I was just reading Russell Beattie’s summary of the games he played and how he’s rediscovered gaming and I have to admit that my own gaming history has been quite similar.

I use to play games like crazy between the ages of 10-21, both video games and PC games. At home my bro and I had an Acorn Electron, Atari 800XL and a Orion and I used to play on my friends C64s and Amigas (what a great computer!).

Shoot-em-ups were my thing and I have to admit I was amazing at games like Nemesis (I to III) and SlapFight. It’s a shame that this genre seems to disappeared completely.

Once I started working, apart from the occasional drive on Daytona at lunch with the guys at work, I didn’t have time for any games. I did buy a Nintendo 64 in 97 though just to play Goldeneye as I had a month to kill before starting a new job. Awesome game. (I think that was the last game I completed).

By 1999 the gaming bug had died. When the PS2 came out I only got one because I needed a DVD player, not to play games.

Things did start to change a bit in 2001 though. I had a bit of spare time on my hands and I ended up buying a copy of Age of Empires II because it was promoted so heavily on the Zone, and one day I clicked on the online option to see what would happen…..

WOW! Playing against other people around the world rather than the PC totally opened my eyes to the possibilities of gaming. AOK has got to be one of the most amazing games ever. Immediately I was hooked and would for hours on end at a time.

Luckily I managed to wean myself off the game and I only play every now and then these days. It’s amazing though that after 5 years I’m still improving and learning/developing new tactics. For those who have played AOK2 some of my old ‘nicks’ have been PBS_Warrior, Digital_Toomuch, Vulture_Foster and Knight38_Binson.

Anyway, apart from the occasional AOK game I play a bit of Halo2 and I’ve just started Rainbow 6, so overall my gaming is under control.

I’m a bit worried though as AOK3 is out soon and looks amazing (the picture above is an actual screenshot!) and I’m worried I’m going to get addicted again. I think AOK3 is going to prove expensive in both time and money as I’ll need a new PC to play it!