Where did it all start for you?

I can remember playing "Pong" on a friends Coleco Vision in the mid 70's, then a bit later, Space Invaders hit the Arcades and realy kicked things into high gear!
When Pac Man hit the scene at the end of the 70's, Graphics realy started to looking like something other than blocks!

In tenth grade (1982) I had a Basic Programming class, and we used to goof around on "Oregon Trail" wich was realy pretty lame..even back then...but I had to at least give it a mention since it was the first game I had ever played on a regular computer.

But it was around that time I realy got hooked on arcades...I spent every quarter I had on Ms. Pac Man and Centipede. I had a few others I liked to play... TRON, Galaga, Millipede, and Mike Tysons "Knock Out' were kinda fun too!

I kinda took a break from the arcades after High School when I went into the Air Force (1985) there realy wasn't much going on for a while..the industry kind of went flat.
Arcade games that were on every corner store started to disappear, and by the early Nineties, almost every Arcade in town had gone out of business.

After I got out of the Military in the early nineties, I found a game at a local bar (Al's Copper Mug) we used to hang out at called "Hard Driving"

Oh yeah!..I finally found a racing game that had "Force Feedback" controls, and was pretty realistic in the way the cars handled. Other racing games I had tried up to that point like "Pole Postion" seemed lame after that!

I got a buddy of mine hooked on that game too, we spent many hours practicing..we eventually got to the point we could beat the machine...we could play all night on 1 Quarter, just switch drivers real fast after 1 hour of seat time!

That was the last Arcade game I realy got into, cause around 96 a buddy of mine kept bugging me to come over his house check out this thing he called "Quake" on his new Packard Bell 150MHZ that had a 4 Meg Monster 3-D video card

I watched him for a while, but didn't want to play it...he was kicking butt though, since he was a DOOM veteran, something I had completely missed out on.
After a few weeks of watching, drinking a lot of beer, and getting a clue to what was going on, I finally jumped in..and found out I realy sucked!

It took me a long time to get used to playing with a keyboard and mouse, and this was like no other game I had played before, I was hooked!
I eventually picked up a K6-2 400MHZ and a 16MB Voodoo 3..boy was my buddy jealous! (He had upgraded to Pentium 2 350 MHZ, but still had same Monster 3-D vid card)

Once I had my own rig, I started to be able to be able to match my buddy, we only liked the Single Player games though..but then a new game came out called "Half Life" that finally got us into "Deathmatch"

We would spend entire weekends playing 1 on 1 using his Linksys 10MB hub (I still have it!) or occasionaly we would have a friend or 2 show up, but that was hard to co-ordinate very often with all our schedules.

We had attempted playing online, but 56K was just not up for it, no matter what we tried, it was just lag city...we did however start using Bots with the release of "Unreal" to add a little spice.

Around the late 90's my buddy got high speed cable, and we could finally enjoy Fragging with LOTS of people, we went on to games like Soldier of Fortune, KingPin, and Quake 3 Arena...but it still seemed like something was missing.

In 2000 a game game out that would realy step it up..ID Softwares "Return To Castle Wolfenstein" that had Multiplayer with a mission!

We had tried Counterstrike, but it realy wasn't that much fun..Wolf however..was what I would call my own personal "Killer App" when it comes to gaming...so much so that we started our own clan.

Not only did you have a "Mission" like blowing up a well gaurded wall to get inside the enemies buidling, but you could choose from 4 classes of players, and you needed them all to work together to win the Map.

Soldier- He got the good heavy weapons like a PanzerFaust (Rocket Launcer) or Flame Thrower.

Engineer- They had to plant Dynomite to open up walls and doors to let you in, or repair equipment

Luitenant- Would pass out Ammo packs, and bring in Air Strikes with a smoke cannister

Medic- my favorite class...You handed out Health Packs, and revived fallen teammates...Perfect for my "Rambo" style of playing (Sneaking up behind a group of people and then tearing em all to peices)
You could realy take a pounding, and if need be, sneak around a corner and health up..then finish your prey!

There was a follow up called "Enemy Territory" in 2002 that built upon Wolf's foundation, but added a few twists, like Experience points, the more points you got, the better your accuracy, and you could also take a lot more hits, and everything recharges faster.

I am still hooked on this game today, I have yet to find something better..."Doom 3" singleplayer was good, but the "Deathmatch" they included was kinda lame.

