I was asked the other day to tell someone my favorite video game experience of all time. At first I was a bit taken back. I had lots of great memories of playing games. There was finally beating the Emerald weapon on FFVII, there was the time I actually won a slayer match on Halo, in fact there were so many good memories of video games that I didn’t know if I had an answer.

So I looked at my friend who asked this question and told him I would have to give that one some serious thought. Now most people who say they are going to give something some serious thought mean “I don’t have an answer, so I will pretend I care about giving one and tell you that I will think about it”, unfortunately, I am not one of those people. So long after I had left my friends home I continued to think about this question. What was my favorite video game experience?

As I sat there I ran through all the memories I could think of about video games, I thought of games I had beaten, of great times I had with friends when playing video games. I thought of how much I loved playing games with my children. While I was thinking about this I was opening a stack of new Xbox 360 games.

As I removed the plastic wrapper from one, it dawned on me. I knew right then what my favorite experience with video games was. It was opening a new game for the first time. It wasn’t one memory, it wasn’t even several memories, it was the experience of finding a weak point in the plastic wrapping, creating a bit of a tear, then slowly removing the plastic wrapping.

It was the feeling of excitement and eagerness as I heard the crack of the game case opening for the first time. It was the reverent holding of the entire game open before you as you admired the contents within. Then slowly, with care, removing the game disc from its place and inserting it into the game tray on whatever system the game had been for.

Without a doubt this was, is and always will be my favorite memory. It’s a memory I have had a hundred times, and the universe willing will have a hundred more.