Artoo and his Video Games

A quiet evening at how which saw me play a few games of Mario Kart DS. THis got me thinking about my introduction to Video Games.

Okay, as most of you know, I am an avid video game enthousiast.

As a kid, I was introduced like many to the wonderful world of video games through the Atari VCS (or for most of us, the Atari 2600). My 3 cousins were the first to own one in my little world. They had about a dozen games (Pitfall, Combat, Spike's Peak, Vanguard, Space Invaders, Pac-man, Dragster, etc.) Everytime I would go over their place I was mesmarized by it. Other than on TV, my exposure to video games limited itself to Arcade Cabinets in shopping malls, pictures in the Sears Wishbook catalogue and a television show called StarCade (I will talk a little bit more about this show in a few weeks). The idea of being able to play games on a TV set was soooo cool. You didn't have to put quarters in the machine and you could play for hours and hours.

My first video game system was an Atari (It was actually a Gemini which was an Atari clone. My Gemini came with 2 games : Donkey Kong and Mouse Trap. It didn't take me long to get hooked. A few weeks later, I purchased a used Jungle Hunt game from a kid that lived a few blocks away from my house. I payed $30 of my hard earned allowance for that game. I was in heaven.

As time passed, our household acquired a a VIC-20 computer and an a few years later, it was an Adam Computer (which played Coleco games). When I started High School I received as a gift for getting into Private School a Nintendo 8 bit system (or NES). What I got was the Action System. It came with the consiole, 2 control pads, the light gun and a double with the games Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt on it. I didn't own many games nor did I finish many of them but I kept going back. The first game I finished was Metal Gear.

A couple of years passed and I bought a Super Nintendo. I played for quite a few years on the SNES. During this same period, I discovered computer games and through them, I learned my way around computer hardware and software. In an indirect way, they helped me learn some computer skills which led to my first job with the Government doing technical support.

I have since kept up on my console gaming. Over the years, i've followed the evolution of video games through a Playstation, a Sega Genesis as well as the big three from recent years: an X-Box, a Game Cube and a Playstation 2.

Four or 5 years ago, I decided to get into Retro Gaming Collecting and I have since acquired some of the video toys that I only saw on TV and in that Sears Wishbook catalogue: Aan Intellevision, a ColecoVision, a Vectrex, a Sega Saturn, a Dreamcast as well as a collection of Nintendo Gameboys (the original one, the Gameboy Advance, the SP).

I also purchased on Ebay a Magnavox Odyseey which is the fist home video game console. It came out in 1972 and about 150,000 units were sold worlwide.

last year, I picked up from Benjamin Heckendorn a hand-crafter Atari 2600 Phoenix, which is a portable Atari VCS wich plays old Atari cartrige (think Gameboy which can play Atari).

My prise posession is not this Odyssey though, it's a lifesize Pac-Man Arcade cabinet which I built with my dad last Summer. I run multiple arcade game emulators in it and it sits proudly in my living room. Over the week-end, I will try to post the picture journal of its construction.

This past July, I was introduced to the Nintendo DS. You may have heard me go on about this wonder of a handheld before. All I can say is that I've seen many consoles and handheld in my day and this one is truly pure-genius! It captures the essence of what gaming truly is. I must have about 20 or so DS games so far. My girlfriend is now addicted to it as well and she has even purchased her own unit.

This past month, the console introduced us to Nintendo Wi-Fi, which is a free on-line gaming service. Very promissing service!

No, i'm in no rush to get into the XBox 360, nor the Playstation 3. From what I have seen and read, there won't be too much innovation coming from these consoles for a while. I am not interested in playing the same racing or shooting games over and over again just because they have suped-up graphics. Most game developpers have stopped being creative and are putting out the same games over and over again. Where is the innovation?

COmment posters: I'd be curious as to what your first exposure to Video Games was. Please share.

Iplaying: nothing because my Ipod is getting repair care at the Apple place in Markham Ontario.