There may be a new game about to change my mind about my old favorite, I just downloaded Half Life 2 over the weekend...

Wow, I never thought anyone anywhere would ever mention Kingpin !!!!!!
That was the only game that came close to my favorite, Quake 2 which was my first computer game and got me hooked. One time I started playing it ,it was dark outside, I put down my controls from playing it and it was dark outside again. No game to this day has done that to me yet.Q2 baby.
Kingpin did come close though, that was a great underrated single player game with a fun multi, I'll never forget swimming in the bay in Kingpin and going underwater and seeing a mob guy at the bottom dead with a block of cement around his feet holding him down,l0l0l.

Anybody remember Number Munchers?

Quote: Originally Posted by DuplexEmotions Anybody remember Number Munchers?

Aw hell yeah, and while we're at it Math Blaster, Gizmos and Gadgets, Midnight Rescue, Amazon Trail. Hell, Kid PIx

Anyone ever play BADLANDS in the arcade? (aprox. 1985-90ish). It was a Laserdisc game, very similar to Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, but it was cowboy (wild west) themed. There was only one button, but timing was everything. (although I enjoyed dying more than winning). That's the one vintage that stuck out in my head, so much so that I had to track down a copy of it to emulate (ever notice how the games aren't quite as good when you re-visit them as they were way-back-when)

Although Quake 1 was (and still is) my favorite game. I used to play on Mplayer for hours! I remember at least 2 different occasions that I played for 30 hours straight (breaks for el bano and slurpee runs - I used to live next to 7-11) Those were the days. Try finding a quake 1 DM that is unmodified these days!

Other classics I just remembered: GYRUSS, STAR WARS, the original vector-graphix one , and BLUEPRINT (on Atari - I'll drop dead if anyone knows that one!) and, if pinball counts, I spend an entire summer's salary playing the ADDAMS FAMILY in the early 90's)

For me, it was WarCraft II in 1996. I was in the Navy over in Italy when it came out in the base PX and my friend bought it. We took turns playing it daily at work until I started to come in after work just to play it. Immediately thereafter, I went bought Command and Conquer and managed to beat that in like 4 days.

The problem I've got when playing a video game that I really like is that I'll get too obsessed with playing it and forget to do the basic things in life like shower, eating, and drinking water. Because of this obsessing, it usually takes me only a couple of days to beat any new game I try out. This is why I don't rush out to buy every new video game that hits the market.

For example, a few weeks ago, I traded Happy Camper some stuff and in the deal I got Doom III. I have yet to ever play Doom III because I know that I don't have a couple of days to spare right now for it. I'll probably wait until the holiday weekend in January before popping it in the pc.

Good article, $Solid$.

Rob

I'm not 100% sure where it started for me, but I do remember having a Colecovision system way back when.

First game that I can remember. I think ET or QBert on the Atari 3200.
I remember getting a NES when they first came out, picked up Kid Icarus and RC Pro AM.

My first computer games.. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago or The Oregon Trail.

ah i remember when it started for me. I grew up on consoles, like the good old regular NES and then SNES, but i remember clearly the first pc game that got me hooked. I went over to my friends house one day, and his mom had just gotten a new mac. We sat down and he started playing a game called Dark Forces (the original star wars shooter game) and i knew that it was the greatest thing i had ever seen. we spent hours playing it, and our favorite thing to do was activate god mode (we were h4x0rz back then lol) and look up in the sky and run into a room with stormtroopers punching in the air. when you ran into a stormtrooper, you would basically uppercut him and he would fly way up in the air. it was the greatest thing EVER. a while later another friend showed me the tie fighter series, and then i eventually got hooked on the original red alert. its kinda weird, now i refuse to play consoles at all, i think the xbox's controller is gross and asking me to play a first person shooter with sticks instead of a mouse and keyboard is almost insulting and repulsive to me lol. These days, my main games are half life 2 and unreal tournament 2004 (which i will own anyone here at )

Quote: Originally Posted by _Sexy_Pants_ Aw hell yeah, and while we're at it Math Blaster, Gizmos and Gadgets, Midnight Rescue, Amazon Trail. Hell, Kid PIx

lets not forget treasure mountain!

anyways, i grew up on consoles since my dad rented that at his video store. when people started to return them without all the parts he just pulled them from the store and gave them to me so i ended up with a nes, a snes, a genesis, and a gameboy (well actually four of them . ..) and all the games i wanted from my dad's store.

