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verziehenone · 7 years

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Video games ... what a past time. So much time is spent on them, I can’t even imagine how many hours I have enjoyed building and breaking worlds, meeting and killing people, and just having the time of my life (lives) in virtual worlds.

Probably the first game I ever played was Tetris on the Gameboy. The original Gameboy. That bulky off-white thing that took 4 AA’s that seemed like nothing could keep it down. Could probably have built a house outta those things. And the battery life was pretty solid too!

But soon I graduated to Mario, which was not awful on Gameboy. Then came the big one: Pokemon. Around then I upgraded to a Gameboy Pocket The foldy one. It went from a monochrome brown and green thing to a nice gray with black and white shades. Terrific clarity!

Then the Gameboy Color happened. But before we get there ...

My first console was an Atari. Good times on that thing. Pitfall, some space game, and a few others that were equally blocky and terrifically entertaining in a way that many games just don’t capture now.

Then was my Nintendo. I think it was because I traded/sold my Atari at a garage sale or something, and boom, I was the proud owner of a Nintendo. Eventually got me one of those sweet Duck Hunt guns (let’s be honest, that was basically the only game anyone used it on), and a few great games. Zelda, a few Marios (Mario 3 will forever be amazing, but Mario 2 had it’s charm.)

I did some swaparoos (involving a mountain bike and another Atari) but came back to the Nintendo. That said, this was all around the time that friends of mine had the Sega Genesis or the Super Nintendo, and I was stuck with the lame-o OG Nintendo. I even remember one time convincing my parents to spring for renting a Sega Genesis from Family Video (or whatever it was called) and using that Sega Channel (or whatever) to stream Mortal Kombat and another fighting game or two. Don’t tell my parents, lots-o-blood.

Back to the portables. Gameboy Color was a revolution. Sure, Pokemon in color was amazing. Any game (Final Fantasy Tactics, Super Mario, etc) but really, it was Pokemon. And the reason they were amazing-er on the Gameboy Color? It was backlit. And that made ALL the difference at night. No more huddling around a little nightlight or gripping a flashlight in my mouth to try to catch one more ‘mon, or just one more fight, one more ...

I had a Gamegear for a bit, which was the Sega competitor to the Gameboy. Glorious color gaming, 8 AA batteries, big ole screen, but the games (other than Sonic I think) just weren’t there. So I got rid of it, and eventually the glory of the Gameboy Advance happened. The one with the big ole screen, that Super Mario was friggin’ amazing on. And naturally, Pokemon again was amazing. I eventually got me the next Gameboy (SP) the next foldy one, which was the last one before the 3DS (I think), which I never got (though I’d love one).

Console-wise, for the remainder of my pre-college life I was always a generation behind. Everyone had the GameCube when I finally got an N64 (but don’t cry too hard, GoldenEye was worth the wait). I finally got a PS1 in time for everyone to tell me how amazing the PS2 was. This isn’t a sob story, just the result of growing up in a family where if I wanted a console, I had to buy it with my money. So I did, and I was just more patient. Though I was friends with people who had the latest and greatest. At one point I had the 3 main consoles, (a generation late): the PS2, the GameCube, and the Dreamcast. I felt like the toast of the land. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Crazy Taxi, Super Mario Sunshine, I had it all. Good times.

Until! The summer before college. I had a few bucks put aside and wanted me a real gaming PC. The one I had prior to that was a hand-me-down from my Youth Pastor that played StarCraft on it ... barely. So this one, a big $600 beast, and I found myself loving the major boost in power that my Athlon something something gave me over the Pentium 2 I had prior. Unreal Tournament was brilliant and I enjoyed so many great gaming experiences on that machine. And Civilization 3 stole far far too many nights and days ... I spent hours and hours playing that.

Then college came! And a credit card! And I built a new computer! And it was fast and had a pair of 17″ CRT monitors (I upgraded to 17″ widescreen LCDs) and it was glorious. (GeForce 8800 GTS baby). I did so much more gaming. Eventually even got around to World of Warcraft, though I did enjoy plenty of non-PC gaming with pals on a variety of systems.

I played World of Warcraft heavily throughout college, spending 4-5 hours a night usually (still had a solid GPA and 2 part time jobs and a girlfriend, so I wasn’t a total loser) and it was wonderful. I remember at one point I even played another MMO in my off time, and it was stupid and glorious and ridiculous. I spent my non-PC gaming time playing a lot of the PS2 games I hadn’t beaten or just enjoyed like Final Fantasy 10 and Star Ocean and so on. Big into RPGs. I even got a PSP during that time for the Star Ocean 1 and 2 remakes and I still wish I had kept it, to be honest.

