Personal Game History

As of late, I've mainly been a casual gamer- using the medium to immerse myself in subjects of interest, such as post-apocalyptic scenarios or zombie invasions. However, I grew up in the 90's totally addicted to gaming. I seldom owned the hottest system of the week, but instead found myself immersed in the same old games for months on end.
My history with gaming began when I was three years old, in 1991. My uncle purchased for me an NES, complete with R.O.B. the robot, the Zapper, and a full complement of about thirty games. I was particularly intrigued by Startropics, a fairly underrated third-person action game that required the player to hop from island to island, cave to cave in search of a missing uncle. My favorite games for the console, however, were the first three games of the Mega Man series. They wereimmersive and quite challenging, but the coolest aspect of these games to me were the amazing 8-bit soundtracks. The various themes for each robot master's level were brilliantly composed and undeniably cool, despite only working with the most basic of game audio capabilities. In all, I still see theNES as a great console, and even to this day fire up my NES emulator to relive these amazing games (as I've since given up blowing into cartridges).
In 1996 I was one of the first to aquire a Nintendo 64, and bought a large stack of some of the greatest games ever made. Goldeneye 007 probably consumed most of my time, however, because I found it to be as comical as I did challenging. I would spend hours playing the game in ways it was never meant to be played; for example, I'd test the patience of the scientists until they started throwing grenades and shooting at me. Or perhaps I would attempt to lure every single enemy into the bathroom of the Facility, and then proceed to blow it up. My friends and I spent far too much time testing the limits of that game.
After the N64, I largely lost interest in the console scene as things spun out of control with the Playstation 2 and XBox. My interest in PC gaming was ignited in the early 90's, playing games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom on my uncle's computer. After my interest in console gaming faded, I already had a PC of my own and got a copy of the original Half Life when it was released in 1998. It was far more interesting to me than any game I could have dreamed of. The plot was thick and enormously compelling, the style andgameplay were hauntingly dark and strange, and yet it was presented in a simple first-person shooter format. It also brought me into the world of social gaming via the Counterstrike modification. My older cousin and I would frequent a place called theGamer's Hub in Lake Orion to attend the massively fun LAN parties and play Counterstrike until our eyes were red. Needless to say, I was instantly addicted to PC gaming, and Valve was a huge part of that.
My next gaming interest was Age of Empires II and its subsequent expansion, The Conquerors. It was my first stab at a real-time strategy game, and I already had a large interest in history and war. The ability to build civilizations and throw myself into the Middle Ages was a lot of fun, but the best part was the game's namesake: conquering. I would spend hours building up a massive Byzantine or Spanish civilization and wreak havoc on some armies whilst allying myself with others. At this point in time, my interest in the post-apocalyptic had taken a backseat to moremedieval themes, which led me to a game that erased entire months from my life.
Diablo II was released in 2000, but I wasn't aware of it until about 2002. After buying the game and it's expansion Lord of Destruction, I absolutely could not tear myself away from the computer. I had never played anRPG until then, and it was certainly a good place to start. Most of my eighth- and ninth-grade years consist of two memories: school, and level-grinding with my Barbarian and Paladin. I ultimately beat the game with both classes on Hell difficulty, but it hardly stopped there. Weeks were spent trying to find the best items the random number generator could give me, and many more weeks were spentacquiring the gold to buy said items. It was a sad existence, but strangely gratifying. The most beautiful elements of the game existed in the environments, which were both fascinating and flawlessly crafted. Most of the game environments struck the perfect balance between the realistic, the artistic, and the fantastic.
Once I determined that Diablo II had consumed more than enough of my time, I put down gaming for a number of years. When I quit in early 2004, many leaps and bounds were made in the gaming world that passed by me unnoticed for nearly five years. After a personal tragedy struck me in the beginning of 2008, I found myself combating equal amounts of depression and downtime that my hobbies in music and biking couldn't seem to quell. Therefore, I decided that it was simply time to chill out, melt into the office chair in front of the screen and escape the real world for a little while.
Taking cues from my interests in dystopia and the post-apocalyptic, I got an account on Steam and downloaded the entire Orange Box from Valve. In my entire gaming experience, I have never been as satisfied with game as I have been with the Half Life series. The storyline of Half Life 2 and it's subsequent Episodes is absolutely riveting and immersive, made moreso by the fact the player never leaves the perspective of Gordon Freeman. The gameplay is equalling addicting and challenging, and the graphics are stunning. Also, beating aliens with a crowbar is a fantastic stress-reliever. Above all, the Half Life series gave me a realistic escape from the real world. In my opinion they are the most beautiful games ever crafted. Despite HL2 being nearly five years old, I feel it is still aesthetically compelling and will remain so for years to come.
Although I consider myself a casual gamer, in reality I've logged a massive number of hours into relatively few games. A large portion of my childhood was spent behind a controller or keyboard, and I enjoyed every minute. I've slowed down a lot as of late, occasionally loading up aNES emulator to relive the past or playing Half Life and Fallout 3 to explore my post-alien and post-nuclear fantasies firsthand. Regardless, my interest in escaping reality in non-hazardous ways will always exist, and games will always be there to satisfy that need.