I’ve played too many games to mention them all over the years on just about every major platform; From the Commodore Vic20 to the Play Station 3 and modern PC equivalent. Over this time I have experienced games within many different genres and appearance & way you play – From casual puzzle games to full motion dancing bullshit.
I have mentioned previously some of my game experience but will try to consolidate here. I will start by going through my most influential consoles and maybe a rant or two around them. After I will break down what games I enjoyed and write a little about why.
Console History
· Spectrum 48k Spectrum Awesomeness
· Commodore 64 Mission Impossible clip -has speech!
When I was six I got a Spectrum 48k handed down to me. I thought it was great at the time and I had/made a friend or two with similar interests. Games were cheap and demo tapes were aplenty so there were hundreds of games to keep me busy. My oldest brother Justin had a superior Commodore 64, and although the same games were often released on both platforms the commodore looked much better. Later on I inherited the console and also remember by best friend neighbour got one.
· Master System Double Dragon Footage - fave
I never had either of these 8bit consoles (while they were popular) but my friends did and they were amazing – with no loading screens, wicked graphics and controllers built in! Whoever had the latest game tended to have friends go round their place. We would often end up arguing and be sent home by someone’s mum… Good times.
· Commodore Amiga Lemmings = Memories of visiting Dad's mate's house
I was very happy with the Amiga – It was like a super version of my spectrum with hundreds of available games/demos and also the amazing “Deluxe Paint” where I could actually draw (another passion) and animate my own things! They were very popular with the people I knew and had many good games and you could even squeeze four or five people onto the keyboard for multiplayer games. On top of that you could get copied games from carboots or borrow them of friends – This gave me access to a whole world of games I would never of played otherwise. I loved arcades and played quite a few around Leicester – Billy Bates Funfair used to visit every year and had a good collection. I had a lot of experience at the dodgy local video shop in Highfields “Jazz’s Videos” they cost only 10p a credit there – faves include “Toki” and “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles”.
The 16Bit consoles were very important to me, I was at an age where I “should” be playing consoles and was given a Mega Drive for Christmas one year… It cost nearly £100 at the time. The games started to become more fitting for my age I was very popular for a year or so. My best mate next door got a SNES – Which I also loved even though you were meant to be SEGA OR Nintendo.
· Gameboy Zelda - A Gameboy game I liked a lot
I eventually got a Gameboy… and it was pretty good, I could play it casually round the house & garden and there was a good variety of games. The Lynx my brother had, and I “borrowed” one for half a year from a mate who actually robbed it I found out. The Gameboy got played more simply due to the variety and quality of the games available
· Playstation (PSX) Ochestral medley from FFVII - first encounter with an epic game score
· PC
The Playstation was a massive leap in technology, and 3D was actually decent (Not like the SNES’ “Mode 7” bullshit). The Playstation used CD format which meant Demo CDs could be packaged with magazines. I also had a paper round so could afford to buy games for it – I was around 16 at the time and is a prime age for the console. It was a lot more mature and was massively popular so friends could play together competitively. The N64 was also pretty good, but most games were “kiddy” in comparison. I had my N64 robbed out my flat in the pub I lived at but didn’t really miss it. One great thing I should say about it is the facility to plug in four joypads – This made some games brilliant. My mum had a PC, which was crappy at the time but I’m quite technical minded and used emulators – These emulate consoles and you could legally play games you own. Of course I downloaded games I wanted to play instead – and got addicted to Pokemon Red/Blue for the Gameboy among others.
· PlayStaion 2 (PS2)
· Gamecube
· PC
The Play Station 2 was a natural progression from the Play Station… And I had a wage so bought one second hand. Not much to talk about really – was very like the PSX in many ways including titles released. I had a life around here so didn’t play so much but had many Tekken sessions with my mate Lee. The Gamecube on the other hand was played much more – it was great as friends would often come around and had “game” games we would all play. I think we rinsed every Mario spin off (Soccar/Kart/Tennis etc). I miss those days. I nearly forgot about PC games, well Diablo 2. I got too engrossed in this game and was my first real experience of online gaming. I tried Unreal Tournament but my PC was too shit, multiplayer was a joke.
· Gameboy DS
· Xbox 360
· PC
Battlefield 3 Campaign gamepley screenshot
No PS3 – Too expensive and not enough good games. I’m still playing the 360 today, the thing about this generation of console is the implementation of online play, due to broadband or whatever there is a massive community to play with, Indy game market (which I really like as reminds me of older systems and demo games). It’s nice having a full screen to yourself and has opened up ways to play console games online. Battlefield 3 is a good example; on the 360 you have 24 players in the game - The logistics of doing this on a local network are stupid, now I just play as normal and we are all there. I recently upgraded my PC to modern standards and have some new games, although I have played emulations more – Even of old Megadrive games my step dad threw out and especially arcade games that I couldn’t play otherwise. My little sister tells me off for calling the DS a Gameboy, I’m right & she’s wrong! Gameboys have evolved like the Playstation and the variety of games is mega – the touch screen function and two screens has been very successful and added a unique and functional way to play.
Copyright Theft
I thought I’d give this a mention – Is a moral grey area for me. I have never been rich and naturally been brought up around piracy. I know it is wrong but I just wouldn’t have access to otherwise. When playing emulations of past console I think “Fuckit” – Some games I can legally play, but they are in the past and no longer sold through retail, I’m not really taking money of anyone… Right? Music wise I used to borrow friends tapes, then rent CD from library, then download of the net. My philosophy is a little different, I go out my way to buy CDs from gigs (even though I may have a copy somewhere) and can normally only find certain compilation on the net. It is a bit wrong, and I normally listen to podcasts/radio nowadays… I just wouldn’t go out to buy it anyway so aint gonna deprive myself for no reason.
Recently with my new PC I actually downloaded a pirate version of Skyrim. I did this for two reasons 1) test how it runs on my PC. 2) See if it would be worth buying. After about ten hours play I decided to get Steam and get on the PC gaming boat. I have since then been very happy with the pricing of games I actually want and have a backlog of games I have purchased.
