My Gaming History: Blair

I’m somewhat younger than the other staff members writing these gaming history posts, so I’ll obviously have less to say. Not to say that in the 17 years I’ve had (about 14 gaming) I’ve not played many games; I have, I’ve played loads! So, let’s see just how I’ve got from not really playing games in my first couple of years (like anyone) to playing games on a daily basis in my teenage years. Was it a complete waste of time? Of course not; it was all time well spent!

Much like Kris, it was my Dad who introduced me to gaming, although I wasn’t around until after the Spectrum was discontinued, so unlike most of you, my first step into the world of gaming was in the later years of the Mega Drive, when Sonic was still on a SEGA console and movie tie-ins weren’t all bad (how I loved playing The Lion King). So, those were my first few games.

I wasn’t much of a hardcore gamer when I was three years old; although I loved to play Tetris on my Game Boy. I didn’t understand it; I vaguely remember showing my Gran that I was making a ‘castle’, but upon getting to the top the game would break. Sometimes bits of my castle disappeared, so I was careful not to make a full line. That was the beauty of gaming back then, there was no need for me to follow the rules, I made my own game and it was awesome.

It was my fifth birthday, as far as I can remember, when I received a mysterious present. I had no idea what it was; it was a big box, perhaps too big to be a VHS player and too small to be a new television. It couldn’t be… a disassembled bike, could it? That was enough speculating; I ripped open the paper to find something that would become my greatest ally and would lure me in to the world of gaming: a Nintendo 64. I had seen the 007 edition with a golden controller and the game before and now it was mine. I was too young to be playing this game, but who cared? It was great!

That and a few other games such as Super Mario 64 kept me going for another year or so, and then I got that VHS player. I had a thing that played my videos in my room now, so I could watch The Lion King to my heart’s content. It wasn’t what I was excited about that day, though; I had a new game. It was the game that’s had the biggest impact on my life; the game that really brought me into the world of gaming; it was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

We’re going to skip ahead a couple of years, since they were spent playing Ocarina of Time. I got a PSone for my birthday in 2001 (I was very late to the PlayStation party) and enjoyed playing some games on that. At Christmas, I got a Game Boy Advance (which my Mum cunningly disguised in a big box) and I could play Pokémon Silver in colour! I was also (fashionably) late to the PlayStation 2 party. I didn’t get one until the start of 2003, but I got Ratchet & Clank with it. I actually got it on the eve of my birthday (because I wanted to set it up) and I spent hours with my Grandad, confused as to why we couldn’t tune it in to channel 6, before discovering it was on one of the AV channels. Technology, eh?

I played many PS2 games for the next four years, but I didn’t seem to be as interested in gaming as I had been with my N64. I never had a Gamecube, don’t ask me why; I loved Nintendo, I just never got around to it. I also had an Xbox at my Dad’s house, with which I played Halo. I got a DS in 2005 (well, a pre-order since it came out a few weeks after my birthday) which was good; I loved replaying Super Mario 64. Most of my consoles have been gifted to me, and the PSP was no different: I got that at Christmas 2005 (although I didn’t get any games with it). I got the King Kong game later that day, and it was terrible. I can’t even remember how it worked, wasn’t it an FPS? Anyway, it showed that the PSP could do 3D graphics, so I was happy like any twelve year old would be.

Everything changed a couple of years later, when my Dad phoned me to say “I’ve bought a PS3”. I was over to his house with my best friend straight away and we played Call of Duty 3, surprised at how ‘realistic’ it looked. We also played MotorStorm, which was a blast, although it had no splitscreen. The day after, my friend and I both went home and said to each of our Mums “I want a PS3 for Christmas”. I think if you ask him, he’ll agree with me that it was a great decision.

After my PS3, I got an Xbox 360 for the exclusives, a Wii for the both exclusives and to catch up with my missed Gamecube games (and I’m glad I did, Wind Waker is phenomenal). Recently, I got a great PC and a good laptop, so I’ve been into PC games a lot more; something that I feel had been missing from my life. PC gaming is great, mouse and keyboard controls are great, Steam is great. I love it.

Someone told me about a site that was good for PS3 news and articles near the end of 2008, and after of several months as a guest reader, I joined as a member. About two years after finding TSA, I’m sitting at my keyboard, tapping away and writing an article about my gaming history and how I got from Mega Drive to N64 to PS3 to TheSixthAxis. And you know what? I’ve enjoyed it all; I wouldn’t have it any other way.