buzz_clik

Thinking back further, I'd say the real origin of my love for chip-based fun probably lies not too long before Planet Patrol’s flickery action ensnared me...

My father used to be a computer programmer way back in the days when screens were green and punch cards were processed by a team of trained stegosaurs (citation needed). After school I’d come to his work to kill time until he and my mother, who worked in the same building, had finished for the day. Their building, a bland little university hovel clad in shabby weatherboard, housed some great toys for me to marvel at.

Sometimes I’d be pecking at the keyboard of dad’s computer to make pictures formed from characters (an omen that I’d later go through an ASCII art phase in high school). Other times, I’d just go and stand in the room with all the bigger machines. Here I’d watch giant reels whirling within those austere metallic giants, while the noisy-as-hell air conditioning unit spewed chilly air onto us all.

Amidst all that I have a hazy recollection of my dad showing me a game called Pierre on one of the computers, where the object was to pop balloons. I also remember not being that great at it, and not understanding what its purpose was. Despite not grabbing me as much as Planet Patrol seemed to, this smudge of remembrance still lurks as malformed protozoa wriggling in the soup of my distant memory.

Wait, a dodgy balloon-popping game called Pierre is the genesis of my gaming evolution? I knew starting this blog was a bad idea.

Blade Runner, Fight Club and Pretty Woman.

Cog, Karnivool, QOTSA

Oh, and Eagles of Death Metal... who I'll miss because they're in Australia and I'm about to fly to the US. AIEEE!

It's amazing what lodges in your mind, isn't it? I never played Planet Patrol after that and yet the graphics, the way it played and even the forgettable title stuck with me through all those pre-internet years.

Oh, and cheers for being so gentle with me for my first time...

It varies, but the staples I always return to are Asahi or Hoegaarden for my beer selection, and Caucasians for getting my this-is-not-beer drink on.

He wears one with Space Neon Lobsters that have to work co-operatively.

I've been meaning to start a blog for years now, but for various reasons this will be my first blog post. Yes, I mean my first ever. I always figured there was no point to blogging, as I assumed that all I had to say would surely have been said by someone else. But I've recently come to realise that even though that may be true, it's missing the point of the exercise. I like writing, so blogging is no doubt an excellent way to become better at it, regardless of who reads what I've offered up.

I am 32 years old, and I can safely say that the last 25 of those years have seen a large portion of my brain devoted to thinking about video games. Over the years, I’ve amassed an annoyingly large collection of consoles – 9 of these are currently hooked up to my television. I’ve got way too many games, ranging from diskette titles that were cheap as chips to rare cartridges that cost me more than I’ve ever told my girlfriend. So deeply are video games a part of me, I’m pretty sure if you took a hacksaw to one of my bones you’d find fresh pixels where marrow should be.

I even know the game responsible for getting this whole mess started, namely Planet Patrol for the Atari 2600. Okay, so it’s not exactly a title that’s going to elicit nostalgic eye-watering from too many gamers, but back then it captured me in a way I’d never known. The console belonged to my babysitter Adam, who was impressed that I could just pick up the joystick and get the gist of it so quickly. Pac-Man was the only other Atari cartridge he owned and I quickly trounced him at that too, a victory made completely hollow courtesy of hindsight and refined tastes.

I’m sure it was the easiest night of Adam’s babysitting career - I barely moved from that patch of shagpile carpet directly in front of the television. That night I never wanted my parents’ fancy dinner to end. My young eyes had seen the future, and it had a fake wood finish.