Finally, after two weeks, I have made the second episode of Learning How to Program. From now on I am hoping to be able to make one of these a week, but who knows what's going to happen. All I know is that I've really learned a lot in the past week or so, and I am extremely excited to learn more. Chances are I'll be diving in to the third episode as soon as possible, if all this 4th of July nonsense doesn't keep me away from my beloved computer (which it most definitely will).

My journey into learning this stuff has not been an easy one, which is why I hope these videos can help make the learning process a bit smoother for someone out there. I probably spent like 6 hours over 3 days learning how to make the very first program, and I almost hit a wall at one point. Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I'm still super happy about what I've already learned.

Recording this episode wasn't easy either. I probably changed the format about 4 or 5 times, and even lost 20 minutes of footage at one point. The good news is that I've finally nailed down the format by dividing each episode into multiple parts, and the actual production of these videos will only get easier from here. Anyway, enough of my rambling.

In this episode I dive straight into the language C. I go over some basic things at first, and then try to give some extra advice to any of you out there who just can't seem to wrap their minds around some of the math, syntax, or implementation of concepts in the language. Then, in Part 2, I proceed to show you the actual code I wrote for all three programs. Like I say in the videos multiple times, if you are actually trying to learn this stuff, don't skip ahead. You are only hurting yourself by looking to Part 2 before you are done coding the three programs. As I say in the videos too, leave any questions in the comments (or here) so I can try to help you if you get stuck.

Lastly, thanks to everyone watching these videos and subscribing. :D

So this is my first video of the Learning How To Program series I am embarking on. I don't really have much to say about this first episode other than it's my first episode, so any and all advice is welcome. I'm planning to make the next episode within the few days, as well as start making some other video series so look for them.

To summarize this first episode, I explain how this video series is generally going to go, and I start by exploring the first few lectures and the first assignment of a Harvard course available for free online. I'm not sure where I'm going to go after i finish this course, but I'll get there when I get there. As I say in the video, if nothing else I'm going to be teaching myself something, but hopefully someone out there will benefit from this too. So, I hope you enjoy it :)

(Warning: This first section was written like 2 weeks ago because thats how long it’s been since I wrote then recorded the thing I mention at the end :P )

So you’ve probably never heard of this game before, but theres this super addictive game you should play called Minecraft. I know, I know, another small indie game that no one’s ever heard of, but guys trust me, this game is awesome and will absorb your life if you aren’t careful.

With the recent release of Minecraft on XBLA, and the sudden influx of time I have due to summer break, I was suddenly reminded that I might as well spend dozens of hours mindlessly building things in minecraft...for PC of course. This sudden realization has caused me to rehost a server for my cousin and I, and has also caused my girlfriend to discover a game that has miraculously rivaled her Sims 3 infatuation. I’m not trying to complain. I mean, I love being able to catch up on the four or five months of Tested podcasts and the last month of Giantbomb casts, I love finally finding a game to play with my girlfriend that we seem to enjoy equally, and I obviously must love building random farms, orchards, mansions, mines, and castles, but I can’t help but get the strangest feeling that I will never be productive again when my days look something like this:

1. Wake up

2. Eat

3. Shower

4. Say to myself “I should do “blank” today”

5. Sit down at my computer

6. Fuck around on the internet for about 10 minutes

7. Say, “Hmmm, why not just a little bit of minecraft? That never hurt anyone. Right?”

and the next thing I know it’s dinner time and my I’m getting shit for not trying to find a minimum wage job that will provide me with a gross income of about $400 dollars over the summer. Damn you minecraft you clever bastard.

Anyway, I haven’t been completely lazy and unproductive so far this summer. I’ve actually finished my first video for a series where I’m basically documenting my own adventure of teaching myself how to program, and hopefully others can follow along or take how I’m learning and use that to help teach themselves as well. The first episode of Learning How To Program is available on youtube, and I’ve also made a blog post here on GB as well as at my own personal blog Dean of Games to go along with that video. I’d love it if you guys subscribed or visited my blog, but if you want to just watch the video and tell me how I could improve I would greatly appreciate that too :).

