Gaming Saturdays

Note: Over the next week, I will be introducing readers (however few there are) to the new format of The Daily Octane. Each day will be the topic reveal for that calendar day going forward. Additionally, I will provide context for why I feel I have ANY business even writing about the subject.

A Brief History of Gaming

Games are as old as human history. There are depictions of ancient Greek combatants playing dice on the battlefield. The vikings were known to play chess. The Romans popularized the Gladiatorial battles. The Greeks also held the Olympic Games. In recent decades, family based board games have been all the rage. During the 1970s, computerized video games began to find their way into our lives. In the 1980s and 90s, competitive card games like Magic the Gathering took hold of a whole flock of less desirable youth.

When it came to games, my childhood is very typical. At a young age, I was exposed to Chutes & Ladders, Checkers, Chess, Monopoly, and a slew of card games. That is just a minuscule sampling. The reality is that gaming was only a small part of my daily existence. That reality fundamentally changed forever in 1979 when my parents made the choice to invest in an Intellivision. The Mattel company began development of the Intellivision gaming console in 1977. Coincidentally, the Atari 2600 exploded onto the home entertainment scene that very year.

The battle between system adopters in the late 70s and early 80s pales in comparison to today’s feuds between Playstation and Xbox, but it was there all the same. While I was decidedly late to the video gaming world (relatively, of course. I was only 4 years old), I was firmly in the Intellivision camp. It wasn’t until years later that I even tinkered around with an Atari. Some of my friends had Ataris and that was enough for me.

So Many Consoles & So Little Time

While I started my gaming odyssey with the Intellivision, I most certainly did not end it there. My collection of gaming systems has been vast and nearly complete. Everyone likes a good list, so here is mine:

• Intellivision
  • The Intellivoice add on the system, which debuted in 1982 added realistic voice to the gaming experience
• Commodore 64 landed on the scene in 1982, although I didn’t get mine for another year or two. The Commodore was akin to a Personal Computer and was trying to battle for market share from Apple and IBM. Still, its primary selling point was its library of role playing games, which were groundbreaking at the time.
• The Nintendo Entertainment System exploded into the US market in 1986 after a slow roll out in Japan and then select markets in the US. Its fundamentally changed the gaming genre with enhanced graphics and a corporate philosophy of total control of the game development. The NES was the first system to have an iconic trademark level character in Mario.

• The Gameboy was a logical followup to the NES in 1989, allowing players to take the games with them wherever they went. It would not be the last handheld gaming system, but its name is still synonymous with portable gaming to this day.
• The TurboGrafx-16 quietly came on the scene that same year. It featured groundbreaking 16 bit graphics and an alternative art style in its game design. The company struggled with marketing failures, a very high price point, and abysmal title options. However, I can still remember my amazement when I first set eyes on the gameplay.
• The Sega Genesis was the first attempt from the startup company, Sega Games Co. It also beat Nintendo to the 16 bit gaming world, but its relative obscurity did not make it a huge hit right away.
• The Super Nintendo was released in 1991 and was the first Nintendo system to have 16 bit graphics. Even though it was second to the market, Nintendo still dominated the marketplace.
• The Sony Playstation was the first gamechanger on the scene in 1995 offering 32 bit graphics. Sega did not have the juice to battle Nintendo, but Sony had large stores of capital for research and development. They came on the scene ready for war. In addition to 32 bit graphics, The Playstation brought the introduction of Compact Discs to the gaming world, which had traditionally consisted of cartridges.

• The Nintendo 64 was the answer to the Playstation, debuting in 1996. While it remained a cartridge based game system, it was my first 3D gaming experience.
  • as a side note, I actually got a Nintendo 64 before a Playstation. It was also the first game system I ever bought with my own money. I was a Private in The United States Marine Corps at the time. I have wonderful memories of hanging out in the barracks with my fellow Jarheads playing these games. The Nintendo 64 was also a very robust system. I still have that original console I bought all those years ago and it still works.
• I got the Playstation 2 at launch in 2000. My cousin stood in line all night for me at Walmart because I was working as a bar bouncer at the time. Thanks, Ben. This game system was extraordinary and still stands the test of time. It was the gold standard of gaming for years, despite the release of the first Xbox.
• The Nintendo Dual Screen or DS as it is generally called debuted in 2004. I have actually owned several iterations of DS models, but I will not list them all out here.
• The Xbox 360 thrust onto the scene in 2005 and was a massive hit. You may notice that I didn’t list the original Xbox as a console. I never owned one. To this day, I have never had an original Xbox in my position. While I have played it, it was never really impressed with it. The Xbox 360 was also not purchased right away, as I did not bite the bullet and buy one until 2007 when Harmonix released Rock Band on consoles.

• The Playstation Portable or PSP also came out in 2005. Sony was not quite ready for a new console, so they attacked Nintendo’s strangle hold on the portable market. I owned one, but I believe I only ever owned four or five games. My oldest son got far more use out of it than I ever did.
• The Nintendo Wii launched in 2006 to immediate and enormous success. That holiday season it was THE hot ticket. You could not find a Wii on the shelves that year. People made small fortunes selling them on Ebay and other sites. Once again, I had this system at “launch” but my ex-wife wouldn’t let me have it until Christmas. Supposedly, it was for the kid. It is important to note that The Wii was the first game system with wholly broad appeal. I can recall the news stories of geriatric residents of group homes playing Wii Tennis and Wii Bowling in the common areas of their retirement communities.
• The Playstation 4 arrived in 2014. It was the first console I purchased specifically for my son. It was a Christmas gift for him that year. I played it some, but it was decidedly his. That is until I stole it from him years later and it still sits in my office right next to me as I type this article.
• The newest console on the market (for me at least) is the Xbox One. The Xbone, as some people sarcastically call it, was released in 2013. Once again, I did not buy one right away. I was not exactly wealthy at the time and I was having a harder and harder time convincing my wife (at the time) to let me get one. I have five of them in the house now that I am divorced.
• My latest purchase is my gaming PC. I own an iBUYPOWER Gaming Tower and it is a powerhouse. I am not going to bore you with the specs, but it is quite the system. It is used for Steam gaming and especially for my:
  • Occulus Rift VR system, which is the first of the big two VR systems. I do not own an HTC Vibe, but I am well aware of how good that system is too.

In Closing…

While that is all quite the exhaustive list, there are plenty of gaming systems I have never owned. I may touch on some of them in future posts.

I am no expert on gaming, console, PC, or otherwise, but I am going to certainly make an attempt to express my feelings on the subject in future Saturdays. If you are a fan of gaming, please join me.

Christopher Hess, LMT

Come back tomorrow for Sunday’s Topic reveal.

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