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Please allow me to wallow in nostalgia for a while, it is self indulgent but I have witnessed so much change over the last twenty years or so.
It all began many years ago, for me, on an Atari console that was as powerful as a calculator that is particularly renowned for being slow, ponderous, useless and unable to work even the most basic of things out. If a calculator could be a person it would be Jade. I digress, so I experience the video game revolution for the first time. My initial foray is on an adventure game inspiringly called “The Adventure Game”, which was a massive three screens long and featured an eponymous hero, the blob. The aim of the game, sorry adventure, was to move the blob around the screen, whilst being chased by the Dragon (two blob bob as he was probably christened by his parents) whilst trying to find the key (the golden blob) and use it to unlock the chest (that brown blob). Completed within minutes I did wonder, even as a young scamp, what all the fuss was about. At least I could play Blobber, I mean Frogger, or was it Logger?
Then came the Vic 20, BBC, Spectrum and Dragon 32 era, golden days at primary school when given the opportunity to play an “educational game”. The graphics were beginning to get advanced, as blobs now became particularly realistic looking. The proliferation of text based adventures was also welcomed as these monstrous computers displayed text as well as any typewriter ever could. Elite on the BBC was a landmark (ironic given it’s space exploration theme) for computer games. Ah the hours I spent playing this game. Ah the emotions I expressed whilst playing, ranging from tears and frustration to anger. “Why can’t I dock you cretinous computer, I’m going to kill you! Dad where’s the hammer?” Then to joy, “Finally I’ve docked, only twenty more dockings required until I can afford a docking computer. The obsession”. The pain.
I’d rather not talk about my Amstrad 464 period (very painful and I didn’t think that boys could, well you know) but I will tell you that I had a green screen monitor! My friends parent’s promptly bought him the same computer but it had a colour screen. This saved him from the total humiliation foisted upon us from the Commodore 64 owners. There computers had very colourful graphics and the noises were more than beeps and whistles.
Soon there was the Atari ST and the Amiga, which not only defined the advance in gaming, it also defined who you were as a person (the start of the second computer wars). I had to make a choice, if I pick the wrong computer I will end up as a social outcast (again). This was a major decision and needed careful contemplation. I had been diligently saving for ages and after Christmas I would have enough (given the influx of money from relatives) to buy one or the other. Soon it was clear, the Amiga was the better computer, I’d get one.
I awoke on Christmas day to find there is an unusually large present under the tree for me. My parents are grinning like Cheshire cats after ten cans of special brew. They think they have pulled off a blinder. I had been telling them about my dilemma (hint hint) in a vain attempt to influence them into buying me an Amiga. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Hastily I unwrap the hideous paper and am flabbergasted. If I knew that it was possible to divorce yourself from your parents, I would have chosen that moment to do so.
ST stood for Sh*te Technology. I shouldn’t be ungrateful but I spent the next few years being chased around playgrounds and car parks for their “thoughtfulness”.
Now older and wiser I am happy enough with my humble Playstation and my monster PC. I can now delve into the depths of my mind and recall, with mirth, the good old days when games crashed for no apparent reason and the titles of games were as unimaginative as the games themselves. Games were released in their droves with little consideration to quality and pointless arguments raged for years about whose system was best.
Then I realise, some things never change.
It all began many years ago, for me, on an Atari console that was as powerful as a calculator that is particularly renowned for being slow, ponderous, useless and unable to work even the most basic of things out. If a calculator could be a person it would be Jade. I digress, so I experience the video game revolution for the first time. My initial foray is on an adventure game inspiringly called “The Adventure Game”, which was a massive three screens long and featured an eponymous hero, the blob. The aim of the game, sorry adventure, was to move the blob around the screen, whilst being chased by the Dragon (two blob bob as he was probably christened by his parents) whilst trying to find the key (the golden blob) and use it to unlock the chest (that brown blob). Completed within minutes I did wonder, even as a young scamp, what all the fuss was about. At least I could play Blobber, I mean Frogger, or was it Logger?
