Posts Tagged ‘gaming’

It dawned on me last night that I’ve not played my Xbox360 for about 2 months. It doesn’t seem that long, but I used to play it to death – I even killed one from overheating during a marathon game-fest on Xbox Live, and I’ve worked my way through every rank on Call of Duty 4, I’ve played Halo 3 for hours, and I mean hours on end, Gears of War was a particular favourite, but now my consoles gathering dust.

I know what the problem is though: I fell out with Xbox Live or more specifically, the people on it.

After you do something so much, it becomes a chore, and loses all sense of fun. I think there is only so much abuse you can take from the millions of people I’ve spoke too over a crappy plastic headset, and it brought me to the conclusion. Xbox live is full of #@$%’s.

I used to regularly play with this one guy from Texas, good guy (as far as you can tell over a headset anyway) but he always used to have these tag-a-longs, who did my head in. His little buddies used to argue amongst themselves, sing down the headsets, and worst of all scream down the microphone. That is not fun.

Another guy I used to play with from Colorado, again decent guy, but he always argued with his girlfriend/sister/whatever, every time he played. I could hear her say stuff like, “are you still playing?” and other dumb questions that were clearly rhetorical, if she’d just open here eyes and not her gob for a second.

So I guess I got bored of the Xbox, not just because of these two, but because of other annoying, whiny little kids that somehow think its ok to call you an “English so and so” (I’m not English), but then quit out if you retort.

It does my head in. Sometimes you could get a retort in so fast that you could make these kids quit out though embarrassment. Like the one kid who gave me so much crap in the lobby, then got put on my team, and had to keep asking for my help. I shot one of his assailants who dropped his weapon, only for this kid to yell “I’ll take the turret” to which the natural reply was “I’ll bet you do”…the silence was golden. The quitting out was instant. The glory was well and truly mines. Come to think of it, that was the last time I played.

I’ve moved on to the Nintendo Wii now, its no where near as cool/manly, but I don’t have to listen to little kids whining that I’m beating them, or hear stupid redneck girlfriends/sisters/both if their partner/brother/both has finished playing yet. When I go home, I may well put the Xbox on, but I’m not sure, looks like it could be an eBay job…

I’m having a ‘feeling old’ moment right now. I was in town the other day and I heard a kid, maybe 10 years old, going mad at his parents because, they wouldn’t buy him an Xbox360. His parents tried in vain to calm him down, explaining that they had no money right now for things like that, and that he’d have to save up his pocket money, but he just wouldn’t shut up, accused them of child abuse, and screamed the place down…

I can’t remember ever acting like that, but a quick phone call to my folks conformed that although I “had my moments” I was never disrespectful to them. I remember wanting consoles when they first came out, I remember the birth of the NES, the Game Boy, the SNES, the N64, the DS, the Wii, and that’s just Nintendo…Atari ruled my little world when I was a kid too, and then Sony and then Microsoft, and I’m sure it’ll go on, and on (much to my wife-to-be’s annoyance). But this got me thinking, where did it all begin for me?

This first time I even saw a computer game was when my uncle, who was always ahead of his time, brought out an Atari 2600 Cartridge system. I remember (vaguely - I was about three or four at the time) playing Pong with these little dial controllers, and then using a joystick for the first time (all under the watchful/threatening-break-it-and-die eyes of my uncle (I think he bought it in 1977, so it was about 7 years old, but vintage, it was special to him). I was bitten by the games bug, and every time I went round with my parents for a visit, I’d plead to have a go of the console.

The first computer/games machine I owned/got bought was the Atari 1040Ste, a classic system that let me play Double Dragon, Golden Axe, and Ninja Rabbits (only now do I realise how daft that game was). The system was my first taste of gaming at a competitive level, my brother two years younger than me used to want to play, I’d let him, then beat him so bad he didn’t want to play again till the next day - I was exactly like my uncle was with his first console, watching over it making sure it was ok, at all times. I feel a bit bad now, because when it appeared I had no idea of the cost. I’m not from a rich family, and I think my folks lived on beans on toast for about two months to pay it off.

After a year or two of playing these games to death, I made a friend at school who had the holy grail of gaming - the Nintendo Entertainment System. This was the pinnacle of gaming to me at that time. Megaman and Mario ruled our lunch break at school (he lived round the corner) and I was gutted when we fell out over a girl, no more NES, but the girl was mine - however, victory was short lived because she ditched me a couple of days later, and my NES days were dead in the water.

Luckily for me, PC’s were starting to get popular not long after this point, and my uncle - again ahead of his time, introduced me to Doom on his P68 desktop computer. The carnage was amazing to behold, the blood, the guts and the glory of kicking some demon-like alien butt. Excuses to visit his cats were made on numerous occasions, but every time (after five minutes of patient/not so patient/lets hope the cats get bored soon, waiting) myself or my brother would ask to play Doom.

December 1992, Xmas morning to be exact, was the day my 11-year-old earth stood still. I’d begged for the latest console (in a nice way I think, unlike the kid at the start of this tale) and somehow, my prayers had been answered. Again, mega-props go to my, by now debt-ridden folks, for buying me a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES. “Take that old friend with your crappy NES, what? Oh he got one too? Damn!” My victory was once again short lived. No matter, I had the ultimate Xmas toy!

Xmas morning was filled with the sounds of fighting between me and my brother as we wrestled for the one controller that came with the box - nice on Nintendo, but it was one of the best days of my young life! Games like Street Fighter, International Super Star Soccer, and Mario 3 had truly kick-started my addiction, which carried on remorselessly in to Playstation, N-64, Xbox, Xbox360, DS, and currently Wii. Yes, I know it’s a girl’s console, but I still enjoy jumping around my living room, shooting stuff just like when I was lad!

I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of games, and I still get excited about new releases and developments. I like the fact Sony is failing with PS3 and PSP, and I like the fact Nintendo has revitalised itself with its Wii and DS. I can’t wait for Gears of War 2, Halo 4, Fable 2, and other games that push the boundaries of believability. When you compare the first game screen I ever saw, to the latest graphics fest, I still hold those first gaming experiences very close to my heart, and will do forever.