PlayStation 2

Every week the hosts of TalkRadar present and answer a new "Question of the Week" - a personal inquiry which unearths some of our deepest, and sometimes most sinister, gaming memories. Everyone is encouraged to answer each week's question, so go ahead, tell us your most glorious, nostalgic, or shameful story!

This week's question:

What game do you always go back to?

When you're done with the new and shiny, the one-night-stands and the passing phases, what game is always there, coolly calling to you from your shelf? Maybe you beat it years ago, or already spent hundreds of hours playing the multiplayer mode, but it never sits for long - certainly never gets dusty - because something about it... well, it just makes you feel like everything'll be alright.

Answer this week's question in the comments!

Questions can also be answered in the QOTW forum thread. Our favorite posts this week will be read next week on TalkRadar 52, and appear in the next edition of this article. Listen to TalkRadar 51 tomorrow for our answers!

Below are some of our favorite answers from last week's question...

Last week's question:

What's your biggest hobby aside from gaming?

Schmegeggi wrote...
"My hobby is also my career: I am mixed martial artist, 4th degree black belt instructor and I own a successful dojo. I highly recommend getting paid for your hobby whenever possible. Anyone hiring TF2 Pyros?"

Wait, seriously, you OWN a dojo? That is so much cooler than anything we've ever done. Shit.

Gothbot6k wrote...
"I collect Ipods. I have 32 so far BIG COLLECTION FTW!!!!"

Above: These are iPods, if you weren't aware

You collect iPods? What? Can we have some?

Jedipimp0712 wrote...
"ha. im a Boy Scout. 17 years old. im going to be an Eagle scout too. I really like the outdoors, and i really like white water rafting, kayaking, and diving. along with hiking, climbing, and camping. especially cooking in a dutch oven. i make some BAD ASS apple cobbler."

OK, but could you make an apple cobbler WHILE white water rafting? Answer us THAT, scoutey.

fionnoh wrote...
"I play Hurling, it's an Irish sport. Basically 30 guys on a field hitting each other with sticks. There's supposed to be a ball and a few goals in there too, i figure..."

Hurling sounds like fun. We play something similar sometimes - it's also called "hurling," and it usually occurs after ten to fifteen pints. Eeh? Eeeh? Just imagine the rim shot in your head.

Yar wrote...
"I actually love reading. There's an image of gamers as being stupid and generally not interested in more respected hobbies, but reading is a great hobby. Especially powerful books like 1984 by George Orwell, or a Clockwork Orange. No matter how good games are at portraying storylines, books will always have the upper hand there.

Unfortunately, books are screwed when it comes to gameplay, graphics and sound, but they're still fun. Plus, there are books for just about everyone nowadays."

Is there a book for us even? We'll only read a book if has a lot of pictures and involves an alternate reality scenario in which the Harlem Globetrotters are Abe Lincoln's bodyguards.

KingEamon wrote...
"I enjoy wearing a monocle in public"

Sorry KingEamon, your comment worked better when paired with your Monopoly Man avatar image. We've just messed it all up.

TheWebSwinger wrote...
"...I just realized that my two major hobbies are video games and comic books. It's a wonder, frankly, that I've ever had sex."

Don't worry Mr. WebSlinger, is this wacky modern age, videogames and comic books are the new water polo and fine wine. You're totally cool and sophisticated.

triplesalmon wrote...
"My main other hobby is parkour/free running. I'm probably as close to obsessed as you can healthily be to it. I even ordered that absolutely terrible "Free-Running" game from Europe for the PSP. It's...well, absolutely terrible. I've been practicing for about a year now, and have matured quite well through the year. And yes, I was into it before Mirror's Edge came out."

Above: Not actual parkour

We believe you about Mirror's Edge, triplesalmon. We get the same thing a lot with our shuriken and nunchaku. It's like, "Uuuhh, yeah, we were carrying around ninja weapons waaaaay before the '80s. Psshh."

HMXsean wrote...
"Porn."

We were asking for that.

bmrskate wrote...
"Awww, you guys actually want to know more about me? I guess you figured out that I'm a sucker for sweettalking huh?

I have an unfortunate hobby that I like to call 'Chronic Eclecticism'. Let me explain the basic concept of it. I'll get introduced to some sort of activity that blows my mind and just to experience some sort of fleeting satisfaction or impress a choice few of people I practice obsessively until I literally burn out and plateau. After I overload from no noticeable improvement, I pick up said new hobby, look at it with a slight pout like a little kid holding an overused toy and say 'I don't want it anymore....' while dropping it and moving on to something else to cure my incessant boredom. Rinse, wash and repeat endlessly because we all know damn well that time is cyclical. Several years and cycles later, here I am pretty decent at a lot of things, but a master of none. Thus my chronic eclecticism hobby continues....

You know what's bittersweet about it all? The same sequence of events applies to gaming as well."

The remains of long abandoned hobbies litter our closets as well. Hang in there and one day maybe you'll be able to bake a mediocre lemon meringue pie, play a passable guitar solo, and construct a fairly decent origami crane.

Hydrohs wrote...
"I really like to go exploring in the woods. And pushing down dead trees. You have no idea how satisfying it is to push down a 20 foot tree, although those ones are hard to find."

Are you Paul Bunyan?

Mansicle wrote...
"I enjoy devouring a steaming hot bowl of cocaine every day. Also, scrapbooking."

Anything we might write in direct response to this post would definitely be misinterpreted by someone to mean that we endorse the consumption of hot bowls of cocaine. Dammit, now some nonsensical family values advocacy group is going to quote us as saying "we endorse the consumption of hot bowls of cocaine." Shit on you, context!

May 14, 2009

To see the rest of the stories, check out last week's QOTW article, and for more podcast related discussion, introduce yourself in the TalkRadar forums.

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