We are now in session!

I've been thinking about starting a game club for a long time now. It would work kind of like a book club: you participate by buying a game (if you don't already have it) and playing through it within a specified time period.

The purpose of the club is to get people playing games they haven't tried before. If you already have, then you get a second viewing alongside new players for differing opinions. We aim to stage a revival of a game, to spark current discussion about the game, to get a little critical thinking going and to help each other through parts if we get stuck.

It's not meant to be a big commitment. Just play through the game in your spare time, log on to the forum and post your thoughts during and after playing the game. The time period will be long enough for most people to finish it but there is no pressure on you to finish it if you can't.

Session 4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Platforms: 3DS, Wii VC, GCN, N64
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo/Grezzo
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1
Start date: Friday, June 17, 2011
End date: Sunday, July 31, 2011
Join the club: http://groups.google.com/group/nlgameclub

» Club details...

• Group game sessions last 1-3 months depending on the game, with a half month break in between.
• During and after sessions, discuss your thoughts about the game in the forum.
• You do not have to join every session.
• You do not have to complete the game within the time period.
• If you already have played the game you can play it again if you like, and talk about your second playthrough.
• Please mark all spoilers so the game isn't ruined for anyone.
• At the end of each session, you may write a quick post-play review of the game.
• Nominations for the next game are accepted at any time. Voting takes place after the end of the current session.

» Game criteria...

• Games must be on the Wii, DS, WiiWare or Virtual Console. GCN games may be picked if they are easily available.
• DSiWare exclusives will not be chosen.
• Games must be available in both NA and EU/AU regions.
• Games must have a single player or local multiplayer campaign/story mode to play through.
• Retail games must not be rare titles. Everyone has to have a means of getting them.

» Join the club...

To participate and receive announcements about the club, join our Google group or subscribe to its RSS feed. The group is only used as a mailing list to send out email notifications about upcoming sessions and votes. Please use your NintendoLife name when joining the group. Your personal details are kept private.

» Club archives...

• Session 1: Paper Mario (Nov 2010 - Jan 2011)
• Session 2: Cave Story (Jan 2011 - Feb 2011)
• Session 3: Little King's Story (Mar 2011 - May 2011)
• Session 4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Jun 2011 - Jul 2011)

Sounds cool. I'd be into that. So ummm.... I'll join.

EDIT: I should add more feedback. Could we also do GCN games? They aren't too old so most people would probably be able to get them. They're also easy on the wallet.
Paper Mario 64 sounds like a good game to start with to me.

Someone told me, that there was going to be cake here.....

1 No
2 Yes
3 5 weeks
4 Nop
5 Ocarina of Time

Edited cos the original post was way too long.

@Peach We could do GCN games too, but I could have a little trouble finding them myself. :s I chose PM64 because you suggested it haha.

@JumpMad Well... THE CAKE IS A LIE! _{Unless you think I should ship slices of cake to everyone who joins up.}

@Epic You ain't down with the idea?! I was thinking OoT would be a good choice too but I'm not sure if everyone would want to play it through again, especially since OoT 3DS will be out next year.

This is actually a pretty neat idea.

1. I'm totally up for that (or down with that, whatever your lingo )
2. Yep, I'm going to be playing games anyways, it'll be nice to do the chat thing
3. Depends on the game I think, 5 or 6 weeks is good, especially for those who only have time to play on weekends.
4. None that I can see, I just hope lots of people want to join up!
5. Paper Mario 64 sounds fantastic, can't wait.

@JumpMad
I'm sorry, but your cake is in another thread.

I think you guys should play Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
(EDIT: On second thought, that wouldn't be a very good idea.)
Nice idea, but I will not be joining.

You mean sort of like a book club, but with games? I remember VC-Forums had a Virtual Console Club that's been going for a while, along with a few others that didn't pan out, that worked on that kind of idea. If you need help looking for rules and such, you might wanna look there, apparently things have been going smoothly. Personally, I never participate it them, since I can't ever buy the games they pick. If things work out, I might join once I get a steady job, but then I may not have the time to game.