Enough with the shameless plugging of my shit though. Instead I’m just going to give you guys some pointless pictures of my marvelously underwhelming minecraft creations. I just hope I don’t get sucked into Diablo III when I end up picking that game up...who the fuck am I kidding, OF COURSE I’m going to play the shit out of that game.

Gallery

Fast forward like 2 weeks and I have played a pretty decent amount of Diablo III, but also a lot of Batman Arkham City, as well as Rock of Ages and Operation Raccoon City for review purposes, and all I have to say is every one of those games is great except for Raccoon City. That shit was utter...shit. Also, maybe I don’t need that summer job considering how you can actually make a decent amount of money from Diablo III real money auction house. In reality though, I’ll probably never get to that point but I can dream can’t I.

With all the press conferences coming to an end, and E3 proper beginning with the show floor opening, there will be endless talk, interviews, and impressions from thousands of people across the internet. Talk has already been circulating that this E3 is one of the more disappointing E3s in recent memory, and this is most likely because of the weird transitioning period the industry is in with new consoles right around the corner. Sure, there have been a few exciting announcements, but even as someone who didn’t have access to any of that juicy professional pre E3 press information, I can still say I wasn’t too blown away with much of anything during these press conferences. That’s not to say that there wasn’t anything exciting, though. I’m surprisingly excited for a new Halo game, can’t wait to get my hands on a new SimCity, and I am definitely one of those many people who have been waiting for years for a new Pikmin game, but I can’t really say I had a “Wow” moment at this E3. And with all of this disappointment due to lack of new games because of new hardware on the horizon, I think there is an underlying story that most people aren’t pointing to.

It wasn’t too long ago that E3 was taken over by Microsoft and Sony trying desperately to break into the Wii’s “casual gamer” market share, and it was only just last year that Nintendo revealed their new attempt at reinventing the wheel with the Wii U and its fancy tablet controller. It seems this time though, Sony and Microsoft aren’t going to let Nintendo leave them in the dust with this new idea. Although it’s much more subtle this time than it was a couple years before, both Microsoft and Sony are again trying to play catchup/copycat to Nintendo, but in a more timely, and possibly even a more effective way.

A big focus for Microsoft was Xbox Glass. A big focus for Sony was gameplay between the PS3 and Vita. And the biggest focus for Nintendo was obviously the Wii U. These three things are essentially the same thing. Microsoft is trying to get you to use your existing tablets and smartphones to interact with your TV, Sony is trying to integrate the Vita with the PS3 livingroom experience, and Nintendo is also trying to bring a screen to your hands with the Wii U controller. It seems we have already gotten into the cycle of Nintendo innovating and everyone else copying. The question is if this is actually a good thing for games or not.

I’m definitely not counting Nintendo’s screen in your hands idea out, because if any company can make something like that work it’s them, but with everyone else jumping on board with the idea in their own way the stakes are now much much higher. These companies are now in a very weird place, and there are some extremely influential and perhaps industry changing decisions that are being made before our very eyes. New consoles are so close that Microsoft and Sony are definitely making decisions about what they want their new products to be, and hopefully there aren’t decisions being made today, that will hurt the industry as a whole a few years from now. We already see that the Xbox 360 is hampered by decisions made way before they could have ever predicted what that console evolved into today, and those same kinds of decisions are being made right now.

