It has been an exciting year for my inner and outer geek. I guess you could say I did things that I never thought I would do in this lifetime. My top 3 geekiest things in 2011 aren’t all single events but more like experiences as well. They are in no particular order but since it’s a New Year tradition to do a countdown, here we go.
3. STGCC 2011
Our very own Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention this year was an experience I will never forget. Started a couple days earlier with a morning till night non-stop gastronomic roadtrip with Marvel’s C.B. Cebulski. From a late breakfast at Old Airport Road food centre, we crisscrossed the island savoring about 20 local dishes and ended the night with some great geeky company at Marine Parade.
The highlight of the convention to me will always be me getting on stage and moderating the forum with the legendary former DC President and Publisher, and writer of some my favorite comics from way back, Paul Levitz. Simply unforgettable.
2. Playstation 3
I know I’m a little late to the party but I finally got myself a Playstation 3 just a couple weeks before news of the infamous Playstation Network hacking broke out in the later part of the year. I’m actually not worried about that at all since I haven’t bought anything online from them yet.
Getting this console was a pretty big deal since the last one I bought was like seven years ago and it was the first generation Xbox plus everyone I know already has a console. I only bought four Playstation games so far, mostly fighting and RPGs but haven’t had time to complete all of them. So here’s hoping to more console gaming time in 2012.
1. Return of the Oldies
After almost 10 years together, my gaming group decided to go old school RPG and break out the Dungeons and Dragons game books this year. It didn’t stop with D&D, we also returned to the collectible card game (CCG) that started it all, Magic The Gathering!
Over the last decade, we have played over a hundred different games from miniatures (Mage Knight, Space Hulk) to collectible card games (Lord of The Rings, VS) to boardgames (you name it, we played it, seriously), but we have never, as a group, played the classic Dungeons and Dragons RPG or Magic the Gathering CCG together. It all started around middle of the year when most of us wanted something different for our once or twice weekly boardgame meet-ups, so someone suggested D&D and lucky for us, we got a great Dungeon Master calling the shots almost every week. So out came the D20s!
Same thing with Magic the Gathering, a bunch of bored guys with spare cash to burn, what else can we do except get back into dealing some cardboard crack! One of the reasons why we stopped playing Magic CCG years ago (before we even knew each other) was how ugly and competitive the local scene became. Now that we are all older and wiser working adults or ‘uncles’ as the kids are calling us today, we are in it more for the fun, hanging out with friends, the trash-talking among ourselves, rather than the prize money or fame. We’ll see how long that’ll last!
