Video Games I’ve Spent Countless Hours Playing

ByBenny Bedlam Posted on

Growing up, my step-mother would always tell me stuff like “try to be more normal” or “you have to get out of your cave more often” whenever she sees me playing video games all day. It irked her that I would sometimes fall asleep on the couch with a controller on my hand. Like a lot of adults out there, she perceives playing video games as a casual and trivial hobby. There was a time when I was embarrassed of the fact that I’m a girl playing video games. I grew up in the Philippines, and it was hard for me to be myself because of the conservative culture and the ideals I had to live by. I was actually banned from playing video games for a while- no joke. Benny isn’t my real name. It’s actually a nickname my friends used and it eventually became a pseudonym I used whenever I would write about video games on my blog or in any other site. I guess you could call it a forbidden passion.  Don’t get me wrong though, I love my step-mom to no end despite her beliefs.

America taught me a lot of things. I thought a lot of all these preppy kids in college would bully me just because I prefer to play video games all weekend instead of getting wasted in parties. However, it didn’t really matter to them. In fact, they thought I was pretty cool. My parents eventually became proud of my passion for video games because of how I balanced playing video games ninety percent of the time and consistently being on the honor roll. So yeah, I play video games until two in the morning and wake up at twelve noon to play again. I’m not ashamed of it anymore. Most of the time, I spend more than a hundred hours on just one video game.

In honor of my recent liberation, I compiled a list of video games that I’ve spent a huge chunk of time on. These type of games are close to my heart simply because they serve as a constant remind to myself that I can break the stereotype. Most people tend to think that I don’t play games, simply because I do well in school or I go out a lot. It’s like playing video games can’t mix with that combination. Anyway, I’ll stop babbling now. Some of you might laugh or be surprised at my choices, but it doesn’t matter. I always look forward to what Unreality readers think.

1. The Sims Franchise

I’m a certified Sims addict. Most of you might know that if you’ve seen my previous articles. I could dedicate half of my day just building houses and creating the perfect family. I think my excessive play of The Sims games eventually lead to the demise of my PC. Two of the main factors that kept me playing The Sims for so long would have to be the dynamic of story progression and the ability to create a succession of generations from one family. It was very rewarding for me to see a family so fulfilled after heavily investing my time nurturing them. Sure, I get tired of playing this game after a while but give it a month or two and I’ll be playing this game like crazy again. I won’t be surprised if I actually played more than two hundred hours on The Sims 3.

2. Any Grand Theft Auto Game Except IV

My love for the Grand Theft Auto series is hardly unnoticeable. GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas epitomizes the meme I placed on the top of this article. There were a lot of things to do besides accomplishing the main mission. I would often spend my time either messing around with fun cheats like “Riot mode” or trying to earn cash through robberies just to buy more properties. I could honestly be content with only playing any of the three Grand Theft Auto games I’ve mentioned for one whole summer vacation. I excluded IV because it didn’t have most of the mini-games I enjoyed like house burglaries, casinos, and those marathons in San Andreas. Another thing was the exclusion of buying properties in-game. One of the reasons, I play for so long was because I needed cash to buy all these assets. In IV, I had a ton of money that I really didn’t have any use for.

3. Fable 1 & 2

I was so disappointed with Fable III, I didn’t even finish the game. However, the last two were really addicting. I really can’t remember how many times I’ve finished both games. I really enjoyed the storyline and the lore behind the world Peter Molyneux and his team created. I also liked exploring the world and doing other stuff besides finishing the story. I did the mini-games to buy property so I could be rich. It was fun doing random side-quests and discovering new things here and there like the Darkwood Bordello in the first Fable.

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Hi guys! My name is Benny Bedlam and when I'm not writing for Unreality Magazine, I write for my own blog called Commander Bedlam. It's mostly about commentary on video games, interviews with people from the industry, and some tech related advice. I also manage my software development team called Team Bedlam.

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23 Comments

  2. Kinda coincidental that you posted this today.

    Last night I apparently corrupted my profile data on my console, but I didn’t know that was the problem. So I called Microsoft, nerd rage at the ready, and explained the problem, with error code in hand. The guy helping me was cool as hell and as he began walking me through the steps I knew what I had done. He explained to me that I needed to delete my profile and redownload it, but when I got to that point it got to a selection between “Delete profile only” and “Delete profile and items” I asked his advice.

    He said, “If I was you, I’d delete all of it.”

    It was at this point that I knew he was my enemy.

    Every minute of every game I’ve played came rushing back through my mind, like the most epic montage of wasted time ever assembled. Skyrim (70hours), Mass Effect 2 (50 hours), Fallout New Vegas (40 hours), Fallout 3 (20 hours), BF3 (10 hours of download time alone) all saved on my hard drive, which this “support specialist” telling me casually, “Oh yeah, just delete it, bro.”

    As I regained consciousness, I told the guy, “Listen, not to be a dick, but even if you have to wait a couple more minutes, I’m just deleting my profile. If that doesn’t work, I’ll delete the items as well. I have too much invested in this hard drive not to try this first.”

