GAMES

There are so many computer games today, that it can blow your mind. I’m ancient, so I can tell you about the rage (fun rage) in my day and the genesis of gaming prior to Gameboy, Wii, Xbox etc... and way before there was gaming on your computer.

PONG by Atari - this game was thrilling, but only in terms of our lives at the time. The only thing that we had to occupy ourselves with was our imagination. It was a thrill to play a game created by someone else’s imagination. Pong was built upon the principles of singles tennis, air hockey, or some such game where there are two players on either side of a line who have to hit the ball back and forth until one misses. Boring? NOT, well maybe  a little, but it was all we had and it paved the way for the future. Pong had this really great sound when you hit the ball. I think if you find people who know the game, they will remember that sound.

SPACE INVADERS - I can’t remember the name of the developer. Here you had these awesome space ships coming at you from above in a straight line perhaps five abreast,  and you had to shoot them. Not hard, but the sound effects were awesome. To compare it to games of today, you can’t. Games of this type are so sophisticated they border on practically giving you an experience similar to that of a pilot in training.

PAC MAN - this game captured the hearts and minds of a generation and then some. The music was of a religious quality because it numbed you to the outside world. You didn’t want to leave, you just wanted to get better. CHOMP CHOMP.

TETRIS - I believe was the last game to dominate the field until the field finally exploded like an asteroid and others could create their own games and get them on the internet without going through the established channels. I loved Tetris because it was addictive. It had a rhythm that sharpened your skills at every level. But, best of all it was like talking in a double entendre. “How many lines did you do?” answer “Twenty.” It was like talking about doing coke, but you were playing a game. “How many packs?” answer “Oh, man I got four fours.” This was in reference to the big block blow outs. I can’t remember the other things we’d say, but it was a fond memory. The best memory was being snowed in for a weekend and Mrs. Ripley and I played for the weekend. That's when we had time.

Today, the one game I used to play while waiting for Mrs. Ripley to get into the car is Bejeweled 2. She plays it to relax after a hard days work in the car on the way home. If I make a turn, the screen moves either into landscape of profile. I tell her not to complain because that is extreme Bejeweled. I stopped enjoying the game after I couldn’t get over 20,000 points and discovered she was over 400,000. I’m like, 'I didn’t know that was possible'. Since, I’m not a competitive person, I just read the newspaper while I’m waiting.

What’s your game? Is there a history behind your gaming experience?

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