Who Really Grew Up With Games?

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ninethreeeleven

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Joined
Jul 16, 2004
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Okay, my sister/mother/father all bitch that I'm too old to play games (really its spend so much money on games, $400+ Video Cards anyone?) but I just reply (I'm 25 btw) that no one grew up with games before me. So the people that were 25 10 years ago didn't play games because games are not something they grew up with.

That got me thinking. I know that if your born now, or if your 18 or younger, you grew up with video games all around, but I think those that are currently 24-30 are the ones who really grew up with the games.

What I mean is that I played Atari when I was young (someone else is going to have to do that math) and was 7 when the first Nintendo came out. That makes my mind developed enough to really be able to think and understand games, yet young enough to really enjoy them. And I mean really enjoy them, I can remember spending countless summer days inside, infront of the TV playing Excite Bike, much to my parents chagrin.

So whats your take on who it was that really grew up with games... meaning that they and games grew up together?
 
I'm 35, and I remember growing up with NO games because we're piss poor and can't afford even a Game & Watch crap...

Now that I'm 35 and I can afford all these, I make sure my 3 year old son have every single consoles and games available for him to enjoy. Of course that's my excuse, since he can't really play them yet, I'm playing "his" toys... har har

Err, what was the question again??
 
im almost 23 and i grew up with the atari and family computer ( jap nes)..i got tht when i was 5 or 6...it was great, i bought this machine gun that i was able to use for operation wolf.....but i grew out of consoles but not completely

goldeneye made me love FPS and rpgs from snes and specially saturn made me love RPG's...then i realized the pc took those games to the next level...so now even though im not into console gaming im still into gaming in general....this gen seems different though so i may go back

anyway, yeah old folks just can't understand....u ever watch them play? they think moving the pad around like a steering wheel will help them not fall in a pit in mario 1
 
33

grew up with pong, and atari 2600, to atari 400/800/XL to PC's
did get into games until I was about 8 or so
 
I'm 18 and I grew up with games because my dad grew up with games, he had pong when it came out, when I was 2 he got the original nintendo, I remember when I would visit him he had a sega with sega channel(best thing ever) when I was 6-8ish, he suprised me one visit by showing me his playstation, then upgraded to ps2 a few years later. He's in his 40s now with his xbox. I know he will jump on the xbox 360 or ps3.
 
Yep, I'm 27 and I started on the Intellivision and Atari with modded games on ROM Chips.

Moved to Nintendo and everything up from there. PC games technically started on my dad's OLD Compaq "Laptop?" with a fold out keyboard and an orange screen.

Technically Mean 18 golf on his 286 and Lemmings/Commander Keen/Monkey Island on my 386

My parents played the Intellivision but after that they couldn't care less with gaming. But their old now (64).
 
Turn 24 this year and I grew up with the NES. I used to love when the weekend came, I told my mom i would cut the grass if she would rent me a video game from the local grocery store. Damn I loved being a kid :D
 
31
Grew up with games since the Atari 2600. Had every console since, with the exception of XBox and PS2.

Started PC gaming on an IBM 286DX.

BTW

Excite Bike Rocked!
 
35 here, so yes - the people that were 25 10 years ago DID play and grow up with games.

I got my start with ye olde Odyssey and Atari 2600. (As much as I wanted an Intellivision at the time, I couldn't get my parents to agree.) I then moved through other various consoles and ultimately PCs. I still game (quite well from the LAN parties I go to) today and have ensured that it will be passed on to my kids. :)
 
21- Grew up with the goodness starting with Mario/Duckhunt. Lots of Legend of Zelda.

My mom grew up with board games. She just spent 400 bucks on a lazy susan. I guess she overclocked it to spin for 3 hours straight with only one push. I brought home a burnt version of Cranium and she dispwned me. Fuck.
 
I guess they would be someone that's actually witnessed the development of game techniques and technologies, including the stumbles before the current standards were developed. from the cursorpad to WASD, from single axis mouse turning to freemouselook, from twisting joysticks to dual thumbsticks, from atari's expensive pixelated pong to the everyday normal stereo 3D, from VESA to DirectX (Forgot the one that came before DirectX). If you've tried each technology as they were just maturing, you can honestly say you've grown up with them :)

The newer generations may have grown around games but they didn't grow <with> them. Hence, they take a lot of the new features too much for granted. The classic gamers see the ingame graphics that beat prerendered ones a few years ago and go "Wooooow!", the younger generation goes "Yawn"

Trivia: Atari was a phrase taken from the japanese boardgame 'GO'


