Memories Of A Generation: Blair

The Xbox 360 launched and I ignored it, happy with my PS2 at the time, slowly migrating away from playing games. The PlayStation 3 launched and it looked like a nice piece of kit, but ultimately it was forgotten alongside the 360. Well, for about three weeks. You see, shortly after the PS3 launched in the UK, my Dad had a bit of cash to spare and was bored of not having the newest cool thing, so he went out to Blockbuster and bought a PS3.

“I’ve bought a PS3”

My Dad’s always been the one who brought gaming to me. Although he doesn’t have the time or dedication these days, only picking up landmark titles such as GTA V, he was the one who showed me the Lion King game on Mega Drive, he was the one who introduced me to The Legend of Zelda with Ocarina of Time on N64, he was the one who bought me a PS1 and then paid towards a PS2. Now he had the PS3.

He phoned me, straight after, saying “I’ve bought a PS3, when are you coming over?” (I lived with my Mum) and my answer was, of course, “right now”. I soon phoned one of my best friends, Robert (you might know him as wick15) and we headed along to my Dad’s house, as he plugged it in and put MotorStorm in the disc slot.

What followed next was an afternoon, evening and night of HD gaming. It’s not so much that the game was MotorStorm, but that the capabilities of the console were much higher than anything I had experienced before. It was amazing, and really rekindled my love for games that I had lost in the PS2 era, begging my parents for a PS3 of my own, the coming Christmas.

And, because of that day, that’s the reason why I’m here, writing this now. Thanks, Dad.

Call of Duty 4: Multiplayer Warfare

This is the game that stole a year of my life, and gave me one of the finest online multiplayer experiences alongside Warhawk. You see, when I finally got my own PS3 on Christmas Day of 2007, this was the game I played. A few of my friends had theirs too, and we jumped online for some of the most memorable moments I’ve ever had in gaming.

I couldn’t pick a specific memory from Call of Duty 4, but rather an amalgamation of getting to tenth prestige level, battling through Team Tactical on some of the finest maps ever crafted. Fridays became special – after school had finished early, as is tradition in East Scotland, a few of us jumped on CoD4 from around 1pm for about twelve straight hours. We did this every Friday we could.

I really miss having time for online gaming. Black Ops II took up some of my weekends – particularly when it was double XP – but nothing has impacted me in terms of online multiplayer quite as much as Call of Duty 4., and I don’t think anything ever will.

Uncharted 2 days early

Back before it became somewhat of a job (but still a fun one!) with TSA, I never got games before the release date. If that ever happened, as it did with Uncharted 2, I’d be incredibly excited and do nothing but play them.

The day I got Uncharted 2, Wednesday the 14th of October 2009, was a fantastic day. I secured a new temporary Christmas job – my first – and experienced the most excellent action adventure of the last generation a couple of days before the rest of the public. It was a huge step up from the first Uncharted, which I loved, and that opening section on the train was one of the most incredible sections I had played in a game. I was in awe.

It’s the steelbook special edition too, and it now sits on my desk, emblazoned with the signature of Nolan North, the voice of Nathan Drake, after he so kindly signed it during my first year at EGX.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Wiikend

I know, right? A Mario game? A Wii game? Another terrible pun in the subheading?

I bought a Wii myself when I got my first payment from the aforementioned Christmas temp job, and wasn’t all that impressed. Sure, there was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but I had already played that on GameCube. There was MadWorld and House of the Dead which were fun, but nothing amazing.

And then, one weekend, I rented Super Mario Galaxy 2, and over the course of a few days I spent nearly every waking hour that I could playing through the myriad stages in the galaxies. It was amazing. I didn’t think about much else, I just regressed to being six or so years old and playing through Super Mario 64.

It’s just so much fun, and I couldn’t pick a single point that I didn’t enjoy or enjoyed more than any other. I really missed the way this game handled the levels with different stars to collect in 3D Land and 3D World and really hope Nintendo make a high definition Galaxy 3.

I still don’t own the game, but it’s one of the best I’ve ever played.

Portal 2 many times

I didn’t think any game could ever live up to my expectations for Portal 2, but the game absolutely destroyed them. I played through it in one sitting – something I repeated this year with the equally incredible BioShock Infinite – but then I wasn’t able to stop right there.

I spent the next week playing through Portal 2 almost daily, completing it five times back-to-back. I even tried to speedrun it, completing it in around two hours. I loved the game from start to beginning, from the dialogue to the gameplay.

In fact, Portal 2 is the only game I’ve ever played which has matched The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and therefore one of the two games which I make a point of playing through each year.

We’ll be back with more memories from the last generation later today!