Chirru Birru

"Am I Growing Up? Crap." or "Anybody Wanna Buy Some Video Games?"

I have a PS2.
I have Guitar Hero and the Gibson SG controller for it.
I have Gran Turismo 4 and a $130 force feedback racing wheel.
I also have an Xbox.
I also have a GameCube.
I also have a DreamCast.
I also have a 320 disc CD/DVD binder for my games. It's practically full.
I also have more, but I'm embarrassed to elaborate.

It all began with a knight on an ostrich.

Back in 1983 my Dad bought a personal computer. Since he didn't love his family very much, he brought home an Atari 400 instead of a Commodore 64. It featured a lousy membrane keyboard and used those same painful, flimsy, downright medieval "joy"sticks made famous by the Atari 2600 Video Computer System. It did have one very important redeeming quality: it could play Joust.*

Joust was my first video game addiction, but it was far from the last. Between 1983 and 1994 I had saved many a princess, repelled countless alien invasions from the cockpit of a single spaceship, won Lord Stanley's Cup AND the Vince Lombardi trophy, turned the tide in historic battles, saved planets both real and imagined, built cities, destroyed cities, and even started a thermonuclear war.

Games resonated with me more than any other medium. Books and movies are great, obviously, but they don't offer the interactivity of video games. Everything you do seems to influence the story, the characters, and in some cases, even the world of the game itself. You shape the medium as you consume it.

My lifelong relationship with gaming is in a strange place right now. I'm excited by the youth of the medium. Books, music, and film are the establishment now. Video games are still in their relative infancy and it's exciting to see where this new art form will head. I would love to see gaming develop maturity and sophistication in my lifetime, and truly break free from its "kiddy fare" shackles, something animation still hasn't successfully done in this country. On the other hand I look at my current video game collection and am mildly horrified at how much money, time, and energy I've devoted to this hobby. Gaming at my experience level is hardly mainstream, and it's pointless and a little sad that I want to share my hobby with others (like my wife) and for the most part can't because they essentially lack the training to enjoy it on my level.

Perhaps in the future things will change, games will become fully mainstream, and we can all be on the same page. Right now, though, I need to pare my collection down to a balanced minimum. Gaming was an important part of my development, and a part of me feels like I'm auctioning off my childhood, but I need to resign myself to the fact that once in a while I'm supposed to act like an adult. It's ok though; I'm definitely keeping the guitar and the racing wheel.

Anyone want to buy some video games?

*For the philistines reading this blog, Joust is easily the best game ever made about the epic battles of a lone knight astride a mighty, flying ostrich who defeated wave after wave of an evil lancer cavalry who rode giant buzzards.

posted by birru @ 11:00 PM