I have always been obsessed with video games since the very first time I picked up a "racquet" in pong! I had a Tandy Home Games unit (complete with 10 variations of Pong and even a real gun to shoot at a moving target on the screen), followed by the venerable Atari 2600, which was then superceded by the amazing Commodore 64. The Commodore kept my brother and I going for years; our family never purchased an IBM compatible as they were then known, so I had to go to friends' houses to play games like Zork and Leisure Suit Larry!
Then I finally moved out of home and my girlfriend (now wife) was going to study I.T. So we purchased a (crappy at the time but I wasn't computer savvy yet!) Compaq Presario 5050. My wife never finished her I.T course but I became hooked. And now 11 years later I have my own part-time business as a computer technician.
As a result I spend a lot of time on this computer and it's "okay" with the missus. But she knows my obsessive personality and what I'm like with computer games, so she has said she will only buy me an X-Box the day she doesn't like me any more. So I'm torn over whether I want to receive one or not
On to the games. On my computer I love first person shooters, my favourites including Half-Life 2 and its expansions, Far Cry, and the Unreal Tournament series. I'm also looking forward to purchasing Crysis when it gets a bit cheaper, it looks pretty good. I also enjoyed older FPS games like Return To Castle Wolfenstein and Soldier Of Fortune 2. Although I don't really like EA as a company I do enjoy Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, and I love firing up the old games such as the Sierra Adventure Classics, Hoyle Casino, and even Computer Monopoly.
It goes without saying that Star Wars games are a must for any nerd! The first Star Wars game I ever bought was Rogue Squadron, and of course I bought a Logitech Wingman Extreme (complete with sensor ala Nintendo Wii controller) to go with it. It felt so cool feeling as if you were actually flying an X-Wing Fighter; for ages I couldn't even get past the first level because I'd waste time doing dogfight moves from the movies instead of getting on with the game! I also really enjoyed Jedi Knight 2 - Jedi Outcast, plus Jedi Academy as well. And Star Wars Battlefront is enjoyable for a quick action fix, but gets a bit repetitive so is better in short bursts.
So that's my games life in a large nutshell. I think some shooters on the consoles are pretty good, but give me a mouse and keyboard any day over a clunky controller (I'm yet to try a Wii so can't comment on their controllers. They look pretty cool though I must say!).
I have heard Lego Star Wars is pretty good, and I happen to have a $50 EB Games voucher that I got as a Christmas present sitting that I have been waiting for the right time to use, so maybe you have talked me into purchasing it BMI! Please let me know more about it when you get the chance, and I might go out and purchase it (although I was really intending to use it on Assassin's Creed which looks pretty good as well).
Later!
Subject: Video Games 
Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:15 pm
