Overview | Gaming | Adelaide | References
Playing video games and following the games industry as a whole has been one of my longest hobbies and interests. The games industry is becoming, if not already become, the largest entertainment industry in the world. This interest began when I was only four years old, when my family bought a Commodore 64. Back then, copying and sharing games with each other was not considered the same as piracy is thought of today. Games were opened shared between people, and it was as simple as placing two cassettes in a stereo player and recording the game cassette onto a blank cassette and listening to the high-pitched squeal! :-)
As well as playing hundreds of games on the Commodore 64, I began writing simple text-based games in the BASIC language. BASIC was indeed an easy language to learn and grasp, and perhaps introduced programming to a number of today's professional software developers.
When I turned 15, Microsoft released Windows 95 which could have be considered a revolution in home computing. It coincided with a boom in the popularity of the Internet. These two aspects really helped with the popularity of PC gaming which is enjoyed today.
My family and I saved and bought our first PC which had Windows 95 installed on it. This was my first real exposure to PC gaming. Around this time, the PC games which really grabbed my attention and introduced me to 3D gaming were Doom and Quake. These games in addition to Wolfenstein 3D were what really kicked off the popularity of 3D gaming.
In the late 1990s, I purchased a Sony PlayStation. This was my first real serious gaming console and many, many hours were spent saving the world, adventuring in far off galaxies and just generally having fun. Following this was the Nintendo 64, and then a Sony PlayStation 2.
From approximately 2002 to 2008, I went back to PC and began playing an MMORPG called Final Fantasy XI. MMORPGs are not like other forms of video games - they are expansive virtual worlds where thousands of players can play in the same world at the same time. These game worlds are always expanding and getting bigger, with new quests and adventures and things to do being added all the time. The most popular example of an MMORPG is World Of Warcraft, which attracts millions of players around the world. Although these games are extremely popular, they are also extremely addictive, and players can lose hundreds of real life days immersed in these game worlds. Although yes I was addicted, I did have an amazing time with a lot of fond memories and I met a lot of friends playing the game, some of which I still keep in contact with today. Although it was mostly a positive experience, I would not recommend MMORPGs for anyone who may be interested. One hour of playing leads to two hours, two hours leads to four hours, and before you know it, you spend the majority of your free time playing these games when you could be achieving real life goals. It was very hard to quit, but I'm very glad I did.
This did not stop me from playing video games completely however. In the late 2000s, I purchased an Xbox 360. This console was quite a change for me from previous consoles, as it was the first Internet connected console to Microsoft's online service Xbox Live. The Xbox 360 has become more than just a games console. Although you can play games competitively with other players online, you can also purchase and download whole games and game add-ons (known as downloadable content, or DLC), purchase and stream full movies, listen to music, and you can even watch YouTube or subscribe to Foxtel. Although I don't play nearly as much as I used to, you can still find me playing on Xbox Live every now and then with friends chasing achievements to build my gamerscore.
Video game graphic taken from http://lordlaney.wordpress.com/