I’m not trying to be one of those people that thinks games for people like you and me will disappear because we are the backbone of the industry and those games will never disappear, but that doesn’t mean that these large companies are always going to make decisions that are in our interest. For the past 3 years or so we have been flooded with information about new motion controls, and now we are being force fed the idea of having a second screen in our hands. The Wii was a success for Nintendo, and the Kinect has been a financial success for Microsoft (even though the only retail Kinect game I can recommend buying is a Dance Central game), so it’s no surprise that Microsoft and Sony are trying to hop on Nintendo’s new idea early. The difference is that this idea hasn’t been proven successful, all these companies have jumped on board early, and the new consoles are going to be some of the most important consoles in gaming history. Who knows, 5-10 years from now we may not even need dedicated hardware depending on how things pan out. With the economy so bad in the recent years, and no sign of it making a dramatic upswing, there's no reason to believe that an already downhill company like Sony could afford to take a misstep with their new console.

I’m not saying that Sony and Microsoft are going to suddenly make their controllers have screens, but I am saying that this trend of ignoring the die hard consumers like you and me in order to make an extra buck by aiming for people that don’t play games is not a good thing for the industry. Large technology companies don’t really have that great of a reputation when it comes to caring about the people that buy their products. Almost everyone knows that the past few years have been consumed with TV manufacturers and movie producers trying to shove horrible 3D TVs and movies down our throats when we clearly don’t want anything to do with it. I actually don’t think this will happen with the Wii U, and I think it will be fairly successful (although not as great as the Wii), but I am still not 100% confident in what both Microsoft and Sony have been doing for the past 3 years or so, and I’m not 100% confident they won’t make a large mistake when it comes to new consoles. At least we do know that Sony has thrown out the idea of an always online console, but who knows that Microsoft is going to do.

This is why I think we should really be wary of what these companies are doing and what we tell these companies we want. One thing we “gamers” seem to be good at is giving our opinions with a keyboard, instead of with our purchases. We need to realize that a company seeking a profit will listen more to decreased sales than whining on the internet. I truly think there has never been a more important period in gaming than the one we are in right now, and I just hope we don’t see these companies make decisions that hurt our passion and the thing we love to do.

With the rise and fall of SOPA and PIPA earlier this year, piracy has become an even bigger issue than it was over a decade ago with the creation of Napster. Over the past 13 years companies have tried any number of ways to fight the free sharing of content over the internet, and whether it be some form of DRM, or trying to get legislation passed, it’s been a struggle for them to find an adequate solution to the problem. As many people that play video games know, DRM can do more harm to legitimate customers than it does to piracy, and finding a reliable, friendly way to make sure a game, music, movie, or program doesn’t get pirated is an almost impossible task. The internet will find a way. It always does, and it seems as if there may be nothing to stop people from stealing content because there will always be people who try to circumvent copyright protection. With this in mind we need to ask ourselves if there’s really any way to stop piracy, and maybe, if it even should be stopped.

As it stands today, there are 6 major media companies that own, control, and distribute a large majority of the content you and I consume on a daily basis. Those companies are Viacom, Bertelsmann, Time Warner, Disney, News Corp., and Comcast/NBC/Universal. Along with the major telecommunications companies like AT&T and Verizon, as well as the big internet and tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft, there isn’t a lot of variety out there when it comes to media. The monopolization of mass media and its effect on a democratic society like we have here in the United States is a whole other issue by itself, but this lack of variety due to constant buyouts and takeovers is linked with the issue of piracy in a strange way.

What would happen if suddenly, with everything the same as it is today, all piracy stopped? Then naturally the only way to consume any content would be through legitimate means, everyone would make the money they deserve, and there would be no more stealing. If piracy suddenly ceased to exist, these large companies would no longer have the threat of piracy to deal with, and they would have 100% full control over the content they own. At face value this doesn’t seem all that bad, it seems like how things should be, but maybe everything wouldn’t be as great as we might think.

