OT: Longest gaming experience in one sitting?

[sportdan30]

It's been a while since I've really sat down and played a game for more than a couple hours. I probably browse this site, or shall I say I know I browse this site more times per week than I actually play video games. For me, it's difficult to really find that time anymore to game. Once the kids are in bed, the first thing I want to do is veg on the couch and catch up on my Tivo programs. Seriously, Tivo does make you watch more television. Yes, you can watch those programs faster but then again you also have more to watch.

I've tried to steer clear of adventure games knowing full well I'll never complete them. For a time, I resorted to online gaming and found this to be the quick fix I needed. However, now it seems games come and go so fast that we're on to the next within a couple weeks of enjoying the previous one. I must say it's refreshing to see Toca making a resurgence on here if only for a week or so.

So, back to the topic of discussion. What is the longest you've ever spent in one sitting playing a game or games for that matter? I believe for me it was Grand Theft Auto for the PS2. I recall an evening of starting around 7pm and shutting off the lights at around 1:30 in the morning. Never did complete the game.

[dbdynsty25]

I recall an evening of starting around 7pm and shutting off the lights at around 1:30 in the morning. Never did complete the game.

That's weak...I started playing the original Devil May Cry on the PS2 at 6pm when I got home one night and finished at 4:30am the next morning. I didn't finish it that night, but it was a LONG night none the less. The only break I took was to hit the Jack in the Box drive thru at about 1:00am.

[mixdj1]

I've had some monster all weekend sessions with RPGs in the past where I only stopped to get a bite to eat. But that was when I was single. The longest session I've had recently was when I played the Halo 2 campaign start to finish which took about 9 - 10 hours.

[GridIronGhost]

I just ran a MVP 2005 tournament that finished in 18 hours! Damn baseball tourneys take alot longer then the football tourneys. I'm going to have to split into 2 days for the next one.

[GROGtheNailer]

13 hour game session non-stop playing WOW

[lexbur]

Last Saturday the weather here was horrible, a foot of heavy, wet snow and 40mph winds, so I figured it would be a good day to B-Spec that 24-hour race at Nurburgring in GT4.

It took me about 10 hours. It sucked!

But it's the only way to get an F1 car. I doubt I'll do the other 24-hour races at LeMans, I don't want the green Bentley that bad.

At least you can do other stuff while the race is going on. You just have to check back every pit stop to change the sim speed.

I can't believe the beating my launch-date PS2 is taking. I thought for sure that 24-hour race would be the straw that breaks its' back. But it just keeps going... and going... and going...

[sportdan30]

As I figured, you guys are insane!

Just kidding of course. Some of those gaming times are unbelieveable though!

[Brando70]

If Mrs. Brando is gone and I have a free weekend, things can get out of hand pretty quickly. Gaming sessions that stick out in particular:

--8 or 9 straight hours playing the original Tomb Raider, to the point where I got dizzy and had to stop.

--I think I had one day where I went 10-12 hours playing the first KOTOR.

--I had a couple lost weekends with High Heat 2002. Would start playing Friday night, next thing I knew, 60 Minutes was on.

You know it's too long when the sun begins on one side of your head on the couch and makes it all the way to the other side.

[dbdynsty25]

You know it's too long when the sun begins on one side of your head on the couch and makes it all the way to the other side.

Or if you're not sure if the sun is rising or setting.

[FatPitcher]

I had a 37-hour Everquest session "back in the day". I'm lucky I didn't die like those Koreans do!

[sportdan30]

I had a 37-hour Everquest session "back in the day". I'm lucky I didn't die like those Koreans do!

There are no words.

[pk500]

Probably five hours or so, with a variety of games on their release nights. I know I had a handful of sessions of that length with driving games such as Gran Turismo, World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, NASCAR 2005, Vanishing Point, Colin McRae, etc., etc. I've probably had a four-hour night recently with Winning Eleven 8, too.

Any longer than that, and I spontaneously combust like one of Spinal Tap's drummers.

Take care,
PK

[Slumberland]

I've got a bit of ADD when it comes to games, can't sit in front of one for too long or I get restless... but I think I did the last chunk of KOTOR in one sitting, maybe ten hours straight or so. I just got sucked into that game in a way that rarely happens anymore.

[Spooky]

ummm...shouldn't these replies be posted under 'The Dorkside' thread!?!?

[ubrakto]

When I was a wee lad I stayed home "sick" from school to play Starflight on my PCjr. for about 8 straight hours on two or three consecutive days.

In recent years, it's the turn-based strategy games that get me. I'm sure I had a couple into-the-night 8+ hour CivII sessions (even on the day I had my wisdom teeth removed). Master of Orion 1/2 and Master of Magic owned me for a while, as did Might and Magic III. The last one to garner multiple 6+ hour sessions was Medieval: Total War.

Since my daugher was born last year, though, I don't think I've spent more than 3-4 hours on a game in a single session and that's pretty damn rare. With my son due in the next 30 days, that number's not likely to increase.
---Todd

[Macca00]

I recall a 12 hour session with the first Championship Manager 3 on the PC (still my fav. game of all time). I was managing Sheffield Wednesday. My friends and I have racked up more than a few 4-5 hour 4-player multiplayer sessions in Winning Eleven in recent years.

[skidmark]

I remember putting in some marathon sessions with tecmo super bowl and contra back in the day. The kind where your dad finds you still up in the middle of the night and gives you a death stare for being such an idiot.

[mobiggins]

My friend and I played Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode on the NES for about seven hours straight one time, only to have the game freeze on us. Man, that was a game right there. Nothing like having poorly animated, badly controlled action sequences divided up by impossibly hard underground "3-d" mazes. Played the hell out of that game for one reason or another.

37 hours of everquest or any other videogame is nuts. And I thought only your political views were insane!

[Boltman]

If you do not understand the "lingo" I use here, I appolagize.


Me and my cousin stayed up once for the longest damn time............

It was in EQ (the original on PC) and we were finally a high enough level to go down into lower Guk and camp the FBSS. We were on the "waiting list" in the closest room chillin' for hours till we were up, then we finally got a spot in the group and got our invite.

Well, kill after kill, hour after hour, we waited till all ahead of us in group got their drop (the FBSS, best haste item back then), till finally we were up for the next drop.

36 hours later....................

*Church like choir in the backround* The FBSS Dropped!!!!!!

We finally got our "Uber phat lewt" LOL

Great stuff it was, we were jumping around in the early morning (dark out) hours giddie like little school girls.

[FatPitcher]

Ha! See, I wasn't the only one. Of course, that was back in college. I can't play for more than a couple hours nowadays without feeling irresponsible.

[RobVarak]

If Mrs. Brando is gone and I have a free weekend, things can get out of hand pretty quickly.

That sentence applies to many of our situations, and the fact that "get out of hand" means gaming to us rather than other shennanigans is a testament to our utter dorkitude.

When I was in HS, there were many, many 12+ hour sessions with my buddies playing C64 games like Colonial Conquest or Gamestar 2-on-2 basketball.

[Teal]

When I was in HS, there were many, many 12+ hour sessions with my buddies playing C64 games like Colonial Conquest or Gamestar 2-on-2 basketball.

For me, I have to go way back to 9th grade, and the Atari 2600. My buddy and I started playing Raiders of the Lost Ark at 6pm on a Friday, and finished the game at around 6am on Saturday. That's the longest one I can remember, although we used to stay up alot in Jr College playing Baseball Stars and Gauntlet II on the NES for most of the night...ah, the good ol' days...

[J]

I prefer to avoid the all day marathon sessions. The few times I've done that in recent years were with the original Unreal Tournament (PC) and KOTOR (Xbox).