User Blog:
My Personal Gaming History

As a child growing up in the 90’s I was exposed to an abundance of computer games, and witnessed the advent of the home pc from a machine that could just about handle Doom (with sounds from the Aliens movie of course, more on that later) to silicone monsters that can devour even the most next-gen of games. Consoles too have marched steadily on in their quest for ever more slick graphics, from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Playstation 3, and show no signs of stopping. I’ve watched this march of technology as I’ve grown up, and it fascinates me now to look back and relive some of the classics that shaped my journey through the age of the videogame.

 Starting at the beginning I would have to say that the first game I can remember playing was Doom. My Dad had his own computer which he would always be tinkering with, and I can remember watching him playing this insane shooting game with shotguns, chainguns and rocket launchers... Basically everything that a young boy wishes to find in his stocking on Christmas morning. When he let me play it I would be glued to it, blasting the Hell (oh snap, bad pun) out of all sorts of horrible things. Doom became a truely iconic game for me when my Dad loaded sound clips from James Cameron’s Aliens movie, my absolute favourite movie when I was a child; I didn’t know it at the time, but I had just been exposed to my first ever ‘mod’.

                                                        
                                                                                                How is this NOT awesome?!

 My first console experience was a summer long ago when my cousin loaned me his Super Nintendo, along with a few games. The idea was that I would give him it back at the end of the summer, a fine idea in theory had I not actually played the thing. I became obsessed with one game and one game alone, Super Mario World. This game became the life and soul of my console addiction for a long time, I would even bring it to relatives houses just so I could play it! I rarely looked at the other games my cousin gave me, although Super Mario Allstars governed a bit of my attention when I got stuck in SMW.

                                                                                                      Best. Game. Ever.
 

 As far as hand held gaming goes I got an original Gameboy (black of course) and an assortment of games one Christmas (at least I think it was Christmas :S) and instantly became addicted to Zelda: Link’s Awakening. To put it into perspective for you; if Super Mario World was my drug, then Link’s Awakening was my anti-drug. Every car journey I went on, my Gameboy and Link’s Awakening came with me, even secretly accompanying me to school from time to time (but shh don’t tell on me!). I finally completed the game during lunch break in P7, after nearly 3 years of playing it, and was slightly disappointed that the Wind Fish turned out to be a whale decorated with throw rugs. I’ve recently experienced a little craving for some nostalgia and bought a purple Gameboy Color (something which I never owned before unfortunately) and a copy of Link’s Awakening DX, the colour utilizing version of the original. Cue hours on end of dungeon crawls all done from my near perfect memory of each level, and many satisfied moments relived in colour.

                                                                                                       Delicious Colour!!

  PC Games took a back seat for a period, due me getting my hands on a Nintendo 64, two controllers and an abundance of free time after school and during summer holidays. I came 10 stars short of the 120 total in Super Mario 64 and finally gave up after many years of failure. The level that handed my ass to me every time was The Rainbow Ride, it was the only level in the game that gave me insane rage fits because I simply couldn’t figure out what I had to do. Zelda once again crept into my life in the form of Ocarina of Time; I cannot even begin to describe my awe at seeing my favourite sword weilding character of all time in three dimensions, kicking ass and taking rupees! I remember pestering my Mum to buy me my own copy of it (I had borrowed it off a friend) and she eventually came across a second hand copy advertised in a local newspaper. The day I got it I ran to my N64 from the car in a record of 2 and a half steps and fired it up. The first file slot was taken up by the previous owners save file, named RICKY. A quick look at the stats and I saw that this Ricky had completed the whole game, and me being me I decided to have a little look at the last place he saved. Ganondorf’s Castle. I don’t know why, I just know that I absolutely HAD to see what was at the top of the castle, so I worked my way up, giggling with excitement. The resulting boss battle was played over and over until I knew the exact moments to strike and had worked out the perfect stratagy. Zelda had once again taken hold of my life.

                                                                            I made Ganondorf my bitch, many many times...

  My return to pc games came about with the release of Half Life. I reverted back to the days of Doom, where I would watch my Dad playing and because of Half Life’s puzzles I could help him out if he got stuck. I absolutely loved this game as it was everything I looked for in a shooter; aliens, guns and marines. Whacking zombies and marines to death with a crowbar became a past time that no other person in school could rival!

                                                                     Once again I'm forced to say: How is this NOT awesome?!

  I got my first taste of games design when I tried out the level editor for Half Life. Since then I’ve been mapping in my spare time for just about every first person shooter I’ve played. My favourite editor was the one included with Doom 3; the whole concept of previewing the lighting in realtime completely blew me away! I was used to waiting for maps to compile before I could see how good (or rubbish) the lighting was, and then having to change settings before another recompile. Thinking about it now, I’d love to have a look through all of the maps I’ve made over the years just to see how I’ve developed my skills. From my first crappy maps right through to my latest creations, it would be nice to be able to have a browse, but countless hard drive reformats have seen most of them consigned to my memories.

                                                     A level that I am currently working on, for Valve's Source Engine Orange Box Edition
 

  More recently gaming has taken the form of LAN events, playing Garrys Mod until the early hours of the morning with friends, buying an Xbox 360 and as of now I’m currently studying for a degree in Computer Games Design & Production at Northumbria University. It’s fair for me to say that gaming has proven to be an important factor in my life so far; I’ve made friends with people all around the globe, I’ve tasted defeat at the hands of 10 year olds who are impossibly good at Call of Duty, it’s shaping my career and will no doubt be a major factor in my life for the forseeable future.