Will Smith from Tested.com often says that the best way to fight piracy is to give people friendly and convienient access to content in a way that makes them feel the time and hassle spent pirating is not worth it. This has proven to be true with the way Apple sells music, Netflix sells movies and TV, and even how a company like Adobe is selling their new CS6 products with creative cloud. We have yet to see how well Adobe will support their subscription model, but the point is companies are forced into creating easy to use exciting new ways to provide us with content because they are trying to fight against piracy. They are trying to find ways to make more money, and when the only way to do that is to give the users more content with a much better experience at a fair price, everyone wins. We can already see how sloth-like the progression of major cable networks are when it comes to licensing content out to companies like Netflix, what’s to say that these companies won’t slow to a halt if there is no longer a threat to the way they do business. If piracy suddenly disappears and these companies know they will always be making money with their current ways of creation and distribution, why would they change. If a company like Disney knows that the only way to see their movies is in a theatre, on a TV station, or from DVD/Blu-Ray sales, they would never even consider licensing content to “all you can eat” content providers like Netflix. There already seems to be a reluctance to migrate to more current business models like Netflix, and the disappearance of piracy would give them no incentive to innovate to models like Netflix.

The fact is piracy has threatened the business models and sales of these large media companies, and the only way to truly and effectively combat it is with innovation that helps the end user get more for his or her money and time. And with the shrinking number of different companies giving us content, forcing these companies to grow, change, and advance in ways they may not want to may actually be the best thing for all of us. Despite all of this, piracy is still stealing, and I am in no way saying I think everyone should go out and pirate anything they want to because it is somehow justified. There are people who work extremely hard to give us the amazing music, movies, and games we love, and I think they deserve to be compensated for their hard and often times stunning work. Piracy still isn’t a good thing, but it may indeed be a necessary evil that helps balance the power of these large media companies.

Summer and Sickness

So do you know what's awesome? The end of the semester and coming home for the summer. But do you know what's even more awesome? Getting sick the day after your last final and still being sick half a week later with a high fever of 100.5. If you haven't guessed yet I'm being sarcastic and yes, this just happened to me. With college coming to a close, and having to cram in a bunch of work I should have done earlier in the semester, there were many sleepless nights of writing and occasional studying. My two first blog posts and reviews were the results of some of that work over the last semester, and when I got back I was hoping to get everything set up and start playing a ton of games while just relaxing for a week or two. Instead, I'm here, writing this blog post, feeling so shitty I only just got my computer hooked up after being home for a while, laying around and watching the NBA playoffs all weekend. I guess through all that work my body refused to get sick until I could finally rest after all the work was done. I was so pissed when I started getting that tickle in the back of my throat, the sure sign of what those evil microscopic bastards known as bacteria were going to inflict on my body. Drinking as much c-boost as possible (If you haven't tried that shit, you should. It's really good, and really good for you], I was really hoping to prevent this from happening, but what do you know, I'm sick.

So, instead of playing any games and hanging out with old friends, I'm lying in bed feeling like death. In any case, once I get better I hope to ramp up my blog posts and start posting an entry every other day or so, so hopefully I get better soon. I am hoping to try to record some gameplay for the posts, so if anyone has any tips for simple video capturing that can't be easily found with a google search I welcome it below. I would love to be able to capture in a high resolution, but if that turns out to be too expensive for my poor college pockets, than I'll just have to make due with whatever I can get. I'm not going to say exactly what the posts will consist of, but I will say I am going to start teaching myself some computer programming this summer, and I'm going to be tracking and sharing my progress so others can follow along and maybe teach themselves as well. So if you've ever wanted to teach yourself some basic programming but never knew how, or never had the motivation on your own, hopefully I can help. I'm also going to play a shit ton of games, old and new. So hopefully I get better soon, and I hope you guys enjoy everything I'm going to be doing. Look for my first programming post soon after I get better, and I'm going to keep going with my Greatest Games segment that you can read below.

Greatest Games: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time

Yes, in the second installment of Greatest Games I am going to talk about what is widely regarded as the best game of all time, and is almost always one of the first games mentioned when the topic of “favorite” or “best” games comes up, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Right up there tied for first with games like Super Mario Bros. 3 as my favorite games of all time, Ocarina of Time is one of those games I can say has had an enormous impact on my life and my love of games. I can definitely say that if it wasn’t for games like this, I wouldn’t have the love of video games that I currently do.