Then came the Vic 20, BBC, Spectrum and Dragon 32 era, golden days at primary school when given the opportunity to play an “educational game”. The graphics were beginning to get advanced, as blobs now became particularly realistic looking. The proliferation of text based adventures was also welcomed as these monstrous computers displayed text as well as any typewriter ever could. Elite on the BBC was a landmark (ironic given it’s space exploration theme) for computer games. Ah the hours I spent playing this game. Ah the emotions I expressed whilst playing, ranging from tears and frustration to anger. “Why can’t I dock you cretinous computer, I’m going to kill you! Dad where’s the hammer?” Then to joy, “Finally I’ve docked, only twenty more dockings required until I can afford a docking computer. The obsession”. The pain.
I’d rather not talk about my Amstrad 464 period (very painful and I didn’t think that boys could, well you know) but I will tell you that I had a green screen monitor! My friends parent’s promptly bought him the same computer but it had a colour screen. This saved him from the total humiliation foisted upon us from the Commodore 64 owners. There computers had very colourful graphics and the noises were more than beeps and whistles.
Soon there was the Atari ST and the Amiga, which not only defined the advance in gaming, it also defined who you were as a person (the start of the second computer wars). I had to make a choice, if I pick the wrong computer I will end up as a social outcast (again). This was a major decision and needed careful contemplation. I had been diligently saving for ages and after Christmas I would have enough (given the influx of money from relatives) to buy one or the other. Soon it was clear, the Amiga was the better computer, I’d get one.
I awoke on Christmas day to find there is an unusually large present under the tree for me. My parents are grinning like Cheshire cats after ten cans of special brew. They think they have pulled off a blinder. I had been telling them about my dilemma (hint hint) in a vain attempt to influence them into buying me an Amiga. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Hastily I unwrap the hideous paper and am flabbergasted. If I knew that it was possible to divorce yourself from your parents, I would have chosen that moment to do so.
ST stood for Sh*te Technology. I shouldn’t be ungrateful but I spent the next few years being chased around playgrounds and car parks for their “thoughtfulness”.
Now older and wiser I am happy enough with my humble Playstation and my monster PC. I can now delve into the depths of my mind and recall, with mirth, the good old days when games crashed for no apparent reason and the titles of games were as unimaginative as the games themselves. Games were released in their droves with little consideration to quality and pointless arguments raged for years about whose system was best.
Then I realise, some things never change.
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Please allow me to wallow in nostalgia for a while, it is self indulgent but I have witnessed so much change over the last twenty years or so.
It all began many years ago, for me, on an Atari console that was as powerful as a calculator that is particularly renowned for being slow, ponderous, useless and unable to work even the most basic of things out. If a calculator could be a person it would be Jade. I digress, so I experience the video game revolution for the first time. My initial foray is on an adventure game inspiringly called “The Adventure Game”, which was a massive three screens long and featured an eponymous hero, the blob. The aim of the game, sorry adventure, was to move the blob around the screen, whilst being chased by the Dragon (two blob bob as he was probably christened by his parents) whilst trying to find the key (the golden blob) and use it to unlock the chest (that brown blob). Completed within minutes I did wonder, even as a young scamp, what all the fuss was about. At least I could play Blobber, I mean Frogger, or was it Logger?
Then came the Vic 20, BBC, Spectrum and Dragon 32 era, golden days at primary school when given the opportunity to play an “educational game”. The graphics were beginning to get advanced, as blobs now became particularly realistic looking. The proliferation of text based adventures was also welcomed as these monstrous computers displayed text as well as any typewriter ever could. Elite on the BBC was a landmark (ironic given it’s space exploration theme) for computer games. Ah the hours I spent playing this game. Ah the emotions I expressed whilst playing, ranging from tears and frustration to anger. “Why can’t I dock you cretinous computer, I’m going to kill you! Dad where’s the hammer?” Then to joy, “Finally I’ve docked, only twenty more dockings required until I can afford a docking computer. The obsession”. The pain.
I’d rather not talk about my Amstrad 464 period (very painful and I didn’t think that boys could, well you know) but I will tell you that I had a green screen monitor! My friends parent’s promptly bought him the same computer but it had a colour screen. This saved him from the total humiliation foisted upon us from the Commodore 64 owners. There computers had very colourful graphics and the noises were more than beeps and whistles.
