My Video Game Evolution

Originally posted on the Tree.com Arts Channel

I was reminded this morning of the first video game I remember, Pong. Vanity Fair ran an excerpt from a new book coming out on the rise of Atari. I remember that first Atari well. It not only had Pong, but Soccer, and Tennis—which were basically…Pong with slight variations. Oh how the Atari brought the family together, hitting a little square back and forth. My mother marveled that it would help with my “hand/eye coordination.”

Our next system, the Atari 2600 was a definite step up. Cartridges this time, and in color with what seemed like awesome graphics! Oh the time we spent playing Bowling and Space Invaders as a family! At first the system was in the living room, and my play was limited to a half hour after school and some on the weekends. I remember when my Dad brought home the hot new game Missile Command! My favorite game on the Atari 2600 was Pitfall. I tried so hard to get to 20,000 points and be able to send in for the Pitfall Harry patch!

I amassed quite a collection of Nintendo games over a span of a few years, but the ones that stand out in my mind include Super Mario Bros, Castlevania, Metroid, Double Dragon, Legend of Zelda, and a strategy war game set in feudal Japan called Nobunaga’s Ambition. Nobunaga has the distinction of being the first video game I ever stayed up all night playing. Now these were the best graphics! Arcade quality!

Eventually, one of the guys I was in a band with bought this new system called the Playstation by Sony. We’d have band practice on Friday nights until about 10 PM. Then he and I would literally stay up all night playing NFL Gameday. I don’t think I ever beat him once, but I fell in love with the Playstation, and NFL Gameday. I had to have it. I bought a Playstation, and got NFL Gameday as soon as I could possibly afford it. All I played on my Playstation was NFL Gameday. When a new version came out, I had to have it, as it would have the updated rosters for the upcoming season.

Then along came the Playstation 2. Now, the PS2 was a video game system that made sense. It was like an investment. I didn’t have a DVD player, but the PS2 played DVDs! It was backwards compatible to all Playstation games, so I could play all my old NFL Gameday games on the new system. So I bit the bullet and…decided to invest in a PS2.

Now, I stuck with NFL Gameday on my PS2 for at least 3 years. Then I want over to a mutual friend’s house and played Madden. Yes, I’d heard about Madden, but I was skeptical. I was a Gameday guy. Well, one night of Madden and I was hooked. I picked up a copy of the latest Madden soon after, and bought the latest Madden every year up until recently. When you have kids, it’s tough to stay up all night playing videogames, but I assure you that Madden is the one game I’ve spent the most all-nighters playing. I’ve gone though whole seasons in a night!

Then along came the Wii. I admit I was a little turned off by commercials with the fakey bigheaded game characters. But the wireless controllers were interesting. I was actually my wife who convinced me we needed one, to give the family something new to do together. We initially all had a lot of fun playing the sports game that came with the system. We’ve also all spent a lot of time with Wii Fit Plus, and my son and I spend a lot of time playing Lego Star Wars. For some reason, Madden on the Wii doesn’t do it for me though! But the biggest use of our Wii is to stream Netflix.

With the smartphone revolution, video games have come full circle. The graphics on the smartphone games match the quality of nearly any of the TV based systems. Plus, they keep the kids busy! I must admit, I do play the occasional game of Chess on my phone, but it’s mostly the kids playing Angry Birds, Ant Smasher and Hungry Shark.

I do have to say though, the greatest app on my phone, game or not, is called Jedi Light Saber. You can choose your light saber hilt, color, and even your “Star Wars” theme song. When you move the phone back and forth, it makes the famous light saber sound. My son and I have light saber duels with my phone and my wife’s! I can’t imagine what cell phones will be like when my son is “ready” for one, or what video games will be like for that matter!