Some interesting read ^_^

http://www.heartbone.com/comphist/Atari.htm
http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/home.shtml
 
ninethreeeleven said:
Okay, my sister/mother/father all bitch that I'm too old to play games (really its spend so much money on games, $400+ Video Cards anyone?)
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WTF bs is that? anyone that says anyone is TOO OLD for games is talking out of their ass, your never too old for any type of gaming.. what, do they want you to lose all your money while doing "adult" gaming, like casinos or track betting.. no i thought not lol.. tell them to go fvck themselves and go play MORE games.. that's what i'd do anyway :D
 
I will be 32 soon and I remember when the Atari came out. The neighbors had one and it was the coolest. I went over there whenever I could. My parents couldn't afford one at the time, they had just bought our new house, and my grandparents thought we should have a game system too so, they got an old pong game for cheap. It was fun for a while but it wasn't an Atari. We finaly got one a year or so later. Played countless hours of PAC MAN, ET, Combat, Space Invaders, Etc. One of the other neighbors had a Coleco so I got some time with that too.

Shortly after that was the Commodore 64 with Impossible Mission, Phantasie and Many others. Including the ones you had to copy out of the magazines. I never got the disk version so there was a lot of typing! The Commodore lasted for many years. I played many hours on the NES but we never had one. Had to make friends with the kids that did. Never had a SNES or any of the others either just couldn't afford them. Finally as a senior in HS, with a job, I bought a Genesis from a kid that was wanting to buy a car. That was the first console I owned since the Atari. Still used the Commodore 64 BTW in '92.

About a year or so after graduation I finally saved up enough to go to Radio Shack, the only place within 100 miles that you could buy a PC. Ended up with a 486 that played a lot of Doom and Legend of the Red Dragon among others. It wasn't much of a machine for gaming but it was better than nothing. I gave the Commodores to some of my younger cousins. That PC lasted quite a long time but gaming on it didn't.

I finally decided to it was time to buy a new machine when one of my friends showed me Quake II on his brand spanking new PII 400 with a 3Dfx Voodoo card in it. WOW. I had to get some of that. I saved up what I could, took all my income tax refund and sold my MAK90 to buy a new machine. I decided to pick my parts buy buying one of the latest games and matching the recommended specs. I ended up with a game I hadn't heard of nor read any reviews of yet. I almost passed it up because of this but there wasn't anything else at Walmart and the screen shots looked good. The game was Half-Life. Of course we all now it was soon after named Game of the Year. What a happy accident. It's still one of the best games I have ever played.

Since then it has been a never ending cycle of upgrades to keep up with the new games. The same ones you all have played so I won't try to mention them all.

I skipped the N64 and PS1 because of my love of the PC and gaming. I didn't buy a PS2 because of the expectations I had of the XBOX. I waited in line to buy my XBOX at midnight on the day of launch. I think it was worth $300 but in hind sight I could have lived with out it. At least until the first round of price drops. I still go to friends to play PS2 and Gamecube. No need to buy one when I can play hour after hour on theirs.

I still prefer PC games. I recently bought a new Dell 8400 mostly because I was in need of a new PC but I also wanted to be able to play HL2, Doom3 and WoW. I've not been disappointed by any of them either. I have to admit though, WoW is my new addiction.

I will most likely buy the new XBOX, but not at launch. I'm thinking about buying a PS2 just for the sake of GranTurismo 4. Will buy a gamecube soon for my 5 year old. Nintendo just seems to more stuff geared toward kids. Going to get the GC and the DK game with the bongos. He loves it. And, my wife nearly had a fit the other day when she found him playing Halo. I thought it was great! He does almost as well as I do. I never really have gotten used to playing FPS without a keyboard and mouse. We still put it up though.

The funniest thing in my gaming world though is my dad. He's 58 now and asked me the other day about Battlefield Vietnam. He wants to play it! I guess I'll get it for him. He hasn't played a game since PAC MAN on the Atari! Wait, I take that back. He does have a bass fishing game. So, gaming has been and always will be part of our family.

Dang, I can ramble on can't I?
 
Oops, I forgot to mention the POS Phillips CDI. I gave $500 for that piece of crap because I bought the hype. Luckily I was able to take it back.

Also, Lesiure Suit Larry! We got away with that in the computer lab at school. No security at all back then.

Other school games were Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy and Oregon Trail. And who could forget Carmen Sandiego?
 
