Totally missed this thread, so thanks to missmonopoly for starting another one, and dionysus for then pointing this one out
Even though i come from a 'poor' family moneywise, i still managed to have almost every console that ever came out, and the first one (i thought) was the Atari Pong predecessor 'videopac 2000', but when i just googled it i got other results then i expected...
This resembles what i had the most, although i remember there being different colors:
All you got were two stripes left and right (players/rackets), a dot (the ball) and a stripe in the middle (the net) and there were a few variations, so the above was the Tennis or Pong game, then there was football and bowling and Squash, with the same graphics
It was great, amazing even, and since then i naturally felt the need to keep up with all the developments, even though i was very young. As soon as the Atari 2600 came out, i was one of the first 'in line' and spent countless hours of my youth getting Frogger to the other side of the road
Of course i played many more Games, but Frogger was really one of the most captivating.
Then came the Nes
This bugger was quite expensive at release, and so i couldn't get it right away.. instead, i skipped school as much as i could, to go to the only big supermarket around, where they had a toy-store which had a demo/testing version of Mario Bros, i remember standing there for hours, surrounded by other young delinquents that were obviously also skipping school, all around the age of 10, and even finishing the whole game in that store. Yes, i was one of those crazy geek kids that could run through all 8 worlds, without stopping, using the few shortcuts there were, in about 6 minutes.
I felt pretty cool about that, as i also loved the competitive element in most Games, i really enjoyed all of the Games that came out on that system, and pretty much ended up having them all.
Skipping a few years, i was already kind of 'grown up' but still had a big Game Room, with a huge ass TV, a playstation 2 and an X-Box, with pretty much all Games, Arcade Controllers, a steering wheel with pedals, and later of course also the Eye-Toy.
Counting back what i have spent on all that crap over the years, i probably could buy a small house somewhere with that
Nevertheless, it provided me, and my friends, with countless hours of fun, so no regrets.
If i had to pick a few all time favorites, then Pong, Frogger and Mario are in that list for sure, and from later systems, i really was amazed by the GTA series, which was basically exactly what i had been fantasizing about with my buddies, since the Super Nintendo, and their cool FPS shooters came out.
And another Game, that is my current favorite, is Call of Duty 4, multiplayer: i can't say how many hours exactly i've already played this (most of the times cussing and raving, but nevertheless having loads of fun) but there are 1000's of them.
I really feel it's one of the best and most realistic Game Engines so far, and the tempo is exactly right.
If anyone here still plays that on PC, be sure to p.m. me, so we can battle for fun
Anyway, i played way too many cool Games, that i can't even all remember because i was stoned out of my mind most of the time, and they really have 'accompanied' me through my early childhood, puberty, teenager and young adult years, providing shitloads of entertainment.:notworthy
Sorry for the long winded post, but that's what you get when you get old men to reminisce
Edit: reading that some of you even played FPS on pro level, i'd love to challenge you on the CoD 4 platform! MP of course, and PC, i think i am up for the 'pro' challenge...