I think Paper Mario would be a great game to start with!
_{since, you know, I won't have to buy it ;3}

Oh yeah, this sounds like a great idea, and I think about 2 months to play through would be good. I'm in! n_n

I'd totally join this, but unfortunately I've got way too much on (seriously the only thing I ever play nowadays is Picross DS) and practically no spare cash lately D:

+1 vote for it being a cool idea though.

Are you a bad enough dude to join the club?

Thanks for the feedback guys. Looks like 2 months is good length for a session.

I'd like to get more interest from NL members so we can really get the ball rolling. It will only be worth it if we can get a fair number of people playing the games. I'm not asking people to commit yet (if at all), just to say whether they're interested and would be willing to participate.

Regarding money...

I knew the major issues would be time and money. At most it would be around $40 for a store-bought game per session, and much less if you can get the game used. Less for WW/VC games too. Retail games can be traded back or re-sold if you need the money back.

If money is an issue, we could have a slower schedule. Say, a 2 month session followed by a month break? We'll get through only 4 games a year at that rate which should be very easy on everyone's wallets.

Regarding time...

I don't want people to think this is a huge commitment. Just play the game in your free time, even if it's just weekends, and join in the conversation. You aren't even required to finish the game if you don't have the time.

@Raylax Is 2 months still not long enough for you? I think a game club is great for those of use who don't have a lot of time to play games. At least this way you can dedicate your free time to one game and have others playing it with you. Sort of like recreating what it was like when the game first came out. And if you already own the game, then that session has no cost to you either.

@Mickeymac I don't visit VC-Forums but it's good to know they have one going on over there. My idea is a little different from theirs. I want this to be very laid-back and general; no rules or competitions. More of a focus on playing through story modes. I just want to get people talking about games which aren't in the limelight right now.

@Robo-Goose I was thinking Fire Emblems would be a great choice for a later game. But our first game will be high profile, low cost, high availability so we can have a rolling start for the club.

it really isn't unfortunately. An occasional visit to NL pretty much is my share of gaming recently. Got three uni projects to get through and a few bits of normal coursework to boot. And a personal project, a website that needs rescuing, and also learning to read Japanese scripts. I know two months is a fair amount of time but yeah. I play Picross on the bus and that's about it. I'll join when things have settled down a bit nearer to Christmas, most likely

I understand the needs to have a slower pace, but I'd prefer a weekly thing, so that every week, this would encourage me to play a new game.

@Raylax Oh man, I totally understand coursework taking up your life. Nothing is concrete, but I don't plan on starting our first session until mid-late November, since that gives everyone time to prepare and spread the word. Would you be more free by then?

@BedCommando Yeah, I know what you mean. I personally could go for 2-week-long sessions but most people's jobs, schoolwork or family can get in the way (wide range of ages on this forum) so I figured we need to be slower about it. With a schedule of 2 months per game would you still be up for it?

Sounds pretty cool and inetresting, but the big thing for me will be:
*if I don't have the game, I'm only going to get it if I already wanted it.
*if I've already played through the game, odds are I won't feel like going through it again.

It's kind of unfair but I'd only participate if each game appealed to me, so I might participate for one game and not others, y'know?

Good idea, except this will basically be limited to one region - after all, European people don't have access to everything American people do, and vice versa, and finding anything but the major retail games in Australia is a pain in the neck.

Early on, it would probably be better sticking to downloadable games that we know everyone has access too. Believe it or not, it's not even a guarantee you can find Twilight Princess or Mario Galaxy in stores here.

This.
For starters, I just beat Paper Mario a couple of weeks ago, so I won't be joining you for that one. I need motivation to finish/restart Super Paper Mario though.

If I have the console, then yeah. I'll just need reminders of when the next game is up, since it'll take me a week at most to finish the game, write a review, and post it before going back to my games for 7 weeks.

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. 1-2 months sounds fine
4. Only thing I can think of is if the current game is one that I know I won't like I don't think I'll be playing it. Hopefully that doesn't happen too often though.
5. Paper Mario sounds like a good choice