How I got into gaming & technology - PART 1 (Games)

Born in 1993 and having a techy dad sure did help get me started on this whole technology style life ive lived. I feel this maybe a long one!

It started with gaming as I first remember having a Sega Megadrive 2 and playing games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Cannon fodder and Golden Axe to name a few. After a while O moved onto more computing with my dad buying me my OWN PC at around the age of 6 or 7. This was a huge turning point in my life as I stepped a bit away from the usual basic games of the Megadrive and onto some more interesting things on the PC.

A couple of games I recall from an early age that really hooked me into the phone PC/DOS gaming scene were DOOM & Duke Nukem. I played these for hours and hours, kept me busy and out of trouble I suppose. I also had some educational games which to this day I cant remember some of their names however I do still have them in a box stored in the loft somewhere. One non-educational game that I can remember is 'The wall that ran away from home'. I have no recollection of what this game was about but yeah, some weird names.

Thinking back, I remember one about some talking Strawberries in a field, in their own kind of village. As well as one with a small french girl going on adventures, 'Madeline' I think it was called. The last one I can remember was 'The emperors new clothes'. Again all of these were point and click adventure games which I supposed helped to get used to computers at a young age.

After playing these games I was presented with a Playstation! This again was a turning point in my life, I had gone from point and click adventures, to first person all in front of the PC with the megadrive my only console and controller experience. I held that Playstation controller perfectly. It was designed so much better, rather than a flat slab with some curves and buttons on it, this was shaped for my hands! PERFECT! 

 
I can only remember a few games from the playstation, whether it was because I only had a few or only really played a few I cant quite tell, that or they where just so long ago. I remember 'Tony Hawks Pro Skater', which if memory serves me correctly had a demo of 'Dave Mira BMX' which is where I started on more non killer games. I also got lent a game which I still think is pretty weird and it was called YoYos Puzzle Park. That is one weird game. (Go youtube it!)

After a while I think my dad managed to buy another game to keep me entertained as I had pretty much finished the others. This one was called 'C-12 final resistance'. It was a different kind of game style again for me, now in a third person action view. I had seen third person whilst on a skateboard or riding a bike but now holding a gun and shooting. This was new to me. I enjoyed this game from what i remember with the occasional puzzle to get to the next stage mixing chemicals to melt away a metal panel, seemed pretty clever.

 

I think I was around 8 or 9 at this point and this is when I saw 'Command & Conquer - Red Alert' when visiting family. I saw their son playing it which looked really interesting and new I had to have it. I liked the gameplay as at this point I had only every seen 3 different styles, from first person to third person and the point and click, as well as side scroller from the megadrive. 

A few weeks pass from what I remember and on my birthday I got it. C&C RED ALERT. YES!!! To this day I still play the original but back then, I was in my element. I was able to play the game I had seen what felt like so long ago. I started and my dad sat and watched as we figured out the controls together. Eventually he installed it onto his PC and my days of sitting in the same room to play on the same 4:3 CRT screen was over. Multiplayer was in! This was my first taste of LAN gaming. 

 At this time where I lived there wasn't many people into PC games or that had many PC games, they all still played on console, either it be what Sony was offering or Nintendo, they didn't really get the whole PC thing. 

 

At this point of typing I think I will split this post up. I know for a fact I have missed a couple things and now second guessing my timeline a little. With not knowing where some parts slip in I think I will just mention them here. I upgraded at one point from a PI to a PIII and went from 95 to 98. I remember playing around with screensavers and backgrounds etc as well as some theme packs here and there. I have also missed out some games as not sure when I played them but GTA was on the playstation and GTA2 but not sure where abouts they are in this timeline. I also recall cossacks and some other parts of games I cant remember the names of for both the playstation and Megadrive.

Anyway, I will leave it here and post about the next part I do remember, which is a major upgrade as I leap forward to a P4 and windows XP!

Hope to see you next time and thanks for reading!

-Sev