I didn’t get a N64 until I was about 7 or 8 years old which was around 1998, the year that Ocarina of Time was released, but it wasn’t until a couple of years later that me and my friends found out about the amazing adventure that was The Legend of Zelda. My friend had just gotten the game and was telling everyone at school how amazing it was. Eventually, during one of our sleep overs in which we would duke it out for hours in Super Smash Bros. or Golden Eye, I popped in the game and started playing the beginning sequence. I was hooked immediately.

Never before had I played a game with a story that was as interesting as this one. At that time, the most story I ever experienced in a game was Mario trying to save Princess Peach from Bowser. I felt that I was starting on an epic quest unlike any I had experienced before. I now know that Ocarina of Time’s story isn’t the main reason why it is regarded as one of the greats, but I didn’t know that at the time. You see, my experiences with video games went straight from the NES, where I didn’t know story was really a big thing that existed in games, to the N64. Unfortunately I skipped over the SNES years, but I’m going to make up that horrid mistake soon. Anyway, I simply never felt the feeling of grandeur that I got inside the world of Ocarina of Time. I loved the game even before I beat the first temple while at my friends house. I can’t remember if my friend let me borrow the game, or if my parents bought it for me shortly after, but I can remember not being able to put it down when I got my hands on it. I felt a great sense of adventure when I first stepped out into that open world after beating the first temple. I was so excited and every step I took gave me a thrill I had never known before.

It took me hours and hours to beat the Young Link section of the game. I didn’t have the experience with puzzle games that I currently do, so it took me awhile to figure out how to beat the each of the three first dungeons. Nevertheless, each new puzzle to solve, each new boss I beat, and each new section of the story that was revealed to me made me love the game more and more. Now I can easily go beat the first section of the game within a few hours, but back then I was new to this type of game, and figuring out the clever puzzles was something that challenged me in a way that only kept me running back for more. I knew I needed to get three spiritual stones in the three temples, and once I did I had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I knew the experience was going to end, I knew that the conclusion to this game I loved would come and I was heartbroken that there wasn’t anything else for me to play through. Then, suddenly, I pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal and was tasked with going through the next 5 temples. I was so excited to realize I had just barely scratched the surface of the game, and for the rest of the weeks it took me to beat the game, I doubt a day went buy in which my friends and I didn’t talk about how to get passed certain puzzles, or about how cool the game was.

In case anyone reading this actually hasn’t played it I won’t talk directly about the rest of the game, but I will say, GO PLAY THIS GAME NOW! Since the time I finally beat it over 10 years ago I have replayed it almost every year. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia talking, but I still feel that Ocarina of Time is the best Zelda game to date and holds up extremely well for an almost 15 year old game. I hated Wind Waker, thought Twilight Princess was really good but not as good as Ocarina of Time, and have yet to play Skyward Sword or any of the handheld games. I recognize how revolutionary the original NES game was, but going back to that after all these years is much harder, and unfortunately I just don’t have the appreciation for that game that maybe I should. Also, missing the SNES area caused me to miss A Link to the Past, but that awful tragedy will be fixed this summer. So make of my opinion what you will, but Ocarina of time is one of those games that helps define a large period of my life growing up.

Disregarding the impact Ocarina of Time had on my life, it is still an amazing game for the fact that it was the first game to take a 3D open world and introduce gameplay mechanics that never get old. The transition from sprites to a fully realized 3D world for The Legend of Zelda was flawless. To take puzzle designs and gameplay from the previous Zelda game, and not only translate them to the fairly unexplored realm of 3D worlds, but also make those systems so incredibly fun that they stand the test of time and pave the way for future games is a feat that even Nintendo could never have fully predicted. The storytelling, characters, gameplay mechanics, level design, side quests, music, and pretty much every other aspect of Ocarina of Time comes together brilliantly in a way that few other games have ever achieved.

