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Finally. I'm accomplishing a dream of some sort with this first blog. I am able to talk about video games and call it work at the same time. Achievement unlocked!
When I heard about the national blogs we are doing, and all the topics that would be covered, I noticed this glaring omission. Video games. When I asked our regional person if I could write about video games, I got the same look I've gotten almost everytime I meet someone as an adult when I tell them I play video games. Still?
As many people know, video games are for adults too now. They have been for a long time, it just didn't become mainstream until the Wii arrived. Well, I've been playing video games way before that happened.
It was 1991, I was in first grade and at my classmate's birthday party. I went to the basement, and a couple of people were playing Castlevania on the NES. When they got bored and stopped, I jumped at the controller to see what this magical device was. About an hour later, my friend's mom asked if I wanted to go outside and play with the other children. Oh yeah, I'm at a birthday party. I guess I should be social.
Less than a year later, my first communion came around. The best part about that was the party afterwards and all the money I got. Half went into the bank, the other half went to a NES which came boxed with Super Mario Bros. 3.
Twenty years later, I still have that NES. And Super Mario Bros. 3. And the box. Yes, I still have the box.
Yes, I'm that kind of gamer. I own nearly 400 games between an NES, N64, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Wii, Playstation 3, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, DS and 3DS. And let's not forget the PC I'm typing this on with its quad core processor and 10 gigs of ram.
I know what you're thinking. All those gamer stereotypes have popped in your head.
What, a guy with nearly 400 games is married? Yeah, but don't get me wrong. When I started dating my now wife, I didn't allow her to see my collection - most of which sits on the shelves seperate by system and in the order in which I bought them - until I was pretty sure she wouldn't run away. Thankfully she didn't, but she does have names for my DS and 3DS which I can't repeat here.
So, what are my plans with this blog? Well to discuss games, duh. I play both new and older games. And by old I don't just mean games that came out a year ago. I'm talking real retro. The 20 3DS ambassador games given to us Nintendo loyalists for buying the system early has renewed my interest in NES titles and the like.
But I do love new games and last night I downloaded Pushmo from the 3DS eShop. After a couple of hours, I can already see this is some new form of crack I'll be playing the heck out of in the coming weeks.
See ya for now, Mallo is calling my name and there are some fluffy children to save.
Video games have been a part of Andrew's life since childhood. Buying a NES with his own money in second grade, Andrew has continued playing games through the Nintendo 64, Gamecube, PS2 and now the Wii, PS3 and PC gaming on Steam era. Throw in the handheld systems of Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, DS and now 3DS, and the collection in his house could rival that of some used game stores. Growing up and becoming an editor at The Suburbanite newspaper did not mean giving them up. Keep up with the latest video games and discuss some classics as we remind ourselves being adult doesn't mean you have to stop gaming.
