Gaming With Love: Valentine’s Day Picks

By Christine Melgarejo

It’s Valentine’s Day and if you are one of the lucky ones, you’ve got a great guy or girl by your side. And whether you are both hardcore gamers, or one is more into Brain Age than Dragon Age, there’s plenty of games you can whip out today to enjoy together. These video games are a testament to cooperation… well most of them. Some may be more of a way to let out all your aggression on each other. Either way, when you settle down in front of the romantic glow of your console, here’s some games to celebrate you and your player #2:

New Super Mario Brothers Wii: There’s nothing better than to share your time with your loved one as Mario and Luigi, or maybe one of the Toads, if that’s what their into. Either way, this game is all about co-operation to complete it. Sometimes you might want to eat your significant other with Yoshi and spit them off the edge into an abyss, but if you can refrain from doing so, you have a pretty strong relationship. Or you are just a completionist who can’t afford to make silly mistakes.
LittleBigPlanet: If you’ve got a PS3, this exclusive title will sure to win over the hearts of Valentines everywhere. No girl can resist the cuteness of Sack Boy and no guy can resist the physics challenges of all the puzzles. It’s a win-win for everyone!
Portal 2: The co-op in Portal 2 is another game where you are forced to work together, or perish (to the delight of GLaDOS, who the entire time is trying to feed you lines to separate you). OK, so you can give in once or twice and get your partner trapped in a endless portal loophole and laugh a bit. Just remember you did that when you wonder why later they are giving you the cold shoulder.
Contra: Yes, you read that right. Contra. If you are lucky enough to be dating another gamer who has been in it since the beginning, whipping out this classic (whether downloaded on your Wii or actually re-hooking up the original NES) will be sure to bring a smile to their face. But let’s be honest, chances are you won’t get through this without the famous Konami code. So plug that bad boy in and go kill some aliens!
Any MMO: For the long distance relationship, hopping on to WoW, Lord of the Rings Online, The Old Republic or heck, even Minecraft, will bring you a bit closer together. You may not be able to share the day together in person, but you can definitely kick some ass together.
The new Mass Effect 3 Demo: It comes out today and probably for good reason. Not only does the demo let you play through some of the single player campaign, but it comes with a multiplayer demo as well. Multiplayer means fun for all! It also means possibly shooting each other in the face, which could be therapeutic.

So enjoy this Valentine’s Day in true gamer style, with a nice dinner, a bottle of wine, and two controllers waiting for the both of you.