Monday, May 21, 2012

30 Years of Gaming: The Beginning

It's been more than 4 months since my last post, so I figured I should probably write something. I started a post on Everquest a few weeks ago (that will be coming soon), but today it randomly crossed my mind how long I've been playing video games. And if my math is correct (which is should be even though I was never very good at it), then I've been playing video games for 30 years. 30. Years. Wow. 

For those who don't know, I'll be 38 this year. I have two younger brothers (35 and 31, I think). I'm married with a kid. So technically, I'm a grown up. Hence the name of this blog. The thought that came to me today might become a series of posts on various games I played in my youth. Games that made an impact and turned me into a lifetime gamer. I'll probably alternate a few of these posts with posts of games I'm currently playing (Diablo III!!). We'll see.

So the game that came to mind today was for the Atari 2600. It's the first system we got when I was a kid (maybe 8 or 9). I honestly don't remember the game that came with it (if it even came with one), or what the first game we got was, but the first game I remember was Demon Attack. There's really not much to it. The cover art on the box (see below) had robot looking space ships. Apparently they were actual demons or something. But it didn't matter. I spent hours and hours shooting these things from my mostly stationary ship. I remember getting to the last level, beating it, and the game starting over. The good old endless loop of old school games.

There's not really much to tell about it. It was a simple game, as most were in those days. We had more games, but I really don't remember what they were. I'm not sure why Demon Attack stands out in my mind. Some of my friends might have their theories.

In the years that followed a coworker of my Dad's gave us a Commodore 64. The only game I remember playing on that was called Black Magic. Which was okay because Harry Potter hadn't made Christian parents everywhere scared to death of fictional magic. But the best days in gaming for me were yet to come in the form of a little white box. The Nintendo Entertainment System.


2 comments:

  1. It's amazing how far games have come in just that time span! The first gaming system that I grew up with was NES. I LOVED that console system. (I also have fond memories of blowing into the SNES cartridge when the game didn't work just right :P).

    I've tried playing those games recently...and to be honest, while these games made me the gamer that I am today, I can't go backwards. I love those games because of the memories.

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  2. This is a great post. Good to see you writing on here again. My earliest gaming memories are with the NES and the Sega Master System. I neither had nor had seen an Atari when I was growing up. My wife, on the other hand, had a relative living with her who had an Atari and an NES and she played both. Mostly Pac-Man on the Atari. I find that I can go back and play NES games pretty easily and find the old graphics and gameplay charming. When I go back to a PS1 game, however, it is harder to get into it because the old graphics were muddy and blurry even if some of the games had excellent gameplay. Keep the posts coming.

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