Hello! You are about to embark on a “journey” of mind-bending magnificence rivaled only by the limits of our collective imaginations. Also, you are about to read my thoughts about video games.
As my friends and fiancé can attest, I have many opinions. I like to share them. A lot. These last few years, I’ve gotten very into the hobby of video games and have developed many thoughts about where it is going and where it has come from. I’ve been inspired by Giantbomb.com as well as IGN, more specifically their PlayStation podcast, “Podcast Beyond.” Sometimes I can see eye to eye with the experts. Sometimes I think they are dumb. Now it’s time for YOU to decide. At least I’d like to pretend, anyway.
My history with video games is not defined by an obsession with the from, but I was definitely VERY into them from the ages of 6 to 13 or so. It all started when my parents got me an Atari 7800. At the time, I thought this was state of the art. In fact, I learned about the IDEA of video games from playing that very same model of Atari at my friend Ken Finney’s house one weekend. I knew I needed to have this immediately. Little did I know that the now classic, Nintendo Entertainment system already existed and was blowing kid’s minds on a daily basis and would continue to do so for years to come. I don’t think this was a calculated move by my parents to save money… but I CAN’T RULE IT OUT. I saw a similar scenario unfold with my cousins (my Dad’s brother’s kids) when I was over my Uncle’s house for Christmas one year and they were playing with their NEW Nintendo 64, when the PlayStation 2 had already been out for at least a year. Damn.
My sorry state of less than desirable gaming systems didn’t stop there though. After being convinced that I should have a Sega Master System INSTEAD of a Nintendo a few years later by my at the time best friend, Matt Rushton, I immediately became a “Sega” kid. I don’t have a ton of memories of the Master System, but I played the HELL out of “Great Baseball” “Missile Defense 3D” (The tech is still cool… I think). “Shinobi” and that damned maze game that was built in to every Master System. Also, the system had a way to buy games on cards as well as cartridges… the cards were smaller, cheaper games… sort of a precursor today’s downloadable titles. DIGRESSION: Sega has been ahead of it’s time a lot. They tried to bring CD-ROM gaming to the mainstream with Sega CD, attempted to make online play a reality with the Dreamcast and INCREDIBLY tried to make headway with a streaming (words not yet used) gaming service that worked over the phone lines called “Sega TV” which, to me at least, sounds eerily similar to Sony’s, just announced, “PlayStation Now” service. What I’m trying to say is, Sega had some great ideas, but were just a bit too far ahead of the technology curve for the general audience to be able to accept what they were trying to offer.
I plugged along with my Master System, for what seemed like an eternity, until one fateful Christmas, in 5th grade, when I received a Sega Genesis. Truth be told, this was also the year I had discovered the oh-so-secret hiding spot my Mother used to store my gifts (under the guest bed). I regret it now, because as an old man, I really miss the excitement of Christmas, but at the time, I HAD to know if I was going to get a Genesis or not. Well, I did! I saw the box, under the guest bed in all it’s glory! It even came with the original “Sonic the Hedgehog” packed in. IMAGINE THAT! Also, TWO controllers included in the box… my how the times have changed! At any rate, the excitement and wait for actual Christmas morning nearly killed me! I think I did a good job of pretending that I didn’t know what the box was when I unwrapped it, but after many years of seeing myself acting in my own film and video projects, I feel like my parents probably knew my shame. Or maybe they were in denial? Couldn’t be sure. <This should be read in a Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney voice, FYI>
My parents weren’t ones to shower me with gifts on a regular basis. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact, I think it helped me really appreciate the things that I have. However, as a result, the only game I had for a long time was the very same “Sonic the Hedgehog” cartridge that was packaged with the Genesis system. BOY, did I play the HELL out of that game! I loved every minute of it too, even though the later levels, as far as I can remember, are super annoying. I played it so much, that it lead to my, to this day, crowning achievement in all of video games: I beat that fucking game with ALL SIX CHOAS EMERALDS!!!! For those of you that remember this game, the chaos emeralds were a BITCH to get. Basically, at the end of each level, if you had at least 50 rings saved up, you could jump into a gigantic golden ring which would transport you to this weird rotating level that had an emerald in the middle, surrounded by gems you had to bust in order to get said emerald. For most people, this “bonus” level was a crap shoot at best, but since I played the game so damned much, I started to get good at them. The real crappy thing though, is that with only 7 worlds, you only could mess up one time and still beat the game with all 6 emeralds. Sure, you can win without all 6 emeralds, but it’s this empty sort of feeling, at least it was to me it was. Also, more importantly, if you DO manage to beat the game and also get all the emeralds, you are treated to Sonic, the titular hedgehog turing from blue to gold… a ripoff of “Dragon Ball Z” that I was not yet aware of at the time. AMAZING!