i was into star wars at the time (and still am) and i found out that my aunt had all the star wars games since she made all the game box covers up to jk2 so i got all of them from her. dark forces was the first first person shooter game that i got hooked on (doom was good too but mainly played when i had free time, dark forces, i played all the time and didn't do my work . ..).

now i play both consoles and pc games but atm mostly consoles since i'm still stuck with a ti4600 . .. currently playing halo 2 (xbox), jedi knight 2 (pc), and just started playing pokemon colosseum (gamecube). no ps2 up at the apartment but that's supposed to be coming soon so DDR will be back into my gaming. haven't played my gameboy in awhile but probably going to be picking up pokemon fire red or leaf green soon. nintendo ds is on my shopping list as well once more games come out for it.

I started with the NES and a 1972 Sears branded electric tennis. (I was born in '86) I got an Apple II for x-mas in '89. Reader Rabbit, Math Blasters, Super-Breakout, all on 3-1/2". The mac was followed with a hdd on my next birthday. In 1991-92(?), I was surprised with a PackardBell 486dx computer, complete with CD-Rom. Then began Doom. I was 6. Myriad of games, computers, and systems later, (I own over 16 game systems, not including the duplicates I own, or reincarnations of the Gameboy.) I have more electronics than most homes have outlets. After leaving for college, the electricity bill at home is less than half of what it was. (I estimate I was dissapating over 2000 watts at any given time). The games and cartoons of my youth started everything.

Numbers Munchers was teh pwn.

My friends had a SNES and a SEGA resp. I didnt get a console till Nintendo 64. When DOom 3 shareware came out, for some reason, my dad got me (then 7ish) a copy. I played that all the time with my friend. We'd play Doom II then go to Cub Scouts My dad also got me Duke Nukem 3D (I know, I know kekeke). Me and my friends also got our hands on Quake and some other ID titles. SHortly thereafter I got hooked on flight sims. the Janes series were my game of choice for a few years. Then N64 came into the picture; stuck with that till it had been out for a few years and by then my PC was an AMD 1600+ and a Riva TNT2. Once I played more PC games I nabbed a GeForce 3 Ti 200 and MOHAA owned my world (records are going 51 kills before I died and something like 137 :: 21 in TDM). The obsessions only grown since then. (16 now, I'm too lazy to do the whole timetable).

Also when I was 8 my Dad had enough spare parts to help me make my own PC; it was something like a 133mhz Pentium with 32mb RAM, I think I used a Matrox video card (no Voodoo, missed that somehow) until I got 'upgraded' (that meant that when my dad got new gear I got his old jazz) to a P2 w/ MMX 266mhz and the Riva TNT2. Next up was the 1600+ and a GF3. After that came my 2500+ rig (CPU holds PR AXP records) and the 9800np (again, PR 9800np record holder). Then I learned to overclock

there's the story of Arkangyl

So many educational games, I'd be embarassed listing them, but I remember Number Munchers, Gizmos and Gadgets, Incredible Machine, and the Dr. Brain series. Ahh....

I've recently found great joy going through abandonware sites looking at fun things to play. And they're fun. Recently found Sid Meier's Pirates, and now wanna go buy the new version.

Other games, other games, can't recall them all, but some F-15 flight simulator, liked that. Descent.

What else was there, I can't remember.

Great games, jcarkeys, and nice 2000

For me it started with pong (d@mn...i've gone and dated myself again ). Then atari, etc.
My fav arcade games (ie: the few i was any good at): Dragon's Lair (1 credit to beat the game) and Xevious (i luved that game). For newer (about 10+ years ago ) arcade games: Cruisin USA and T Mech.

The 2 comp games that started it for me were: Moria 88 (how about them graphics ) and Spear of destiny.

The first game that I've ever played has to be...Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on a Macintosh (when they weren't called Macs yet). Back in 1992 or 93. They had these games at school along with Railroad Tycoon.

I did get to play Super Mario Brothers on Super Nintendo when I was older though!