Hopefully no one really needs me to tell them that Ocarina of Time was a great game. I did, however, want to give you my personal experience with what I consider one of my favorite games of all time, and I also really want to encourage anyone who still hasn’t played it, to make the leap and just go play it. Yes, the visuals have not aged very well considering the era it came from, but that is literally the only fault I can bring against the game even today. I can confidently say that even the lacking visuals from 15 years ago should in no way deter anyone from playing this legendary and awe inspiring experience. And if you happen to have a 3DS, you could go buy it right now and not even have to worry about the aging graphics. In any case, if you claim to love games, there is no reason that you shouldn’t still go and play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Also, if you missed it, go check out the first of the Greatest Games posts here, talking about the game that inspired me to start writing these, Journey.

I am sitting down to write this only moments after finishing Journey for the second time, and although it may be too early after the experience to tell, I can honestly say that this is one of my favorite games I have ever played. I may go as far as saying that this game is the best game ever made. If not the best game, I can say it is the most unique experience I have ever had while playing a video game. Keep in mind though, I have yet to play That Game Company’s previous game Flower.

This game has inspired me to write the first of a series I’m going to call “Greatest Games”. Now, obviously this is not the end all be all list of best video games, and I am also not somehow saying that Journey, or any other game on the list, has to be one of your favorite games. This is basically like a personal Top 10 list, without the limit of 10 games and the expectation of having only a paragraph or two about the game. For the time being I am going to give you the rundown of my favorite games and why I believe they should be regarded as something everyone should play. Also, keep in mind that I will be briefly diving back into each game I write about and give you my perspective on whether or not you NEED to go back and play it if you haven’t, as well as why I think it is one of the greatest games.

Journey definitely fits my criteria even now after I have taken some time to play it again and reflect on my first experience. I still know it is early and people often jump the gun about things being “the best” too soon after they happen, but I can honestly say this is one of the best games I have played yet in this generation. You know that shiver down your spine that rarely happens when you hear a certain song being sung, witness something in nature, or watch a certain movie etc? Well I had that feeling multiple times while playing Journey. I know the whole “games are art” thing is an often controversial and debated topic, but this game exists as something more complete and artistic than all other games I have played. The game somehow takes every aspect of its existence and makes it something worth being experiencing. The visuals, the gameplay, the story, the music, the multiplayer, even the pacing of the game and its extremely short length, everything about the game is essential for the experience and ties directly into each and every other part of the game.

I would not say I had an "emotional experience", but I will say I felt things I never usually feel while playing a game. In the same way Dark Souls purposefully taps into deeper human characteristics (perseverance, patience, and self control) this game too tapped into something deeper than most games do. Games are fun in certain ways, but Journey does something that other games simply do not, and it is extremely hard to describe because I don’t think it has really been done before. I know this will sound stupid, but it is almost as if you don’t play the game, it plays you. The mechanics are so simple that it is almost like you are along for the ride, and yet you still participate in extremely meaningful ways. It is not as if the game keeps moving on without you if you do not want it to, but there is a rhythm to what is happening that you don't want to interrupt.

I am a firm believer that some games are simply better when played in the right settings. I feel that journey needs to be played on a good quality and sized TV, in a dark room, while sitting upright and close enough to the screen that it is basically the only thing you can concentrate on. You would be surprised, when the TV is the only thing within your vision or hearing range that you can concentrate on it makes a difference. Also, playing the thing straight through and online connected to partners is a MUST! Without those things you might as well not even be playing it. The co-op experience specifically is one of the magical things about the game that makes you feel a way towards the world and your partner that you would not get if it was a friend or random stranger you could talk to. In the same way that Dark Souls makes the multiplayer more challenging by limiting communication, Journey uses that technique to make you care about your partner in a way that would only happen if you were actually making a tough and perilous journey with someone in real life.

