Yesterday my 7 year old “clocked” her first game – Barbie:The island Princess on the Nintendo Wii. This is her first games console and I have to admit it’s pretty good. When I was seven our gaming console was the good old Atari 2600. I remember the day my father brought it home. It was like the heavens opened up and shone a beam directly into our house….wow! Even the kids next door came over to gape wide eyed at this marvelous piece of technology. Remember the games Asteroids, Berzerk, and of course Space Invaders? I LOVED them but there certainly wasn’t the luxury of being able to save your progress. No way, back in the good old days if you wanted to “clock” a game you woke up at the crack of dawn and stayed glued to the screen until dinner time. You better have a strong bladder as well because a true gamer will control bodily function until an appropriate rest period presents itself. Also when you ran out of lives you died…simple. None of this starting from the last checkpoint or refreshing at the previous level. Oh no, you had to accept defeat, rub your eyes and start all over again.
Berserk, Asteroids and Space Invaders? Do YOU remember the Atari? You’re remembering arcade games, all of which ported horribly (if at all) to the Atari. What I remember is Pitfall, Adventure, and of course the game that came with it…. Combat.
Of course I remember Atari you twat…. my parents weren’t rich and we only had a few games. Combat came with the system but it doesn’t mean I liked it. We are not all nerds like you Greg.