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I remember seeing a little kid staring at the old pinball machines watching other people bounce the little ball around while archaic bells made noises and old style scoring systems racked up huge scores as high as 15,000 points!

I remember that same kid totally blown away by one of the first Pong machines mesmerized by the little white paddles going up and down the screen while a little square representing a ball bounced back and forth. Later that same kid's uncle would come over with his home version that cost over $200!

That same kid's mind would be blown by Space Invaders. The game had color! Well, it was colored strips over a monochrome screen, but it still LOOKED like actual color.

Then came real color with games like Galaxian. Along with that would be incredible sound effects. The gaming world was getting incredible.

A year later the kid's brother would get an Atari Video Computer System (later to be called the Atari 2600) and he would spend hours on end in front of the Tv playing exciting games like Asteroids, Star Raiders, and Pitfall.

A few years would go by before the kid was able to get to an arcade and he would be stunned at the evolution of the games. Galaxian had turned into Galaga (still a cult hit to this day), a game called Tempest would introduce him to full color vector graphics, and a strange game called Pac Man would leave him confused as to what was going on.

By the time the kid had reached his teens Atari had released a second system called the 5200 with improved graphics and actual voices! It was a great time to be alive.

Unfortunately, after graduation he wouldn't have too much time for games and the number of home systems weren't that great. He was forced to keep playing on his computer with it's amazing 640x480 graphics and 16 colors. He would even spend $200 on one of the first sound cards ever made so that he could take advantage of some of the great music that he could hear.

As his computer continued to evolve (it had a whole 8 megs of ram!) he would be exposed to a great game on the Super Nintendo called Final Fantasy III. The game made him realize that there was still hope for the console systems. This would lead to him buying a PlayStation and a Nintendo 64. The PlayStation was for is personal enjoyment while he had the N64 for his friends to play with. For hours he would be on his PSX playing Resident Evil or Final Fantasy VII and then he would be playing such classics as Super Mario Kart 64 or Goldeneye with his friends (who needs Halo?).

A few years later he would get married and his wife would surprise him one evening with a brand new PlayStation 2 and the game Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Together they would kill monsters, pick up runestones and "need food badly" together.

Now, he still likes to play Gauntlet with his wife (when she's not playing The Sims and he's not playing Neverwinter Nights on his PC) and he still finds time to play games with his friend.

Obviously, this kid is me. Video games have been an important part of my life since my earliest memories. It's a great way to escape reality and fall into an incredible world where all of the normal problems of the day disappear. I'm not sure where I would be without them, but I'm pretty sure it would involve a clock-tower and a high powered rifle.

Find Your Own Release

-Ferret

Learn more about this author, David Furritus.
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