I did not really give the "story" or "world" a second thought in the grand scheme of things and it is definitely not the reason why I love this game, but I will say that the story just adds to the what this game brings. I did not find the story complicated or too complex to understand even though the method by which the story is told is extremely minimalistic.

My amazement and excitement is about that of design and purpose. The experience as a GAME is something I do not think has ever been captured before. If nothing else, I can say that this game combines all of the elements that make up a game in a richer more complete experience than I have ever had in a game before. Anyone who knows me knows I am a critique of almost everything, and to have an experience where I honestly have nothing bad to say about it is extremely rare and an amazing feat. If you have not played this game yet, you are really missing out.

Also, check out my user reviews of MLB 2k12, and Trials Evolution that I recently uploaded to the site. I would just post them here but I'm not exactly sure what the rules on that are, so I'm just going to give you these links, and check them out if you want.

So I currently have a blog over at deanofgames.blogspot.com where I posted all the content I have been volunteer writing for the site addicted-gamers.com, and I also used all of that writing for a project in my creative non-fiction class at college. I am currently at a sort of cross roads in deciding where and what exactly I want to write. I feel I can write well enough to get paid (at least a small amount), but I have no idea where I should go from my current position. I am also currently teaching myself how to code from taking free Harvard CS courses that are available online, so I don't know if I want to just start up my own crappy site. In any case, I am going to migrate a decent portion of my content that I have already written over here, as well as post continuing content to my blog at blogspot and keep writing for addicted-gamers, for now. I won't post my news articles because you guys have GB for that, but I will link to my user reviews and opinion features as well as any other random feature I come up with.

So to start off for my first post, I'm gonna post a little story I wrote for my creative non-fiction class called Life Long Obsession that deals with my obsession with video games. I also decided to include the introduction I wrote for it when I handed in my final portfolio for the class. I basically am starting off with this post so that there is something on here that people can get to know me and my life with video games to give a little perspective into any further posts I may make. I hope you guys enjoy it. Leave a comment to tell me what you think I could do better or if you liked it. Thanks.

Introduction to Life Long Obsession

Life Long Obsession is the title of the short story I based off of my love of video games. There were a million different topics I could have focused on when talking about video games, and I decided it would make the most sense to start from the beginning. As you will eventually read, my first exposure to video games was through the Nintendo Entertainment System, and ever since then a large part of my life has involved video games. I decided to use my first exposure to games as a jumping off point for the important role video games have played in my life, instead of simply focusing my entire story on the NES and my time with it. I really wanted to help the reader understand why I have loved video games my whole life, and why I continue to play them to this day, and I couldn't have done that if I spent the entire time telling them about my first experiences. It just wouldn't make sense to skip ahead from the beginning to the present without some reasons as to why I still play games.

In some ways, I also tried to focus my writing to help people who do not have the same feelings towards video games that I do. For readers that have grown up around video games and have been playing them for their entire lives, they most likely share similar stories and experiences. So I felt that simply rehashing, or telling a story that my readers already knew would be pointless, and at the same time, the readers who don't share similar experiences wouldn't get much out of my own. Therefore, I attempted to shed a bit of light on the reasons why myself, and many others around my age and even a little older, have such a passion and love for video games.

I tried to do this by focusing on the social aspects of video games that many people who don't play them usually aren't aware of. I tried to describe the way they helped my friends and I connect and share experiences that we wouldn't normally have had. I also tried to let the reader know that my relationships with my cousins has benefited from our enjoyment of video games, and we would not be nearly as close otherwise. Through all of this I was trying to get the reader to understand my love of video games, the effect they have had on my life, and why I still enjoy playing them today. I picked the piece for my final portfolio not only because it was good enough not to require any revisions, but because I think I did a really excellent job at accomplishing the goals I set for myself when writing the piece.

