The PSN Community continues to bring stories and illuminating gaming perspectives to the PlayStation Blog via the PSN Community Spotlight. This is your chance to share your story on the PlayStation Community Forums, while snagging a $50 PlayStation Store voucher if your post is selected!
Last month you may recall we had a special Mother’s Day PSN Community Spotlight. In the chaos that was E3 and the week that followed, I completely forgot to make a shoutout for all those gamer Dads out there for Father’s Day! So this week, check out this story from PSN member JoeTheBeast16. Read on to see how PlayStation plays a big part in his family’s life.
PlayStation, A Valued Member of My Family
I’ve been a gamer ever since the first time I picked up a controller but in the past few years, gaming has become a valuable part of my family life.
To start, I’ll give a little bit of background. I’m 20 years old, and a stay at home dad. In October of 2008, I met a wonderful girl, and fell in love rather quickly. She didn’t like videogames at all when she met me, but when I convinced her to play some multiplayer in Haze with me, she fell in love with it, playing everything from Far Cry 2 to Army of Two, as well as Call Of Duty (what can I say, she loves shooting stuff).
With the help of PlayStation, we bonded and grew together over the first year of our relationship, and then in December of 2009 we welcomed our daughter into the world. From helping her pass the time while she was recovering from giving birth, to giving us something we could do quietly while our daughter was napping, PlayStation served as an important comfort for us while we adapted to our new lives. I started working when our daughter was 3 months old, and for over a year she stayed at home, taking care of our daughter and taking care of the house while I was working, not to mention playing MAG, COD, and Battlefield, when she had time. We’d play a few matches together when I got home from work, and then we’d go to bed. This continued until she grew a little stir-crazy, so we decided to switch things up a bit; she got a job and I quit mine. Now she works during the day, and games with me at night. So I became a stay at home dad, and I’ve loved every moment with my beautiful daughter. I’ve even used my PlayStation Eye to capture home movies.
Our daughters first steps captured with PlayStation Eye. I’ll admit she took a few steps before I had the idea to start the video.
My daughter is now 2 and a half, and she’s loving PlayStation as much as we are, from Eye Pet to Little Big Planet and Learning With the PooYoo’s, she loves to game. We now have 2 PS3s, so we can either play online matches on different screens, or play splitscreen on one, while our daughter watches Netflix or Hulu Plus on the other.
PlayStation is more than just gaming for us, it’s entertainment as a whole for our family. It enables us to do more than just game together. We watch 3D movies together on our PlayStation 3D Display, we exercise together with our PlayStation Move, heck, I even use my PS Vita and my laptop as a baby monitor using the Skype app to keep an eye on my daughter if I have to duck out for a minute. I could go on and on, reminiscing about all of the wonderful memories that our family has shared with the PlayStation brand, but that would do little to convey just how much we love it.
Let me put it this way, when E3 had arrived, we all sat down with popcorn in hand, ready to enjoy the PlayStation press conference – like a family sitting down to watch a loved one in a school play or a sports game, it’s always nice to see a family member shine. As much as I’d like to keep typing, I have some chores to do and then I have to go work on my PS Vita Pure Chess strategy since my wife gets home later tonight, and we’ve got a tournament planned.
Congrats to JoeTheBeast16, who is now the recipient of a $50 voucher redeemable in the PlayStation Store! Send in your stories here, and feel free to read JoeTheBeast16’s original submission right here.
Nice! I love reading stories like these.
Hopefully there’s not much shooting going on in when the child is around.
Here’s to you guys, hope you have a successful family and keep gaming!
hot shot golf world invitational update “PLEASE”
Thanks for sharing that story Joe. And now I want to convince my wife to get a photo with all our gamer swag.
What’s better than an obsessed gamer girl???? One you convert yourself…. That my friend is what we call, “a keeper”.
Still trying to get my wife’s gaming interests past the “casual” stage….. Harvest Moon is about as far as I’ve gotten her onto a console.
Thanks for the sharing!!
Nice story you put out for us it pretty good what you put about the importantsof life and gaming it remind me when I was so little like about 3 years old when I begin to walk. Then 6 years I became a gamer not just gaming but for family to enjoy and be happy and my father was so proud of me bein happy. I love your story it almost the same as me but different and have a great successfully family and your gaming. And thanKyou for your story it really mean it to us.
I think this was my favorite story so far! Make sure you get LBP for Vita and COD. Speaking of COD declassifed would be nice to have a trailer especially since were going to have to pay $50! Better have zombies too!
Here’s a person whose name I recognize on the blog. Joe, I had no idea you are so young, and a dad, too. Your little girl is a doll! I see she’s quite the gamer, with the Move & Vita. Adorable. Very nice story, thanks for sharing.
nice story, hey Morgan do you know if we’re ever gonna get head to head online multiplayer Modnation Racers Road Trip patch? i would love to see Heavenly Sword, inFAMOUS and MediEvil coming to the little system, Sir Daniel Fortesque is awesome!!!
Also will Ecspace Plan Demo ever get a patch so we can play it?
what i really want to know when will the youtube app
will be release for the psvita u guys is almost the end
of the month we are in 3rd week already and no app
release iam starting to think it will not be release.
And don’t forget the alarm clock app that was to show up this summer as well
Will you guys please stop posting your ‘wants’ in the comment section of these community spotlight threads? It’s kind of rude, and you should know by now that you won’t get a response.
Anyway great story dude, I really enjoyed reading it! And that family picture looks awesome. I can only hope to have a family that is all obsessed with PS as I am.
And @ 11, just wait until next Tuesday, they said YouTube is coming at the END of the month! Remember with the Skype app we didn’t know it was coming until the last minute? That’s most likely what is going to happen.
This reads more like a sad story of hyper consumerism than anything. You’re 20, you don’t work. You have 2 PS3’s, a Vota, Move, etc. while I’m sure your wife with similar educational background is not exactly bringing down the big bucks for your family to thrive. I’d suggest this as a cautionary tale of how sadly someone exists around this console and rather than experiencing the world, he brags of his daughters gaming habits. I hope you’re at least in school, she is too and there’s some future and many many chances to turn this crap off and go outside.
That is a awesome story. I enjoyed your video and the family pic was great. I like putting a face on to your words. I am also a stay at home dad (disabled vet-long story). My kids (4 and 7) enjoy playing games with me. My wife; not so much. She thinks I have a problem. HAHAHAH.
@ijustw1n
We go outside a lot actually, Chloe loves the park.
Mary is in college to be an RN, and works, making pretty good money, and gets all the hours she wants.
I stay at home because we made that decision as a family- when I was working, I wasn’t making nearly what Mary was offered when she got her job, so it made sense.
We don’t only game, that would be a foolish assumption to make based off of the idea that when we wind down from the day we have a specific console that we use for all of our entertainment needs.
We go on family vacations (amusement parks, camping, etc…- I literally just got home from a 2 day camping trip about a half hour ago, brought the Vita with for music in the tent!)
I can kind of see how you could skew my post into a “cautionary” tale, but that would be a strange caution… “Be Ware, This Path Leads to Happiness!”
I hope your life finds a way to help you be a little more optimistic, life’s too short!
great response!