Switch

I avoided getting a Nintendo Switch for a long time. That's in spite of having several friends that rave about them and having played one and really enjoyed it. I think that the reason I was holding out is because of a long-standing image that I've had of myself as a "serious" PC gamer who plays "serious" games that need modern graphics, even though that hasn't been true for a decade or more and maybe was never really true. I've almost always been too cheap to get the latest games, and even when I was building my own systems I was too cheap for the latest video cards. And, even if I was buying the latest hardware, I haven't had the time or energy to invest in the latest cutting edge games. The Witcher - Wild Hunt, Fallout - New Vegas, Vermintide, and the latest XComm are just a few of the games that are sitting unfinished and basically unplayed in my Steam account.

Graphics are not the only reason I avoided the Switch. I also didn't think I'd ever use it as a hand-held device since I never go anywhere, so why take the hit on graphics if I won't use that feature? And the Mario-type games have never been favorite. Being a hand-held I assumed it would have a limited selection of Nintendo games and not much else.

Anyway, we've had the switch for a couple of months now and am still kicking myself for not making this jump earlier. More than anything else I love the social aspect of sitting around and gaming with people on the same screen. There's something about being heads down on our individual laptop screens that shuts down conversation, even if my kids and I are gaming in the same room.

And I've given the silly "light" games like Mario Kart a try and have enjoyed them. I game as an escape these days. I don't want quests and leveling up to feel like a job the way I used to. Sort of like the shows I watch now, I want to come away from gaming feeling lighter and calmer. I'm not sure if you'd call Zelda: Breath of the Wild a non-serious game, but it does feel like a calmer, sillier version of Skyrim. There are jokes and light-hearted missions all over the place, the quests are fun and engaging without being grim, the graphics are somehow both amazing and cartoonish, and none of the progression feels like a grind. And, with Zelda especially, I find myself almost always playing on mobile, laying in bed and wandering around in the game.

The switch has been a wonderful investment. In hindsight, it's amazing and unfortunate how stubborn my identity around gaming was. It makes me wonder how many other things I'm missing out on because of an outdated idea that that's "not what I do".