Life Long Obsession

By Dean

I’ve loved video games ever since I can remember. I could also say I loved computers and the fascinating things I could do with them, the way they seemed like magic to me with no reasoning as to how or why they did what they did. But it would not be entirely true to say I loved computers, at least not for my entire life, for every step I have taken to more deeply understand computers and the way they work has been motivated mostly by the desire to play a video game.

Looking back on what I remember I can clearly tell you the order of my experiences with computers and games. The first video game system I ever had was the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short. Ah, the first of the 8-bit era, released in 1983 and the first of Nintendo’s revolutionary consoles, the NES was my grand introduction into something that would be a part of my entire life. The NES is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, video game system of all time, and by the time I was playing it there were much better, more advanced systems out there to play, but I had no concept of any of this when I was around 5 years old. I had no idea there were others like it, or there were other kids out there playing games. Maybe it was the fact that my parents kept it in a chest to make sure I wasn’t playing without their permission, but to me, the NES was this crazy, mystical machine that allowed me to enter worlds and control characters in places I could never have imagined on my own.

As far as I knew I always had a NES, even though I now know my parents got it free from a friend. I can’t remember the first time I ever played it, but I can remember the first games I ever played. Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, Duck Hunt, but most of all Super Mario Bros., one of the all time greatest games. I remember playing the first levels over and over again, those amazing rough electronic rhythms that are even ubiquitous today replaying over and over in my head, the adventure of not always knowing what’s coming next, the drive to get further and further in the game, trying to beat my dad who I knew was better than me, the feeling of accomplishment when I finally beat a level I had never beaten before, and the frustration of defeat when I lost all my lives. These feelings and challenges kept me coming back, over and over again.

I can remember asking my parents to play the games with me, or even asking if they wanted to play so I could watch to see how far in the game they could get. I wanted everyone to have the fun I was having, I wanted them to experience what I was experiencing, appreciate the enjoyment I was getting out of these games and understand why I was so obsessed with them. Even to this day I feel the same way. I want others to understand the enjoyment I get out of video games, to understand why they are worth playing and the benefits of the experiences and challenges they present.

For years my friends and I have stayed up late nights playing video games. Whether it was a sports game, fighting game, or shooter, there were endless hours of fun and competition. When I was younger there were entire weekends consumed by sports during the day, then video games at night. We would stay up late and play round after round of Golden Eye 007. The intensity as we stared into our own sections of the screen filled the air, only stopping occasionally to look at someone else’s section just to get a hint of where in the level they were. We darted around the level trying to pick up the best guns and upgrades for our pixelated characters, who only vaguely resemble anything close to a person, until we finally found andplastered one another with machine gun fire that stained the level with colors due to a paintball cheat code we almost always used. The close calls, the strategic moves, the victories, the defeats, the last minute comebacks, the last minute chokes, all of these things kept us coming back for round after round, and that was only with one game. And it wasn’t only in the game that we had fun, there were endless discussions about strategies and puzzle solving in any and all games we were playing at the time.

However, my friends were not the only ones I experienced this with, my cousins and I were also engrossed in video games whenever we saw each other. Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, just about any family get together comes with amazing food, and social gaming. Ever since I can remember my cousins and I would gather around the TV or computer and play games. I can remember getting so excited to talk about and show the new games I had been playing with my cousin Randal because we always had enjoyed the weirdest and craziest kinds of games.

To this day video games are an extremely large part of my life. I keep in contact with most of my best friends by playing games online on Xbox Live. It isn’t unusual for me to get online almost every day and simply join their private chat room so we can talk about sports, school, or basically anything while we play. My cousins and I are still just as into games as we have ever been, and even this past Christmas I spent days building houses, digging caves, mining ore, herding cows, and fighting zombies in Minecraft with them. And even much of what I am currently doing is influenced by video games. Whether it be when I was first discovering the wonders of the video gaming world with the NES,when I grew up playing games with my friends and family, when I started writing for a dedicated video game website, or when I decided to teach myself how to program so I can eventually make a game myself, there has always been, and will always be, a part of me that is obsessed with video games.