(Editor’s Note: The Noob of All Trades goes back to the future of two years ago to finally maybe join the present of video games.)

Regular visitors to the page (shout out to the both of you!) know that Chris and I are traditionalists–grumpy old men–when it comes to games, especially video games. We have Magic as our go to table top game, but we have branched out to others like Herclix and Dicemasters. Rarely do we ever branch out into new video game territory. Hell, neither of us even owns a PS4, XBox One or Wii U and those are soon to be last gen.

It’s not that I think new video games are bad. I will be the first to admit that I don’t understand the appeal of all of the Call of Duty games. Most new games, however, impress me with their graphics and story. I guess that I just haven’t been impressed enough to spend the money on one of the systems. If you know anything about building drama, you know that this is the point where I write, “Until now…”

Until now, none of the next generation systems from the last couple ofyears have not dropped in price to the point that i’m a comfortable paying yet, but I am considering a purchase of two of them if Santa doesn’t bring them. Which two? You may be asking. If so, thanks for asking and let me explain.

The first one should be obvious if you’ve followed my articles over the past few weeks. Actually, both of them should be obvious, but one is maybe slightly more obvious, so I will start there. I grew up with video games. We owned an Atari 2600 and even a 7800. I played (and beat) the game considered by some to be the worst of all time, E.T. I received Jungle Hunt as a gift after receiving 14 stitches in my head. I can still play Pitfall to a stand still in the timed mode.

Our parents bought us an NES one year for Christmas. Upon playing Mario for the first time, I immediately switched allegiance from Atari to Nintendo. I had a brief fling with Sega during the Genesis days and overpaid for a Playstation, but Nintendo remains my favorite system and game maker. Even now, during a time when other gamers flock away from the “casual” nature of Wiimotes and Amibos, I remain firmly in the corner of Big N.

Two games, especially finally have me excited about the prospects of owning a Wii U. The first is Super Mario Maker. I know nothing about this game, but the name alone makes my heart flutter. When I mentioned it to him, he seemed less than enthusiastic about it. I started to wonder if maybe my own enthusiasm might be misplaced. Nintendo is capable of making bad games, after all. However,Liam has since filled me in on some of the details and I’m even more jazzed about the game.

He said to me the other day, “I thought you could just make levels, Dad. But, now I realize that you can share them with people, too. That’s really cool.” See, I was under the impression from the beginning that was the appeal of the game. I’m glad that I was not wrong. I’d have been very disappointed otherwise. I mean, how many times have you played a Mario game and thought, This level would be so much cooler if they did this. If you anything like me, you’ve lost count. I can’t wait to unleash those ideas on unsuspecting gamers.

The other game for Wii U–the one that pushed me over the edge–is Smash Bros. I played the first one many years ago. I’m a fan of fighting games and a fighting game with all of the Nintendo characters sounded great. Unlike MK and SF, games that both have a robust one player mode, Smash Bros is a fighting game for people with friends. Now that Liam and Aiden are both old enough and taking an interest in games, I want to try Smash Bros as intended. Other games interest me, too, but those are the two games that make me most want Santa to bring a Wii U.

My second system of choice on the list is also obvious, though maybe less so. I went with Microsoft during the 360/PS3 generation mainly for the Kinect that now lies buried in my big box of dead electronics. I thought about continuing with the XBox One because I figured that both machines were the same and I wanted to stay consistent. That attitude persisted until recently.

I mentioned to Kevin (he of Episode 2 infamy) that I wanted one of the systems and that I was leaning in the direction of XBox One. He stated flatly that the PS4 is better. I trust his advice and now I’m definitely going to get a PS4 at some point when I have the spare cash. I don’t have to explain two of the reasons for my interest, as I went into it in an early article.

i will write, briefly, on another game that recently got my attention again. I loaded up DOOM on my Steam account the other day. I’ve been thinking of doing some playthrough videos of the game to show secrets. While playing, it triggered in my brain that a new one is in development for the PS4 and XBox One. It is also coming out on PC, but I need another reason to convince my skeptical wife that I must ahve another video game machine. None of it, of course, will change her mind, but a new DOOM game has left no doubt that I’m soon going to own a PS4. Maybe I’ll buy myself one for my birthday next month.