and why they were rated 18 before buying them for me. I think she may have also gotten me God of War 1+2. Actually now that I think about it there's probably a ton of games she bought for me over the years. She even bought my first console (Master System) and got me into gaming in the first place, and bought both of my next 2 consoles as well (Mega Drive and PS1).

Yeah, my mum's pretty cool like that.

 

[Kelbear]

OK, my family do not as a rule understand my hobbies (gaming, miniatures and anime) so generally they get me to write a list of things to choose from when it comes to birthdays and Christmas.

My mum recently went on holiday to Australia, and decided to bring me home a game as a present and surprise me, and given she had seen (and loved) Avatar while she was out there, and decided that as we both loved SF (though not always the same SF) she'd grab the tie in game.

Now, I thanked her for the present (the fact she had got a game, and on the right system, showed she had put thought in) even though it was not game I would have picked personally. I'm currently playing the game, and while its not a game I would recommend, or, again, would have chosen myself, I must admit I am getting some enjoyment out of it (even if it manages to be even more heavy handed than the film is on how humans are evil).

So this leads me to ask, have you ever had a non-gaming friend or family member buy you a game without any guidance or advice from yourself, and how has their choice gone down with you?

My gamer friend bought me Madden 2k9(or was it 2009?)

It never even left the shrinkwrap. I have zero interest in sports games.

 

[Tony2077]

I usually give my mom a list so its all good

 

[Dilapsor]

It was the summer of 1990, and my aunt from New Jersey sent me Wizards & Warriors II: Ironsword for the NES on my birthday. In her defense, I was really into Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien, so in the mind of a 40 year old housewife it seemed like a no-brainer. She had no way of knowing that the game, while not a BAD game, was notoriously difficult and extremely frustrating. I actually recall getting pretty far in the game over the course of that summer, but I have never beaten it. I actually fired it up not that long ago, assuming that its difficulty was due to my age, but now I can't even get past the first few screens.

Still, it was one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever been given.

 

[Rauten]

I asked for Castlevania for the GameBoy, I got Gargoyle's Quest.
I asked for Super Mario Land 2 for the GameBoy, I got Spiderman.
I asked for Micromachines for the MegaDrive, I got Aladdin (I ended up getting Micromachines anyway, thankfully)

It's not just that they went out and brought a game they thought was the right one, and turned out to be something completely different. No.
I specifically told them the name of the game, and they always bought a different one because they were always unable to remember it.
Ever since I'm 10, they only gift me hard, cold cash, and I go buy the games myself. Hell will freeze over before I let them buy me anything related to gaming.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

Well, my uncle is usually great with gaming presents. I mean, he is the one who bought me my first console and introduced me to D&D. One time however, he tried to buy me some Tau for my 40k army and ended up getting me a load of epic eldar figures. (Epic are the really tiny ones that you use to have massive scale battles with)
It was a rather unusual balls up considering his previous history with these kinds of things