Topic: How long have you been playing games..

Well, I'm a Video Gamer Old Head' and have been playing since 77' when the ATARI 2600 was released.
I even got selected to play on NYC's CHANNEL-11 WPIX TV "Intellivision Program" where you had to yell' "PIX" to make the paddles move during a match of "Pong".

@GirlVersusGame Thanks for sharing your screenshots, it looks incredible. It does seem like a game that I would get stuck into, but sometimes I struggle with the controls. I've tried loads of games like Cities Skylines and Jurassic World Evolution but find the control scheme too unwieldy. If Satisfactory is easy enough to use a controller for (and judging by your screens it is), then I will definitely give it a go.

Not heard of the term "Dad game" before, but I suppose I'm the target audience!

@Slidey_Moments Cities Skylines is actually one of my favorite five games of all time. It's just a shame they absolutely ruined the second game, that's why they pulled console pre-orders (twice) I remember day one on PC, I used a top of the line rig and the game couldn't be saved. It caused a re-shift in the company itself, which isn't normal for a management game. They moved teams around and most people like myself went back to the first game. Jurassic Park Evolution is yet another one of my favorite games, we were talking about it a couple of weeks ago in the Screenshots thread. Lots of people liked it.

As for Satisfactory it plays beautifully on both the Pro and base model (I spent a day testing it) the controls are perfect on the dual-sense. It's a very casual and relaxing experience where you won't need to do mental gymnastics to achieve your goals. It's as easy or as complex as the player wants it to be. Dad games are a thing and technically I'm their target audience too which I find funny but true. I don't recall is being a pricey title either, it certainly didn't launch as a full priced game. I think you'll love it, if you get stuck Steam has countless guides on factory layouts and the learning curve is extremely forgiving.

Cool topic!

Been gaming since late 80's/early 90's. NES was the first system I remember playing on. Had 2 much older brothers than me (16 & 10 years older than me) so always had some sort of system around the house. The game that really got me hooked on games was Metal Gear Solid. I'm sure I've played through the game at least a dozen times at this point.

Had a spell in college when I didn't game as much because I just didn't have time. Was a music major with a part time job and got married. Once finished, I got back into it and haven't looked back.

Been a blast to be able to get my kids into gaming. They love Astro Bot, Crash Bandicoot, Hello Kitty Island Adventure(girl dad. What are you gonna do lol). Doing my best to keep them away from Roblox, Minecraft, et al. Probably a hot take, but those games are NOT gaming.

@Olskeezy Don't knock Hello Kitty Island it's a fine game, right up there with AnimalCrossing. And you are right to avoid Roblox, speaking as someone older than your daughter I did see a certain side of those games for a number of years and I agree completely that they aren't gaming. I didn't know at the time, I'm an adult and I know now but that hindsight was a long time coming. It's coloured not just gaming for me, but people too. The results are life-long, life-altering and the more parents who understand the risks the safer children will be. Minecraft as a whole is safe, and better monitored. I have thousands of hours in that game over three platforms and not once did I run into what you are implying. Roblox is not safe, which you already know. Minecraft was a growing experience, it gave me a love and respect for architecture, art, city planning and still serves as a virtual easel for me. I can only praise the game for how well it handles and fosters creativity. I owe a lot to creativity, it's one of the main things that kept me coming back to the hobby and still is. I think a parent and a child (monitored) could accomplish many things with that game. It's a really special game for the right reasons.

@GirlVersusGame Wasn't implying that the Hello Kitty game was bad; however, was implying that it's something I wouldn't have bought myself if I didn't have kids lol. They also have the Bluey game which is actually pretty decent.

Good to know on the Minecraft front. I may need to get them involved with that, especially my oldest. She LOVES Lego and puzzles. Seems like she would jive with Minecraft.

Everybody's replies have been a blast to read, thanks for sharing!

When I was a kid, we had an old Atari something-or-other... can't remember which specific console it was, but it came with a single-button joystick and a cartridge which would cycle through single rounds of a bunch of classics, like Asteroids and Pong and whatnot. Around the same time, my brother had an OG GameBoy with Jurassic Park and Tetris. My Dad would often pinch it to play the latter. I didn't pay much attention to either of these, but when we got our MegaDrive...? Oh boy.

That gorgeous machine made me a Sonic fan (we had a couple other games for it, including Aladdin, but none could hope to compete). I played the few Sonic games we had obsessively and my Mum got me a subscription to the UK's fortnightly Sonic comic, which I used to teach myself how to draw Sonic and his friends while designing my own level layouts and boss mechs.

