So I just spent 6 days out of a gamers life attempting to install a computer game that was originally released in the year 2000 on my laptop which is now running windows 7, the new thoroughbred of operating systems.  As I spent quality time perusing old old forums and blog posts trying to figure out ways to sidestep and circumvent old installers and windows 98 configuration files i realized that I can actually define my life by the games I have played that are near and dear to me.  So here goes.

In 1977 Atari Pong was released with much hoopla and mass market appeal.  I remember clearly going to another child’s birthday party and having the old stand alone PONG console as the main party fun. Hours and hours we spent blipping that ball back and forth, utterly mesmerized by the tiny glowing orb as it bounced from one side of the screen to the other.  I can recall NOT wanting to leave his house.

I wasn’t fortunate enough to get my hands on a home video game console until the early 80’s.  It was then that the joy of ATARI came into my life. I have only the fondest of memories and still play these games today.  Combat, Space Invaders, Missile Command, Yar’s Revenge, Berserk, Demon Attack, Pac- man and Pitfall were all my favorite pastime from 1980- 1986

In 1987 I spent the night at a buddies house for a guys sleepover.  He had Nintendo Entertainment System.  After 15 minutes of Glorious, full color, in your face Super Mario Brothers I was hooked.  I wanted one of these so bad that I begged my mother for months to get me one.  Here is the greatest thing I remember about this system, besides the plethora of AWSOME titles for it.  My mother, the greatest mom ever, spent her income tax return getting me this game system.  I played the hell out of Dragon Warrior, Punch Out, Metroid, Double Dribble, Castlevania and many, many more from about 87 till the early 90’s.

Now for some obscurity.  In about 1991, when I was a junior in high school. I got my hands on a TurboGrafx-16.  Keith Courage, Bonk, Alien Crush Splatterhouse, Golden Axe, Dragon Spirit and DoubleDungeon sucked up a lot of my time.  The TG16 was a short lived console but I still have very fond memories of the quality titles for that system.

About that same time in my life as I graduated from high school and got engaged to be married, I was introduced by a friend to the world of Computer Gaming. He had a computer in his house that we would tinker with after we played our marathon Dungeons & Dragons session. He had A-10 tank killer and Wolfenstein 3d on his box, which opened my eyes to the POWER of computers. I think I learned how planes take off and land and the German language all at the same time.  I had to get my own computer, of course.

Yeah, I played Super Nintendo, managing to get hooked on Street Fighter 2 turbo, Super Metroid, Super Castlevania, Tetris and others around this time also.  I can remember hanging with my buddies for endless hours beating the crap out of each other.  My wife also learned the joys of video games as she fell hard for Tetris.  However there was no denying that the paradigms had shifted and I realized my true love and calling COMPUTERS.

From the mid 90’s till the early 2000’s I had to Juggle Console and Computer Games both, because that’s the kind of geek I am.  Games I can remember drooling over on the Sony Playstationwere Tekken, Tekken 2, Twisted Metal, Return fire and Resident evil.   On the PC I can recall fragging with the best of them playing Doom, and Duke Nukem.  I also remember that at some point in there I upgraded my computer and Enjoyed the JAW DROPPING graphics of Unreal.  Unreal especially holds a great memory for me because I remember buying a new video card just for that game.  Back then this was a new thing.  These days, a new video card for a new game is pretty common place.  That brings us to the new millennium.

In 2000 a computer game called Vampire the Masquerade:Redemption came out.  That’s the game I was trying to install on my windows 7 machine.  It was and still is one of my favorite story driven games.  I feel it was far beyond its time in terms of story and depth.  Seems antiquated now as far as graphics go but the story and game play are still strong.

   I have Been playing almost exclusively PC games for the last 10 years.  Ecco the Dolphin for Dreamcast, Fable for XBOX, Mass Effect and Bioshock raise warm cockles of my heart, but nothing like the old days.  I hope you have enjoyed this romp through games past as much as I have.  Amazing how far we have come and how crazy it is that I have been around for it all.