I thought it would be a good idea to put together a bit guide as how to be a better gamer. I have been playing video games since the days of the Atari 2600 and the Colecovision so this is sort of a community service announcement for the younger generation.

Schedule some time to play a game. Unlike watching TV you can play a game almost anytime you want with the notable exception of Animal Crossing and some MMORPGs but you need to actually say to yourself “I want to play some Gamecube and that is exactly what I am going to do for the next three hours”. You don’t have to tell your friends and family and rub it in their face but just realize the fact that you want to play games and make sure you got the time. If you don’t have a lot of time to play games than a massive RPG really might not be a good idea.

Let your friend win some rounds if you are playing a fighting game and you are clearly the better fighter. No one want to have their butt handed to them over and over again at Tekken 5, so if you let your friend win say 25% of the time they will be more likely to keep playing. Just forget to block a few combos and they will never know. Also don’t talk to your friend at the height of fierce round.

If you live with a hubby, boyfriend, girlfriend or roommates, make sure you have a TV just for gaming. Nothing sucks worse that when you want to play Halo 2 and your girlfriend wants to watch some weak reality show. Hooking your game system up to a stereo so you can use long headphones is a necessity. Most electronic stores sell headphone extension cords so you can lounge on the couch and no one will ever know that you have ABBA as your custom Xbox soundtrack for GTA.

For the love of Mario, do not buy any guides or walkthroughs. Do not use any cheat codes or refer to an online guide unless you are totally stuck and are about to abandon playing the game. You are wasting your money if you cheat your way through a game that you could get through honorably if you actually tried. If you are tempted to cheat at an online game, I want you to wrap your mouse cord around your neck and yank hard until you reconsider your actions.

Buy some used games or older games that you have never played instead of blowing all your money on the latest and greatest titles. Older games are still as fresh and fun as the day that they popped out of that big DVD press at Sony HQ.

Get a spare memory stick for your Gamecube or PS2 and back up your game data about once a month, just in case. You might lose that data and memory cards can get corrupted and break. It would absolutely suck to loose all your data and progress. The extra $20 is worth it just to know that your save data is safe.

No matter what just remember that this is just for fun.