My brother is three years older than me, so he grew up a little faster, to the point where he wasn't really interested in "our" MegaDrive any more, and I could monopolise it. Problem is, I soon started growing up as well, and my obsessive streak shifted to Star Trek and Star Wars. It's really thanks to the latter that I'm still gaming today, and here on this specific site, because we never upgraded our MegaDrive for a Saturn... no, I wanted a PlayStation. Why? Well, the PlayStation had Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and I needed Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

It's thanks to the PlayStation's huge success that I was able to broaden my interests over the next few years. I became a fan of James Bond thanks to the Tomorrow Never Dies game, which in turn got me to play cool stuff like Time Crisis, the Syphon Filter series and later, Metal Gear Solid. I was a Tomb Raider fan long before I'd ever watched a single second of an Indiana Jones movie. Medal of Honor complimented my family's interest in military history, while monthly issues of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine would come out and offer me a demo of something I never normally would have considered.

Years later, during the second half of the PS2's life cycle, I was walking home from school, having just sat my last exam before the summer. I remember feeling more relieved than confident, but still wanted to treat myself, so I headed for our local game shop.

Ten minutes later, that treat ended up being a second-hand Platinum copy of Sonic Heroes.

And the circle was complete.

@Werehog Beautifully written, made me nostalgic for gaming in the 90s.

My whole life, but I don't consider myself streamworthy or anything like that.

I never had a SNES of my own but my uncle, who through quirks in my family tree was not that much older than me, had one and he lived with us for a number of years. I would stay up late watching him play, and occasionally having a go myself at, games like Secret of Mana, older Final Fantasies, and a few other titles.

We had I think an Amiga for a time so played a few earlier titles, and dad used to get into what I considered very difficult games on PC so it wasn't my thing, except watching my dad and my uncle play Doom way past my bedtime is a core memory.

My cousins were all into Nintendo and had Gameboys and an N64 which we spent many weekends playing together. I think my palms are scarred from Mario Party.

The Christmas we got a PS1 was a milestone. I used to save up my pocket money in the 90s for new games I wanted (particularly the Tomb Raider series). I drew a picture of a safe on an envelope I made with coloured paper and taped it to the back of a painting in my bedroom to keep the savings safe "until it was time" lol. I watched a lot of movies...

I remember renting a PS2 when they first came out and the first game I played was Silent Hill 2 without a memory card! That was an interesting weekend.

Then when my parents saved up for a PS2 one Christmas I was overjoyed, except the first console didn't power on so they had to exchange it. That came with WRC2 and I spent every spare hour playing that game.

I ended up trading in my PS1 and all my games so I could purchase new PS2 titles, which I sort of regret. I still have that console and all the PS2 games so it's still fun to revisit. I've even found a few PS1 titles that I enjoy as well (Tenchu 2, Gran Turismo 2, Dino Crisis 2, lots of twos). Dad and I used to race for chores over the course of I'd say the Gran Turismo 1-3 era, loser did the dishes for example. That system was scrapped when I started to consistently win.

My then boyfriend surprised us with a PS3 some time around 2007. We have a kind of ritual of chasing Gran Turismo titles for each console generation as it was one of the game series we both had fond histories with and it was nice to share. He is a massive car geek.

We ended up getting a second console so we could play Dark Souls together and ended up taking a similar trajectory with the PS4. I still find the PS4 my favourite as there are so many great games I spent many hundreds of hours playing (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Wildlands, Battlefield 4, Wipeout Omega Collection.... too many to list here). Even then, for some games where I have a couple of "duplicate" titles, the original on PS2 and the remaster on PS4, I still enjoy going back to the OG versions. Packed with memories, and reminds me just how dang good we have it these days... the PS5 has virtually zero load time and I think that is impressive as heck.

As an aside I do have an older gaming PC that I use to play Sims 3 and some other titles - just for my own enjoyment. I've never been a huge performance PC gamer or anything.

Now we have a PS5, I find myself not chasing new release titles the same way anymore. I tend to stick with games that I enjoy rather than those which are hyped, which is somewhat similar to how I consume new release films these days too.
We do have GT7 and a racing chair & wheel set up so that tradition lives on. (The chair was a find on FB marketplace and was in great condition for about half what it goes for retail).

My family were big cinephiles. We went to the cinema every weekend and were congratulated on our 1000th video rental when I was about 9 years old at our local Video Ezy. Being aware of and excited by what's on next was a big part of the ritual, but that's faded somewhat. Sorry for the tangent but it is relevant in my mind about what entertainment means to me now I'm an adult with my own time and money.

Now I like to keep a distant eye on games I think I would find interesting or enjoyable. I like open world games with lots of options and that have beautiful design, including sound and music. But I'm also kind of (time) poor which changes the approach.

Anyhoo, still gaming 30 years later. That's not even old hat compared to some other lurkers here but I think it's kind of sweet to see how other people have grown up with it too. We all have our own stories.

first game i ever played was bandits at 3 o'clock on the Acorn electron