Oh, I cannot tell you guys just how maddening it has been to get my BF playing games. Good thing we're both busy as hell with school :P

My partner actually got me back into gaming. We went into Toys'R'Us in the fall of 2002 looking for some Game Boy stuff for my niece, and after picking out some stuff, I came around a corner to find him playing Super Mario Sunshine at a Gamecube kiosk, running and swimming around the Bianco Hills level, completely engrossed.

I had given up consoles after the Genesis, being totally in love with the early 3D shooters on the PC, and thought Super Mario 64 was a little too stiff to invest in a console to play. Then, after spending a few months solid playing Quake 2, I'd gotten bored with shooters, stopped playing new games altogether and had just been playing games on MAME and developing Atari games for fun.

So I bought us a Gamecube and we both started playing Super Mario Sunshine. After a few days of switching off, he told me he liked watching me play better than playing himself. So periodically he'd sit and watch me play Pikmin or Super Mario Sunshine or the Ocarina of Time disc, but he never really played much after that. He found an old copy of Hasbro/Atari 3D Pong for the PC and we played that now and then. He liked some of the games on my DS but found the screen much too small. After we switched to Linux, he would periodically play Mad Bomber (a clone of Kaboom fromt he Atari, which he loved) or Tux Racer. I got more and more into console games, getting a PS2 when they dropped below $150 and getting into Katamari Damacy and Jak and Daxter.

Eventually I got a Wii, and knew he loved baseball, so we played a few games of that. But even after we learned the trick of just barely moving the Wiimote to hit, the exertion was too much for him by then. Ten months later he was gone. Gaming was one of the few things I could concentrate on to keep busy in the year after he died, so I really appreciate that he got me back into them when he was healthier.

My boyfriend will never game with me. 5 years together and he has yet to pick up a controller. He liked Wii Sports tennis, but that's about it. I thought he might like another Wii tennis game, but as soon as you have to press a button he's out.

Closest I ever get is the occasional Clubhouse Games session on long trips.

Unfortunately, I have not had much success either. My bf and I beat the first Army of Two together and had a blast, but since then gaming together has waned. Sometimes we pick up a new demo from PSN and have some laughs but that's about it. I want to do more gaming together (since I game all the time) so I'm hoping GuildWars 2 or at least Natural Selection 2 will perk his interest.. but if not I still love em. I'ma keep trying tho ^_^

"Plumbers are red, Hedgehogs are blue. Press start to join, and be my Player 2."

Not long after my partner at the time (no longer, however remain best of friends)and I got together, I scowered the shelves for something he might enjoy playing. I was replaying some Final Fantasys at the time, and PS2 was current. I was just getting back into things myself and had a PS1 so selections were sort of difficult.

There was some wisdom in the article here about 'non offensive' stuff. Some of the more violent or involved games out there can just be intimidating to a new-commer, and keep them from making even a passive effort at trying. out of the blue I was yakking about Ape Escape to a fellow employee at work and she couldnt stop giggling about it as she had some experience with the game before. I had not. She told me about how cute it was and enjoyable the monkeys with thier hats were, so I bought it. Couldnt hurt.

My boy ate it UP! so each night, give or take a few, we would play 'monkeys'. He got quite skilled at catching the little things, and we would converse about the moralitys and ethics of removing these cute little maniacs from thier new homes throughout the world. One particular scene where there was a monkey couple living in a snowy mountain cave together. The game gives you mini anecdotes about each monkey after you catch them, and some things about what they like, and who they are. We would talk about them like they were the reclusive gay couple who only wanted to be left alone in thier peace. They were just soo adorable! We felt so rude just bursting in on some of these guys and sending them back to the zoo. But it had to be done for the sake of humanity, so it was.

He played through all three in the end, completed them to thier fullest. Got all the secrets, all the monkeys, all the costumes, and collectables. He still to this day doesnt game as a hobbie, but when he finds something he enjoys he plays the hell out of it. The strangest things too. We LOVED Bully. He found all the kissing boys first, and carpet bombed the map for rubber bands, G&G cards, and gnomes. Un-believable. I had to use a walkthrough to find it all, and he did it by walking about the game. Many cops were burned by his rubber-band-ball rage!

Ive been playing games for years since I was a kid, lots of them. He played super mario once when his parents rented a snes a couple times. Still doesnt game often (almost never) But our times on some of these games are just golden.

A few others he managed to pick up were just epic (both the games and his passionate drive to complete them) such as ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and Katamari Damacy.

Strange boy that one, but good times were had!