Christmas Entertainment : Films and Video Games
It’s Christmas, and every year around the holidays, many of us watch again special movies that channel the mood of the holiday season, and play video games that may not be true to the spirit of holidays but are otherwise special to us. Those are the films and video games that have this kind of special significance for me.
Films
Die Hard
If this is not the canonical Christmas movie, I don’t know which is. One of NYPD’s finest, John McClane arrives to LA to reconcile with his estranged wife who’s attending the Christmas party of Nakatomi corp., her employer. Some bad guys crash the party, led by the genius uber-terrorist Hans Gruber, and McClane has to save the day. It’s the quintessential Christmas story.
Harry Potter
England, young wizards, cold and snow, festivities in the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, fantastical creatures, fireplaces. I love England, all things British even, and having stayed in the UK for a while when I was a student and experiencing Christmas there, this makes the movies even more significant and wonderful for me. Also, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them was really good. Eddie Redmayne was perfect as Newt Scamander.
Love Actually
My wife and I watch this every Christmas. We love it. It’s also very British, which we both appreciate. This movie is about eight couples, their love lives, during November, leading up to Christmas, in London. If you and your significant other are looking for an alternative Christmas movie, you can’t go wrong with Serendipity.
Star Wars
I ‘ve been watching Star Wars every December for three years now in the the theatre (it’s the only time I get to go the movies, once a year), but in the past I used to watch Empire Strikes back(still the best Star Wars movie) during Christmas holidays.
The Snowman
This is a wonderful adaption of the book The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. On Christmas Eve, a young boy builds a snowman who comes to life, and takes him to the North Pole, to meet Santa. The music is incredible, the animation is fantastic. If you haven’t watched it, you owe it to yourself to watch it this year. I watch it every year.
Stardust
The film adaption of the titular Neil Gaiman novel, follows young Tristan in a grand quest in a magical kingdom where he is set to recover a fallen star to give to his sweetheart, Victoria, so that she would agree to marry him. Incredible actors, great fantasy, lots of snow. A family favourite.
Video Games
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Managing to stay alive in the brutal, extreme cold, conditions of a planet where snow feels so very real and so very dangerous, but dragging your feet against a snowstorm is an incredible feeling nonetheless.
Skyrim
This is probably my favourite game. Traversing the world of Skyrim, covered in snow, with incredible vistas, caves and dungeons, dragons!, populated by incredible creatures and unique individuals is an experience like no other. It’s the perfect Christmas Game.
Icewind Dale games
Those Infinity Engine games take place in the region of Icewind Dale, and are more action oriented, specifically tuned for adventuring and battles, and not so much about exploration and quests, unlike other games based on that engine. There is a lot of snow there. I love playing those games in the holidays.
Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds DLC
What is perhaps the best implementation of snow in any game. It’s worth owning a PS4 just for this game.
Also, obviously, pretty much every Nintendo game. All Nintendo games remind me of Winter and Christmas. The Nintendo Wii Shop music in particular reminds me of playing Zelda on the Wii during Christmas way back.
Merry Christmas everyone :)
