From Sonic to Iconic...

As I’ve looked at the history of games…I thought it would be worth explaining why I LOVE games. Hitting my head against the screen until my thoughts explode onto the interwebs won’t work and saying I’ve been playing games since before I was born probably isn’t the best description of my gaming history… so here goes nothing.

I’ve always been a creative and very imaginative person, I constantly think of what actions I would take if say dragons attacked while I’m walking through town or if I could jump off that roof and land on that lorry. I’ve always been like this, and I believe games could be the root to this thought process. I think the first game I ever played must be Sonic the hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive. This must have been in the late nineties as our household inherited a Play Station on the brink of a new century. I believe that we as a family did not own a Mega Drive, but I was about 4 or 5 when I picked up the controller (I can just hear my mum and dad shouting a completely different truth, but that’s just what I remember) so I can’t really remember.

I remember messing around with the Sega’s cartridges, always wanting to play Sonic. I swear I can hear the pinging of those rings every time I think of the times I used to play. Although there were only some funky 8-bit tunes and a few sound effects with side scrolling platform action, I recall it giving me hours and hours of joy. Now look at him… mingling with Mario…You’ve brought shame to history Sega!

Once my family bought a Play Station, that all changed. I bought… Spyro the Dragon! This game was one of the first 3D games I played where you could move freely in a world. The ability to fly, breathe fire and explore was incredible. It was the ideal game for a boy my age, and I remember some of the story line surprisingly enough. I also recall Crash Bandicoot being a game I was very fond of, with Spyro and Crash mimicking each other’s style. The image of games in the fifth generation was very similar, but I guess this was just from the lack of realistic graphics and a more specific audience.

When I was 7 or 8 Santa treated me, my two brothers and my sister with a Play Station 2. I remember opening the wrapping paper, seeing the iconic “PS2” logo and bursting into tears… Yup, you read that right. I cried when I got a PS2 and my brothers haven’t let it go since! I remember owning at least 50 games between me and my brothers on the Play Station 2. We built up this huge collection over about 5 years, with many, many games that I still look back on and think “WOW!” But then at Christmas 2007-8 we received the next gen version of yup…you guessed it! The… XBOX 360?! Although I’d been wishing for a PS3, I guess my parents ignored that plea and picked what would make me turn in gaming faith over the recent years into the present day. I would say that my favourite genre differs between years and trends, going from the racing and adventure games of the PS2 to the shooters and action games of the current generation.

With graphics that we now take for granted, I enjoy looking at the development of console exclusive games. I find it interesting to see how Microsoft and Sony compete, with games such as Halo, Gears of War, God of War and Uncharted. It’s interesting to see how these have found fame in their own sectors and may be tempting to both sides of the gaming world.

What I would love to see from games in the future is the ability to play with more people. Not just online or in the same console community, but I would love to see the next generation of games incorporate cross platform play. Although it has been tried before, and with little success cough *Shadowrun* cough I do think it could work, especially between Sony and Microsoft’s consoles. I would love to be able to play EA’s acclaimed Battlefield series (they never fail to disappoint) such as Battlefield 4 on my XBOX 720(?) against a PS4 gamer! Then we can settle who the best players are once and for all!

PC gamers of course!

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_and_video_games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1XEd5Q7E7Y
http://www.sonicthehedgehog.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(1991_video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyro_the_Dragon_(video_game)