Soon there was the Atari ST and the Amiga, which not only defined the advance in gaming, it also defined who you were as a person (the start of the second computer wars). I had to make a choice, if I pick the wrong computer I will end up as a social outcast (again). This was a major decision and needed careful contemplation. I had been diligently saving for ages and after Christmas I would have enough (given the influx of money from relatives) to buy one or the other. Soon it was clear, the Amiga was the better computer, I’d get one.
I awoke on Christmas day to find there is an unusually large present under the tree for me. My parents are grinning like Cheshire cats after ten cans of special brew. They think they have pulled off a blinder. I had been telling them about my dilemma (hint hint) in a vain attempt to influence them into buying me an Amiga. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Hastily I unwrap the hideous paper and am flabbergasted. If I knew that it was possible to divorce yourself from your parents, I would have chosen that moment to do so.
ST stood for Sh*te Technology. I shouldn’t be ungrateful but I spent the next few years being chased around playgrounds and car parks for their “thoughtfulness”.
Now older and wiser I am happy enough with my humble Playstation and my monster PC. I can now delve into the depths of my mind and recall, with mirth, the good old days when games crashed for no apparent reason and the titles of games were as unimaginative as the games themselves. Games were released in their droves with little consideration to quality and pointless arguments raged for years about whose system was best.
Then I realise, some things never change.
It all began many years ago, for me, on an Atari console that was as powerful as a calculator that is particularly renowned for being slow, ponderous, useless and unable to work even the most basic of things out. If a calculator could be a person it would be Jade. I digress, so I experience the video game revolution for the first time. My initial foray is on an adventure game inspiringly called “The Adventure Game”, which was a massive three screens long and featured an eponymous hero, the blob. The aim of the game, sorry adventure, was to move the blob around the screen, whilst being chased by the Dragon (two blob bob as he was probably christened by his parents) whilst trying to find the key (the golden blob) and use it to unlock the chest (that brown blob). Completed within minutes I did wonder, even as a young scamp, what all the fuss was about. At least I could play Blobber, I mean Frogger, or was it Logger?
Then came the Vic 20, BBC, Spectrum and Dragon 32 era, golden days at primary school when given the opportunity to play an “educational game”. The graphics were beginning to get advanced, as blobs now became particularly realistic looking. The proliferation of text based adventures was also welcomed as these monstrous computers displayed text as well as any typewriter ever could. Elite on the BBC was a landmark (ironic given it’s space exploration theme) for computer games. Ah the hours I spent playing this game. Ah the emotions I expressed whilst playing, ranging from tears and frustration to anger. “Why can’t I dock you cretinous computer, I’m going to kill you! Dad where’s the hammer?” Then to joy, “Finally I’ve docked, only twenty more dockings required until I can afford a docking computer. The obsession”. The pain.
I’d rather not talk about my Amstrad 464 period (very painful and I didn’t think that boys could, well you know) but I will tell you that I had a green screen monitor! My friends parent’s promptly bought him the same computer but it had a colour screen. This saved him from the total humiliation foisted upon us from the Commodore 64 owners. There computers had very colourful graphics and the noises were more than beeps and whistles.
Soon there was the Atari ST and the Amiga, which not only defined the advance in gaming, it also defined who you were as a person (the start of the second computer wars). I had to make a choice, if I pick the wrong computer I will end up as a social outcast (again). This was a major decision and needed careful contemplation. I had been diligently saving for ages and after Christmas I would have enough (given the influx of money from relatives) to buy one or the other. Soon it was clear, the Amiga was the better computer, I’d get one.
I awoke on Christmas day to find there is an unusually large present under the tree for me. My parents are grinning like Cheshire cats after ten cans of special brew. They think they have pulled off a blinder. I had been telling them about my dilemma (hint hint) in a vain attempt to influence them into buying me an Amiga. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Hastily I unwrap the hideous paper and am flabbergasted. If I knew that it was possible to divorce yourself from your parents, I would have chosen that moment to do so.
ST stood for Sh*te Technology. I shouldn’t be ungrateful but I spent the next few years being chased around playgrounds and car parks for their “thoughtfulness”.
Now older and wiser I am happy enough with my humble Playstation and my monster PC. I can now delve into the depths of my mind and recall, with mirth, the good old days when games crashed for no apparent reason and the titles of games were as unimaginative as the games themselves. Games were released in their droves with little consideration to quality and pointless arguments raged for years about whose system was best.
Then I realise, some things never change.