I did actually play other games on my Genesis, I just never loved, or tried as hard with any ever again. In fact, I think the only other one I was able to actually beat was “Captain America and the Avengers.” (I CAN’T MOVE!!! THANK YOU… QUICKSILVER!). Part of this was the fact that games weren’t meant to be beat in the same way that they are now, but that’s a discussion for a different day. There were many great games for the Genesis that I played constantly… the ones that come to mind at the moment are “Mortal Kombat”, “NBA Jam”, “Earthworm Jim”, MANY NHL games, “Street Fight II: Turbo: Championship Edition” that shitty “X-Men” game, “Madden” and probably a ton others I can’t remember. Point is, I loved that system… but then a funny thing happened. I decided that I was “tool old” to play video games anymore. I actually gave my Genesis and all the games I had away to a family friend. (I maybe have sold it for like 50 bucks… I really can’t remember). Nonetheless. I was out of the gaming scene.
[SMALL ASIDE: During this time I was playing some games on the PC, most notably “Sins of the Fathers: A Gabriel Knight Mystery” and “Rebel Assault”. I also had a Gameboy (which I still have to this day) that came in very handy on those long, Summer road trips. One day I’ll talk about my love of “Gabriel Knight.” One day.]
What this means is, I largely missed out on N64, the original PlayStation and everything else that came out during that time. Not to say that I didn’t play any of these games, I just didn’t have them at home, so I never had a “true” love for them. My friend Craig had an N64 with which we played endless hours of “Goldeneye” and I tried out some of the wrestling games on the system, but that was about it. That was largely the same story for me concerning the original Nintendo. My across the street neighbor (and STILL good friend) Ben had one and we played it a lot. But it was never mine, so it’s hard to think of myself as a “Nintendo” kid.
When I got my own apartment in college, I decided that I “needed” to have a DVD player, so I decided to get a PlayStation 2. I had played a tiny bit of games on it before and was amazed at the graphics, to say the least. The problem was, since I largely missed out on the previous generation, I was TERRIBLE at using the now normal, twin-stick configuration and plethora of buttons and triggers found on the Dual Shock 2, Sony’s standard controller. I did my due diligence and bought “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” and “Virtual Fighter 4 (?)”. I quickly realized that not only did I suck at GTA, but fighting games are REALLY boring when you don’t have a best friend like Ben to play them with every day after school.
With the exception of the Tiger Woods game I got and played to death (party due to an addiction to the bar game “Golden Tee”) I pretty much didn’t care about games anymore. It felt like a part of me had died, but also a new part of me, one that liked to drink a lot in bars and think about girls I’d never ask out had been born!!! The PlayStation 2 wasn’t a total bust though… at least it was a DVD player that had a “remote” that was a wired controller; sort of like one of those super old VCR remotes that was connected to the device via a wire… yes, I’m that old that I can remember that.
Flash Forward several years. I decide to get a Wii!!! I was enamored with the idea of motion control. I was fooled into thinking it would make games “simple” again and that they would be something that I’d like to play. With the exception of the still amazing “Wii Sports” and the phenomenal “Super Mario Galaxy”, the Wii just didn’t turn me into a gamer like I had hoped. I sure tried though! I got to this mountain/underwater section in “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” (is that far??) and I attempted to play “Resident Evil 4” but just found the games to be too frustrating. Plus I had BAND PRACTICES to go to (have I mentioned I was in band… ) so I just never really got good at the games.
Eventually, my parents decided to get me a PlayStation 3 for Christmas. This was because I had recently acquired an HDTV. You see, when they upgraded their setup to HD, the dude at the store convinced them to get a PS3, as it was the cheapest Blu Ray player on the market. They liked using it, and figured I would too. Considering the struggles Sony faced in getting the PS3 to be as ubiquitous of a device as the PS2, perhaps someone at the company’s heart would be warmed to know that they were able to sell some boxes with the Blu Ray strategy.
After receiving this gift, I decided that I should give games one more shot. I got “Uncharted 2” and was completely blown away by the graphics, the storytelling, the gun-play and the puzzle solving. I was HOOKED and there was no looking back!
That’s where this column comes in. I’ve become entrenched in the world of videos games. This was true even when I had a Wii. In that time I was fascinated by the new developments in games, but felt left out because not only was the awesome stuff not coming out on the Wii, but I also felt like I sucked at games too much to enjoy the best the industry had to offer anyway. Luckily for me, “Uncharted 2” and then many games after that taught me how to play again and now I feel like I have a real opinion about how these things are supposed to go. At least I think I do. I don’t play everything, and sometimes I give up on a title too fast, but in the last 3 or so years, I’ve clawed my way back into the world of having a real understanding of this amazing medium.
My goal in this column is not to be a “journalist” or an “expert.” I want to call it like I see it and see if people agree with me or not. I want to review games, but not in the standard sense that your average video game site would; if I’m playing a game and I think it sucks, I’m not going to finish it so I can definitively say it sucks… I’m just going to stop and say what I think. Also, since I am cheap, the reviews will most certainly not be timely. That being said, if you are a gamer like me, you play games way after they come out anyway, so WHO CARES? When news comes down the pipe, I’ll try to put a spin on it that maybe you hadn’t thought of before. At the very least, I plan to not be a glorified Press Release delivery system, which, in my opinion, has become the fate of many an online gaming outlet.
I have lots of ideas and theories and other bullshit that I’d like to share here, so my plan is to do just that. It should be a fun ride! Join me… IF YOU DARE!!!!!!
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