My first gaming system was a Sears model Pong variant that had 6 different versions of Pong w/ pinball machine styled buttons on the sides along with the paddle knobs on top.
After that would be the Commodore VIC-20. The only game cartridge that I remember was Jupiter Lander, but we had like three or four of those. Since I also had an older brother (by 3 years), we shared the computer. As he started learning to write BASIC for the VIC-20, I started learning with him. Before long we had both created a rather lengthy text-based role playing game but the main problem was loading it. When we finally got all the bugs worked out, we would start loading the game (with a cassette tape drive), go out and play for a while, then come back in and hope it was done loading.
About this same time I believe we got our Atari 2600 also (and I can still flip the PacMan game thanks to a pattern I developed back then) with PacMan, Defender, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Missile Command and others that I don't remember.
I also got into arcade games about that time and the biggest fun for me were games like Tempest, Moon Patrol, Defender, Defender II, Zaxxon, Gyrus, and of course, PacMan.
Then came the 8086 and the discovery of a game by Sierra called King's Quest. Crawling along on a gold monochrome monitor searching for hidden objects.... what fun!
On to the 286 and hearing about Liesure Suit Larry. Many nights wasted away playing that game as a teenager (after my homework was done, of course, my parents didn't stand for that back in the @ss whoopin' days).
I don't recall any of the games I played on the 386 unless they were newer versions of the King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, or Leisure Suit Larry games.
Then came my first AMD rig that I recall, a K6-2 300MHz beast with like 32mb of RAM (maybe 64mb)
Then a Slot A Athlon 600MHz
Then my current rig, an XP 2000+ OCed generally between 2.1-2.3GHz (2.1 everyday) I don't game much any more but still play some here and there with preference to strategy games such as Jane's Combat Simulations, Thief II, Myst series, Harpoon, etc. Of cousre, I still play NFS:U on occasion, NFL Fever 2000, Links LS 2000, The Political Machine, Simpson's Hit & Run as well.

It started on Dark Forces with me, where you play the role of Kyle Katarn in a Star Wars raycaster-engine game. It's a DOS RPG / FPS that runs fast on a 486, I have made custom levels and weapons for it. Only released one weapon, check it out...

www.df-21.net

I still play from time to time just to reminice about the good ol' days

I can't list all of my rigs but I will list the biggies:

First:

MSI MS-5169 Ver. 4.0
K6-2 450 @ 550 2.7 volts
ATi Rage Pro Turbo 8mb AGP which was later upgraded to my first Voodoo, a V3 2000 AGP
256mb SDRAM
10gb HDD

Next big upgrade:

Gigabyte GA-7IXEH
Duron 850 w/L1 mod @ 962mhz
Radeon 9k which transgressed into a Voodoo 5500 AGP
1gb PC133 SDRAM
10gb / 10gb /CD-ROM / DVD-ROM

And further:

DFI AZ-30 TL
Duron 1.4
512mb DDR
ATi Radeon 9000 64mb which was upgraded to a 50 dollar 9600 Pro
10gb / 30gb / CD-ROM

And finally the PC of my dreams

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
XP2400 > XP2600, the 2400 ended up in the DFI
Radeon 9700 Pro
1gb Corsair XMS XL 2-2-2-5 DDR400 (Thx PR)
20gb / 160gb / DVD-RW

First game I really remember being hooked on was Stellar 7 for the Apple ][. It was a Battlezone clone.

Actually talked to the author, Damon Slye, over the phone years after.

Bought the PC version [Sierra was owner by then], but Sierra changed it to a flat-shaded game [not longer 'vector-look'] and added some stuff that made it less fun.

-MF

for me, doom2.
not my first, but what got me into computers, gaming, and made me what i am today.
sonic the hedgehog was one of my favs.
love that blue lil guy

I bought a Pong Console. That's all it played, pong. Loved it. Around the same time in some
of the bars, there was this game where you drove your car (small rectangluar box) over running stick figures, and everytime you hit one it became a cross. Not sure what it was called but it was a hoot.

Then a few years later, Atari 2600. I was hooked. My alltime fav was Adventure. Loved that damm game. I must of had 50-60 games, Pac-Man, Bowling, Basketball, Pitfall, River Rat, you name it.

Eventually I moved up up to a ColecoVision console. And I did it for 1 game. Zaxxon. But my console died the first year, so I didn't bother to get another. Then, everybody and their mother started flooding the market with crap and I eventually got bored and quit gaming.

Eventually, I started getting interested in computers so I got a Vic, then moved up to a Commadore 64. Around that time I found a litte game called Star Trek, that was fun, but that was about it.

I must of quit playing til the early 90's when I ran into a little game called Doom, that was it, hooked for a couple more years. Then came Larry, CC , Red Alert, and I've been playing ever since.

But I still don't own a console, computer Gaming only. Guess I'm still mad about all those lousy games I bought for the Atari.