My Gaming History

Everybody on this site has something in common; we all have an ongoing love affair with the at times cruel mistress that is video games. I'm sure everyone has their own long and storied history and as I need post a blog to get an achievement (to think I chastise people who achievement hunt), I thought I would post a nice long blog about my own personal gaming history. Enjoy.
 
I've been gaming for as long as I could walk and talk. My older brother and I were both bought original old school Gameboys (not colour, not pocket, original grey with green screen) with matching carry cases and a nice big set of games. We generally shared our games but each had a copy of Mario Bros. There was Mario Golf, Balloon Kid, something about Zoo Pinball, World Cup Football, Monopoly, and countless others. Years later I got Pokemon Red and have to say it's the best handheld game I've played and if I still owned it I'd probably still be playing it.
 
My brother had a NES for a few years but then for his birthday he received a SNES to replace it. I was young enough for my parents to get away with simply handing his NES over to me and making me think it was a brand spanking new present. Don't judge my parents, they're awesome people and I had a blast with my new NES. Zelda 1 & 2, Mario Bros 1 & 2, Turbo Racer, Duck Tales, Tennis, and a whole bunch more that elude me right now. Every so often I'd play my brother's SNES, with Link to the Past being a particular favourite.
 
Years went by and eventually Nintendo released the N64 and I received one for my birthday. I came home to find my dad had set it up for me and was having fun playing Mario 64. Dad had enjoyed playing Mario Bros with me on the NES so he thought he'd give this new 3-D one a go, but suffice to say he wasn't quite as good with it. I collected a huge set of games for my N64 over time including Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, Majora's Mask, Turok 2, WWF No Mercy, Mortal Kombat 4 & Mythologies Sub-Zero (yes, I'm a shameless MK fan), Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day and more.
 
Around this time the PlayStation had hit the market and I found myself chastising it, calling owners of the system the enemy. However my neighbor (who also  owned a Sega Megadrive (or Genesis as it is in the US)) had always gotten me playing games i was never going to play myself. Mortal Kombat 1 & 2, Echo the Dolphin, Streets of Rage, all that good stuff. So when the PSOne dropped, he got me playing a few games on that console as well. WWF Smackdown 1 & 2, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy 7. I'd go on to become a monumental fan of all three series so I have to thank him for giving me early experience with the enemy.
 
Soon enough the GameCube rolled out and I bought one on the day of release, a Nintendo loyalist. I got Luigi's Mansion, Crazy Taxi, Super Monkey Ball, NBA Courtside 2002, Mario Kart Double Dash, Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Starfox Adventures, MK Deadly Alliance, Wind Waker and started a new love affair with the NBA Live and Madden series. I defended the increasingly poor Gamecube releases because I was loyal to Nintendo.
 
The best console of all time had been released around the same time, the PS2, and a good friend (who had also played his Dreamcast with me years ago) bought one. I spent hours playing PS2, despite my loyalty to the GC. Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are among my favourite games of all time. Timesplitters 2 and 3 as well as more sports games were among our favourites to play at the time. Years later he would sell me his PS2 Slim and i still own it to this day, adding in some Final Fantasy, Mortal Kombat and God of War games to add to his collection.
 
So what next? Why the Nintendo DS (original) of course. I got some good play out of it early on, with Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, New Super Mario Bros., Pokemon Pearl Edition, but quickly got a bit bored of the system. It's perfectly fun, but I just feel handheld games are overpriced and I'd rather shell out the extra cash to get a full console game. It's for this same reason I only have Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core for my PSP.
 
Moving right along, I was excited way in advance of the Revolution becoming the Wii and hyped it to everyone I could. At this point Nintendo, the once mighty gaming establishment had slipped into an embarrassing last place behind Sony's behemoth PS2 system and even newcomer Microsoft's X-Box and later 360 (I have buddies who own both systems so I got plenty of play time on those too.) So the day of the Wii's release I was excited as hell to get my hands on one, especially with their limited early supply. It was the first console i'd paid for myself, with the others all being birthday or Christmas presents, so I was particularly proud to own it. I had a lot of fun with the Wii for the first year, with Zelda Twilight Princess, Red Steel, Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3, Smash Bros Brawl etc. But as the releases got poorer and poorer, and I wasn't really amused by the party style games anymore, my Wii began to gather dust.
 
It was then that I shelled out for the PS3, and completed my transformation into a full on Sony fan-boy. I still have a lot of love for Nintendo, and I'm pleased that they've completely reversed their fortunes, going from last to a far and away first place, but the games just aren't doing it for me anymore. I'll consider getting Mario Galaxy 2, new Metroid and will definitely get a new Zelda, but beyond that it's really just in the corner. Meanwhile I'm an avid PS3 player, with Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 13 (which I reviewed), Batman Arkham Asylum, Heavy Rain, InFamous, NBA Live, Smackdown vs Raw, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe and others. I look forward to many of the future releases and am quite frankly not looking back on my choice of switching allegiance.
 
So there you have it, my gaming history. Virtually every console over a span of over 15 years. I'm a Nintendo fanboy at heart but these days I don't consider Nintendo to be proper gaming, despite what they say, so my loyalties in the console wars lie with the PS3. Oh, I forgot to mention I was a big fan of Dungeon Keeper, Total Annihilation, and the Sims for the PC as well. There, NOW it's my complete history.
 

