This came out a few days ago. I read it and did not think much about it at the time. But today as I was browsing the latest issue of Game Informer magazine I started thinking about it again. Not so much my first video gaming experience. If you are over a certain age I think the answer to that question is obvious. For me it was Pong. I never owned the game myself. My friend did though. I can still remember all the hours and hours we spent playing that game in his basement. His three brothers and I would take turns to see who was the best. Funny how I don't remember who was the best. I guess that means it was not me. Video games have come a long way since Pong. From there I bought the Atari 2600. More hours of my life gone. I moved from the Atari to the Colecovision. My best friend at the time had the Intellivision so we would take turns playing both systems. NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, PS One, PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, DS, and 360 have followed in my video gaming journey. Somewhere in the depths of debris in my basement I believe I still have the Colecovision and NES. At least I know I never traded those in for new systems. The PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, DS, and 360 I still own and have within easy reach with the 360 and DS being the systems still getting the most of my playing time.
Back to why I started to write this post. I was wondering if it matters at what point your first video gaming experience happened? Is it necessary to have started at the beginning with Pong? How about brand new gamers whose first experience is Bioshock, Halo 3, Mass Effect or Call of Duty 4? Which gamer has the advantage? I feel that having been through the whole development cycle lets me appreciate just how far we have come and just how amazing the games of today are. New gamers take for granted 3-D environments, amazing graphics, lighting/shading, multiplayer, and all the things that are ubiquitous today in games. Can they really appreciate what they have if that is all they have known? Does it really matter? In the end of course not. For all gamers--young and old--this is a special time. 2007 was truly one of the greatest years of gaming in history. I can't wait to see what the future will bring...
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2 comments:
My first video game experience was with an Atari that my sis and I got for Christmas one year. I remember playing the hell out of Space Invaders and I swear my sister had to be the SI champion of the world! I liked Pong, too. But then it got old really quickly. My first computer game was the text adventure called (oddly enough) Adventure. My bro-in-law had it on his Apple, I loved it. I thought it was cool when you'd type a naughty word like 'shit' and it would answer back 'not here, it attracts flies.' I didn't really pick up a video game until I started dating this guy who was into them. Hmm... wonder who that could be? :D
I think we (ie, old farts who played the very first video games) have a better appreciation for the graphics and technology of today because we saw how bad it was at first, lol! I think the whole 'retro game' renaissance is kind of funny, those games are so very boring by today's standards.
Darling, why don't you tell them how an act of sheer providence helped us to buy our first Playstation?
:D
Sheer providence...
We decided we wanted to pre-order the PSone. I figured I would trade in my SNES and Sega Genesis along with a bunch of games I finished. We knew we would still be short and we trying to justify the purchase when we stopped for gas at a local station. While filling the tank I looked down and saw a $50 bill laying on the ground. I quickly snatched it up and showed it to my future wife. Her reaction was to say she wanted to give it to the cashier in hopes the person who lost it would be able to reclaim it. My reaction was no way was I going to give it to some 18 year old making minimum wage hoping they would do the honorable thing. I then pointed out how if we put the money towards the PSone that would basically cover the cost with my trade in. You can guess which option we chose...
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