After college I was living with a roomie (from college) who I played World of Warcraft with, but also enjoyed the Nintendo Wii and PS3 he had. We did a lot of great gaming on those systems, though I did a lot more PS3 than Wii stuff. Rock Band became a past time for us (and I got quite good at Expert guitar, could play huge chunks of some songs with my eyes closed) and he was great a bass. Stoke 3 live on! And did I mention Fallout 3? Ohhh man. It never changes.

So I decided to buy an Xbox 360. I never had an Xbox (though I did a little Halo in my time) I just decided that I wanted a console and should get one he didn’t have. I also very much missed Fight Night (a boxing game) and wanted to play that again. But the eventually I moved out and was on my lonesome and didn’t have a Blu-Ray player. And have always been a Playstation guy. So I sold the Xbox 360 and bought a Playstation 3.

Until I got my bigscreen TV I didn’t do a ton of Playstation gaming, instead mostly doing PC (mostly World of Warcraft) gaming. I did do a game here and there of other things but nothing memorable.

But, one day I powered down my computer, went to work, and came home only to find ... no power. No response at all. The reason this matters is I had just decided to come back to playing World of Warcraft (after a break that my then-girlfriend convinced me would save our relationship, because video games were our only problem -- nope), and was bummed I couldn’t. I didn’t have the money to fix it so I returned to console gaming and enjoyed a lot of then-newer hits like Dragon Age: Origins, Darksiders 1, Dante’s Inferno, the Assassin’s Creed games, and a host of others that escape me. I tend to not do a lot of shooters on console, preferring them on PC. GameFly helped me fly through games pretty quickly so I was able to save quite a bit of money by not buying all of them.

A few months later I was living with a new friend and decided to research how to fix my computer, and found it was much cheaper than expected. So I got a new motherboard and some new ram and was up and running in time to enjoy Star Wars: The Old Republic, a new MMO. It was amazing and super super fun leveling and the story was great ... until you hit max level like you ran into a wall. So then I got into Skyrim and a few other games, working my way through the different PC games I had missed out on (like Mass Effect 1-3, Dragon Age 2, and some others).

Living with some new friends I was introduced to other games I’d never heard of or played, like Guild Wars 2, Dark Souls, and

Time moves on again and I decided to swap out some newer parts and make my machine more future-proof, since I had a baby on the way and would never have money again until a bit later. I also used some of my birthday money and Christmas money on a PS4. So I was set. Like a rockstar. A rockstar who enjoyed Madden and Grand Theft Auto V and so on. And Far Cry and Crysis and Wolfenstein and not World of Warcraft. I had been done for a long time. Partly due to time and partly due to money and partly due to a lack of interest.

Skipping around a bit to the present, I’m still and always will be a gamer. I still don’t have a 3DS, as much as I’d love to have one for Pokemon, but I have a PS4 and my wife has a Switch, and my PC is still gettin’ love when it gets a bit outta date. Never going to have a bleeding edge waste-of-money PC but I will always strive to be caught up to play the latest games.

I am back into World of Warcraft again, playing with a prior roommate and some other really great guys, and it’s being managed much more carefully than before. Outside of that, I’ve been playing Uncharted 4, Overwatch, Diablo 3, Civilization 6 (Oh my gosh I love Civ) and a smattering of others. I still have my Gameboy SP with Pokemon Red and Yellow and Gold (I think). I also had a Playstation Vita briefly but decided it just wasn’t for me.

I have a long list of games I want to play so I won’t list them all. (Yes I will, because this is my blog). In no particular order:

Stardew Valley (In progress)

Mad Max (In progress)

Bloodborne (In progress)

Dark Souls 3

Torment: Tides of Numenara

Wasteland 2

Pillars of Eternity

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Dying Light

Doom

Watch Dogs 2

Dishonored 2

Final Fantasy 15

Nioh

Persona 5

Horizon Zero Dawn

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Red Dead Redemption 2

Injustice 2

I’m a gamer at my core and a good gaming experience is something so hard to communicate to those who haven’t found a game that tickles their fancy. But when a person finds that game that challenges them in the right way, entertains them or entrances them, and they just can’t put it down ... that’s just the best. (And in this post I’m not talking board games or mobile phone games, those are entirely different posts).

This really just scratches the surface of my gaming time, thoughts, and philosophy about games. I have so many thoughts and ideas, so many memories and experiences, and so many terrific games that I loved and can’t wait to try ... it’s just a matter of the same thing it always was: Making sure that it is always secondary to real life, real people, and the stuff that really matters. Otherwise... game on.

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