Actually, this blog will be extremely uninteresting for most. I started playing video games when I was nine, maybe ten. My mom used to read (among others) a German magazine called “Für Sie“, and participated in many crosswords puzzles. Now and then she even won something, but this time, it was a biggie: An Atari 130XE (@Wikipedia, @atarimuseum.de).
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The first game I remember playing was Robotron 2048, which was shipped with the computer.
My review (or memory, I will not even try to objectively judge the games) will appear on this blog somewhere. I also remember that my brother got some magazines from somewhere, providing access to dubious sources, allowing us to play other games. I will remember them for sure while working on this.
It really became interesting when my father thought that computers are good things for work, which should have been in the late 80s, early 90s or so. The first computer was an Amstrad PC1640 (I guess). 8086, rather 4MB HD, Hercules graphics, high resolution (720×348, yay), monochromous (nay). All those freaks with their crappy but colourful Commodore C64 or Amiga graphics annoyed the s*it out of me, to be totally honest. Also, naturally, the choice of games was way more massive.
With this computer I started coding! Well, not really. We bought some magazines where the bite code was listed, and you could really carbon copy it for a running game. Hours of typing and checking checksums. Fun was had. My father was the victim who had to type, as he could write with all of his 10 fingers, whereas I used maybe 2.5 or 3.
With this computer, the whole gaming world opened up, advancing to a 386, 486, P90, P120, and then, after various different self-made solutions, to my current rig, which features an AMD Ryzen 5 5600x on a ROG STRIX B450-F Gaming, 32GB RAM, and a Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 5700 XT. I play on a UWHQD display (3440×1440).
Characterizing my game play, I would say that the following games intrigue me most today:
- Open world (examples: Ultima, Skyrim, Ghost Recon, Star Citizen)
- Rather slow than fast-paced (Ghost Recon vs. Battlefield)
- Single player or multi player coop (SP: Diablo 2, Skyrim, Cyberpunk 2077; MP: Division, Ghost Recon)
- Rather PvE than PvP
- Rather story-driven than action-driven
- Enjoying the scenery and sandbox experience
Given this background, I will document my path through the gaming world since the late 80s. Might be that some of my friends join, let’s see. Yay, mainyny is there, too 🙂