Everybody on this site has something in common; we all have an ongoing love affair with the at times cruel mistress that is video games. I'm sure everyone has their own long and storied history and as I need post a blog to get an achievement (to think I chastise people who achievement hunt), I thought I would post a nice long blog about my own personal gaming history. Enjoy.
 
I've been gaming for as long as I could walk and talk. My older brother and I were both bought original old school Gameboys (not colour, not pocket, original grey with green screen) with matching carry cases and a nice big set of games. We generally shared our games but each had a copy of Mario Bros. There was Mario Golf, Balloon Kid, something about Zoo Pinball, World Cup Football, Monopoly, and countless others. Years later I got Pokemon Red and have to say it's the best handheld game I've played and if I still owned it I'd probably still be playing it.
 
My brother had a NES for a few years but then for his birthday he received a SNES to replace it. I was young enough for my parents to get away with simply handing his NES over to me and making me think it was a brand spanking new present. Don't judge my parents, they're awesome people and I had a blast with my new NES. Zelda 1 & 2, Mario Bros 1 & 2, Turbo Racer, Duck Tales, Tennis, and a whole bunch more that elude me right now. Every so often I'd play my brother's SNES, with Link to the Past being a particular favourite.
 
Years went by and eventually Nintendo released the N64 and I received one for my birthday. I came home to find my dad had set it up for me and was having fun playing Mario 64. Dad had enjoyed playing Mario Bros with me on the NES so he thought he'd give this new 3-D one a go, but suffice to say he wasn't quite as good with it. I collected a huge set of games for my N64 over time including Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, Majora's Mask, Turok 2, WWF No Mercy, Mortal Kombat 4 & Mythologies Sub-Zero (yes, I'm a shameless MK fan), Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day and more.
 
Around this time the PlayStation had hit the market and I found myself chastising it, calling owners of the system the enemy. However my neighbor (who also  owned a Sega Megadrive (or Genesis as it is in the US)) had always gotten me playing games i was never going to play myself. Mortal Kombat 1 & 2, Echo the Dolphin, Streets of Rage, all that good stuff. So when the PSOne dropped, he got me playing a few games on that console as well. WWF Smackdown 1 & 2, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy 7. I'd go on to become a monumental fan of all three series so I have to thank him for giving me early experience with the enemy.
 
Soon enough the GameCube rolled out and I bought one on the day of release, a Nintendo loyalist. I got Luigi's Mansion, Crazy Taxi, Super Monkey Ball, NBA Courtside 2002, Mario Kart Double Dash, Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Starfox Adventures, MK Deadly Alliance, Wind Waker and started a new love affair with the NBA Live and Madden series. I defended the increasingly poor Gamecube releases because I was loyal to Nintendo.
 
The best console of all time had been released around the same time, the PS2, and a good friend (who had also played his Dreamcast with me years ago) bought one. I spent hours playing PS2, despite my loyalty to the GC. Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are among my favourite games of all time. Timesplitters 2 and 3 as well as more sports games were among our favourites to play at the time. Years later he would sell me his PS2 Slim and i still own it to this day, adding in some Final Fantasy, Mortal Kombat and God of War games to add to his collection.
 
So what next? Why the Nintendo DS (original) of course. I got some good play out of it early on, with Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, New Super Mario Bros., Pokemon Pearl Edition, but quickly got a bit bored of the system. It's perfectly fun, but I just feel handheld games are overpriced and I'd rather shell out the extra cash to get a full console game. It's for this same reason I only have Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core for my PSP.
 
Moving right along, I was excited way in advance of the Revolution becoming the Wii and hyped it to everyone I could. At this point Nintendo, the once mighty gaming establishment had slipped into an embarrassing last place behind Sony's behemoth PS2 system and even newcomer Microsoft's X-Box and later 360 (I have buddies who own both systems so I got plenty of play time on those too.) So the day of the Wii's release I was excited as hell to get my hands on one, especially with their limited early supply. It was the first console i'd paid for myself, with the others all being birthday or Christmas presents, so I was particularly proud to own it. I had a lot of fun with the Wii for the first year, with Zelda Twilight Princess, Red Steel, Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3, Smash Bros Brawl etc. But as the releases got poorer and poorer, and I wasn't really amused by the party style games anymore, my Wii began to gather dust.
 
It was then that I shelled out for the PS3, and completed my transformation into a full on Sony fan-boy. I still have a lot of love for Nintendo, and I'm pleased that they've completely reversed their fortunes, going from last to a far and away first place, but the games just aren't doing it for me anymore. I'll consider getting Mario Galaxy 2, new Metroid and will definitely get a new Zelda, but beyond that it's really just in the corner. Meanwhile I'm an avid PS3 player, with Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 13 (which I reviewed), Batman Arkham Asylum, Heavy Rain, InFamous, NBA Live, Smackdown vs Raw, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe and others. I look forward to many of the future releases and am quite frankly not looking back on my choice of switching allegiance.
 
So there you have it, my gaming history. Virtually every console over a span of over 15 years. I'm a Nintendo fanboy at heart but these days I don't consider Nintendo to be proper gaming, despite what they say, so my loyalties in the console wars lie with the PS3. Oh, I forgot to mention I was a big fan of Dungeon Keeper, Total Annihilation, and the Sims for the PC as well. There, NOW it's my complete history.