    And it worked.

    So what I’m trying to say is, the idea behind article basically ran through my head last night as I was thinking of every game I’ve dumped what seems like endless hours into and what the destuction of save points would’ve done to my enjoyment of gaming: It would’ve basically ended right there.

  7. I sure have, Commander. But it isn’t hyperbole if it’s true.

    “I only bought this game last week, yet I can guarantee you that I’ve played this game for more than a hundred hours.”

  8. @ Suq

    If we’re taking every little thing into account here, with 68 extra hours leftover after gaming, I’m sure he coulda found some time to bang away the angst of dungeon exploring.

  9. Well guys, the point is I’ve played it for so long in one week I lost count. The main idea is there. It’s annoying how people nitpick small technical things, instead of the main idea. Also, so what if I dedicate one week to gaming? Seriously guys, does having a relationship equate to a social life?

    One more thing, I’m a girl and this gets old. Anyway, not being confrontational or anything. Just wanted to say it

  10. Benny, as an occasional unreality commenter, I would like to apologize on behalf of these neanderthals. Apparently some of us were clearly raised by ill-mannered mutants and clearly should be writing the parts of bad guys in many of the games we enjoy. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on many of the games you play.

    I’ve played too much Skyrim, Sims, and GTA series as well. And for similar reasons, the last GTA just didn’t grab me like San Andreas did. So much fun to be had just grabbing a jump jet and going crazy for awhile. I wish I had spent too much time playing Red Dead Redemption and Fable 2. I’m a PC kinda guy and developers don’t consider me an equal citizen. My money isn’t as green as console owners’.

    Also, I suffer from a rare brain condition that prevents me from comprehending you’re a FeeMaaale, as Quark might say, despite how many times it has been previously mentioned. So my summary of this story is that you are a cool brah who likes games. Awesome dude.

  12. I didn’t bring your gender into anything, you offered it up. Your name is ‘Benny’ which is usually short for Benjamin. 1000 pardons for jumping to the conclusion that you have girl parts, m’lady.

  14. What I meant with “this gets old” was the whole stereotype that one can’t play games for so long and be criticized for not having a life which is basically why I wrote this. I understand that people can mistake my name for a guy and that’s never been a problem for me. Don’t worry, J5 no offense taken

    Anyway, thanks for the thoughtful comment Postal.

    for the other comments:

    Hmm, okay I’ll give New Vegas and S.T.A.L.K.E.R a try

  15. Couldn’t agree more on Fable. I’ve played through Fable TLC over 10 times I think, and every time I’ve experienced child-like joy with all the fun quips, innuendos, implications and such. I have practically achieved everything there is to do in the game, but I wouldn’t mind playing again.

  17. Madame, you are extremely on point. Except GTA 4 was amazing. It’s pretty crazy that you play Mass Effect the same way every time because I am of two minds. Part of me wants to never play it again so I can remember MY story and hold onto my unique Shepherd’s triumphs and failings as a classic tale like the original Star Wars trilogy, and the other part wants to play the series over and over and try different things every time to uncover every last possibility. So far the first one has one although I have an itch to play through it all again and now I wonder if I want to go full renegade or try to fix my mistakes from the first time. Do I want to go the full count with Liana as femShep (I cheated in 3 and messed that up) this time or give the ess interesting maleShep a go so I can get with Tali? God, I love that franchise.

    Currently playing Red Dead. I really am not as impressed with the story and gameplay as everyone else, but I am still almost Skyrim-level addicted to it just because there is so much to do. Fable 3 broke my heart as well. God, what were they thinking? Such a great game and franchise ruined by such stupid and completely unnecessary design choices. Excellent article, Bedlam.

  18. Thanks trashcanman!

    Well, that only applies to Mass Effect 2 anyway! Maybe I do make variations from time to time, but it’s mostly just one or two choices but that’s it. For example, I didn’t know that there was a “renegade” kiss scene with Miranda only until my third playthrough lol. Dude, I love Male Shepard and go for Miranda if you will!

    Yeah, the mini games are so fun! I think I’ve had most fun with the bounty when you have to tie them up to capture them.

    I liked Fable 2 the best.

  19. Pffft, Faendal is the way better sidekick to have. You can get him to teach you archery, and then take your money out of his inventory, and level up a bit in the process ^_^

    He also seems to be pretty good. He took out a whole group of Forsworn while I was sneaking.

  20. @Heche

    I didn’t take Faendal with me, mostly because Camilla is my wife… so that’s kind of weird haha.

    I have so much funny occurrences with my followers. Once, Lydia almost died so I was protecting her. I saved her, but sad thing is I accidentally pressed R1 while celebrating and hit her. She died… oh the irony!!

  22. Benny I sure wish there were more girls like you whre i live!! I’m sure you understand the loss when a cougar kills your horse while you were picking flowers to get survivalist lvl ?

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