Commenter Madammina's tale of playing through Kingdom Hearts with her little brother reminds us how much fun it is to play video games with our loved ones in today's Speak Up on Kotaku.
As very few of you know, I've been playing Kingdom Hearts with my baby brother. He wanted to play Kingdom Hearts 2 because Mickey is on the cover, but it would make even less sense for him if we jumped right in (He's smart, but he's 4 and has a deplorable lack of traditional Disney knowledge. I'm not sure how much of this he's getting. He was terrified of Dragon Maleficent and is curious about the Darkness though. And knows that Riku should be hanging out with the good guys)
Anyway, Today I finally beat Kingdom Hearts 1 with him. He went into a fit because... Mickey Mouse appeared in the ending. I had completely forgotten about it, and he was over the moon. He's now talking about playing Kingdom Hearts 2 and...
Well, I'm back to what gaming is all about for me. Simply having fun and playing with the family. All he wants to do is hang out with Disney characters and play as Mickey Mouse. I can't do the last thing, but when you are surrounded by a lot of negativity in a fandom like Kingdom Hearts, it's really nice to have your baby brother babble at you about how Mickey is in the game and how he wants Bartz to show up (He watches me play Dissidia)
I'll have to replay Birth By Sleep (again, sigh) with him when I'm done with Kingdom Hearts 2, but it's still just nice. More people should do it, just sit down and play with no thought on trophies, scores, theories, whatever. Just hang out with the family and have fun.
About Speak Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have a forum on Kotaku called Speak Up. That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best Speak Up posts we can find and highlight it here.
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