Pap the
Disney Gamer's Highlights: Pap's
Christmas Story

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!
I am very
excited that a Gamer Tuesday
takes place on Christmas, one of
the best days of the year! But
as excited as I was at this
wonderful reality, I was also
blocked, struggling for ideas. I
had done a letter for Santa
suggesting the best games to
give as presents over the
holidays, and the end of the
year retrospective doesn't
happen till next week. And I
didn't want to do a standard
article highlighting a game! I
then realized something...
Christmas is a holiday that
inspires a lot of stories.
Whether they'd be works of
fiction or created by our own
real life experiences, jolly or
bitter, inspired or simple, we
all love to share stories about
the holidays. With this in mind,
I decided to share a very
special Christmas story (because
it is likely that while you are
reading this, A Christmas
Story is still in its 24
hour marathon). This story may
not relate directly to Disney,
but it did have the stepping
stone that lead me to become a
writer for Gamer Tuesday. So
without any further delay, let's
tell Pap's Christmas Story...
One Christmas
Eve, when I was young and very,
very small, my sister and I were
dreaming of the magic we would
be experiencing on Christmas
morning. In the middle of the
night, I wake up with a desire
to have a glass of water. As I
made my way back to my bed, I
hear something coming out of the
living room. It was an odd mix
of laughter and what seemed to
be digital noise coming from the
TV. Quietly, I go to the living
room to see what was going on.
The noise came from a video game
system, and the laughter was
provided by my parents, who were
surprised to see me! I asked
them what was the grey box on
the floor and why were they
laughing. My mother and father
tell me that Santa had dropped
off a present early, but he
needed their help setting it up.
I wanted to see more of it, but
mom and dad sent me back to bed.
'You can see it in the morning'-
they said. Knowing that Santa
was still watching, I obeyed and
went back to dream land.

On Christmas
Morning, I rushed over with my
sister to see what we had
gotten, knowing that there was a
grey box waiting to be explored.
That box happened to be... A
NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM!
We had owned several gaming
systems in the past, but it was
the NES that caught my attention
the best. At the time, I was too
young to fully understand the
games, but I had a blast
watching my sister play Super
Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. As
time went on, I started to play
more and more of the system. The
video stores in town carried NES
games to rent, and almost every
weekend we rented at least one
title. We played all of the
classics, like Metroid, Super
Mario Bros 2 and 3, and all
those old school Disney games
you may have heard of recently
here on Gamer Tuesday.
In a few year's
time, the NES evolved into the
Super NES, and the Super NES
evolved into the N64, so on and
so forth. The NES turned me into
a gamer for life, letting me
experience the ups and downs of
the fandom. Thanks to that, I
was lucky enough to see several
game franchises rise and then
disappear from the mainstream. I
have seen games evolve both
graphically and in terms of
story and characters. But most
important of all, gaming lead me
to study the industry, to try
and professionally write about
them and share my findings with
other fellow gamers. The
experience lead me down to
writing for several gaming
websites, which culminates here,
on our weekly Gamer Tuesday
column.

I bet a lot of you have already
seen very happy displays of joy
around the Christmas tree like
this one
I realize that
gaming is something that not
everyone understands or
experiences on an extensive
manner, especially in the Disney
fandom. Yet a lot of children
will be introduced to them this
year alone. Just today, a child
may have gotten a Wii U with a
copy of Epic Mickey 2. The game
might inspire him or her to
become a Disney fan because of
how intricate the story is and
how rich it is in Disney
history. Or he might become a
gamer because he or she is
impressed with how the game
plays and may want to experience
more of it, and become an
artist, a designer or even a
writer for the industry.
Disney and
gaming lead me down the path I
am at today, and my dream is to
let people know of the
experiences that are awaiting
them in the limitless world of
video games. And it all started
one Christmas morning years ago
with a little grey box and the
TV.
Merry Christmas
to all, and I hope you may be
experiencing the best one yet!
And, of course, happy Disney
gaming!