I've been playing games as long as I can remember. I got my dad's NES, and a Sega Genesis of my own when I was about 3 (16 now). I had beaten all 3 Sonic games, Sonic and Knuckles, Mario Bros 3, the Disney World NES game, Sonic Pinball (was and still am a sonic freak), by the time I was 7. Since then, I've had a Game Gear, Atari Lynx, original Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, GBA SP, Playstation, PSOne, 3xPS2s, Xbox, 2xDreamcasts, N64, Gamecube, and was a full-blown NiGHTS/Panzer Dragoon addict on my cousin's Sega Saturn
 
35 here also, had a ColecoVision, C64, TI99/4A..

And the being too old for games, that is crap. My wife's Grandpa still plays his Sega, and had a Atari 2600. I think he plays my wife's brother's Xbox. He's 73.
 
ninethreeeleven said:
So the people that were 25 10 years ago didn't play games because games are not something they grew up with.
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I am 37 and I got 10 bucks that says my Pong machine when I was in 3rd grade owned you. ;)
 
I'm 16 and started playing those handheld video games at a very early age, moved to NES and then SNES shortly there after, still have my NES but my SNES is MIA. Moved to N64 to PS1 to dreamcast to GC/PS2 and now my PC/GC.
 
i'm 19 and pretty much started gaming as a little tike. played on my cousins nintendo then moved to the original gameboy thereafter. then it was onto the snes and genesis then the ps1, then the dreamcast and eventually onto the ps2, xbox, and gc. i think i'd say i've been a pc gamer ever since the first tomb raider came out, but didn't really get into it until i was around 13 and quake 3 arena came out.
 
26....I have to tell you, my Roland MT-32 is still going strong (one of the last ever made, from 1992), and DOS games are still fun....sometimes, my favorite games are still the old ones. I'm planning to replay the Quest For Glory, King's Quest, and Space Quest series once finals are over.
 
21 here.

I grew up with games most of my life.

Starting with Atari then moving to the nes/genesis, etc on up.

I too have been said from my parents that i'm "too old yada yada."

I just think the problem is that most adults, that didn't grow up with games, saw them as a childs "toy," like stuffed animals, etc and expected their kids to grow out of them.

However as it has become the industry has grew with the players and it's became like movies/music, and not like "toys."

It's just that some adults and people still can't figure that out.
 
30 here and I've been playing games since the Atari 2600. ;)
 
20 here, been playing in the arcades since I was 2 years old. First console was an NES when I was 6 in 1990, and it's been going on from there.
 
Grimmda said:
Yep, I'm 27 and I started on the Intellivision and Atari with modded games on ROM Chips..
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Oh my god. You just brought back so many memories. I had so many of those ROM chips it was unreal.

I grew up with games, I had my Atari 2600, then my Commodore 64, then my Apple IIc, Apple IIe, IBM, Packard Bell, then my NES, 386, 486DX, PI, PII, PIII, and now I have 2 P4's and one AMD.

First game I ever played on a PC was Zork. God damned right I played Zork. 99% of people who I talk to about that game are like, "Dude, WTF is Zork?" In fact, I still have Zork and still play it to this day, though, I can openly admit, I used to spend countless hours in front of the screen with that game and I've never once beaten it.

Other games that were my favorite were, Q-Bert, that helicopter game that you have to rescue people with, a submarine game on the Commodore 64.

Man, I wish I could remember the names of those games.

Then, I got D00M and that was my kick to hardcore PC gaming.

I'm 27 and I still spend around $1k or more a year on games.
 
I am 24 and I am a casual gamer. I grew up with NES and I still love side scrolling games. It took me a long time to welcome 3D but I finally got used to it. I would not consider myself hardcore though, those are the guys that spend 7+ hours a day playing video games.
 
Moose777 said:
Other games that were my favorite were, Q-Bert, that helicopter game that you have to rescue people with, a submarine game on the Commodore 64.

Man, I wish I could remember the names of those games.
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Is Choplifter the helicopter game? I played that on the Atari back then.
 
18 here got nes when super young and i still remember the box being opened :) Galiga and then Zelda was the bomb i remember on nes. I remember when i turned link white and stuff with super sword. That game was one of the best. Then i got a super nintendo at a pawn shop type place that trades games'n stuff. I loved the marios especially mario world. Then there was mortal kombat and street fighter and ultimate mortal kombat 3 :cool: Those games were gold. Then i got the n64 at the same place. I got lots of games but my favorite one was San Francisco Rush!! Dam that game was fun with the flips and damage. Another good game was Rush USA which had the stunt course so i got like 130 rolls going off small bumps. I could play that for hours in mutliplayer mode. Mario was also really fun and also smash brothers . Goldeneye OO7 has to be the game that made n64 the bomb at the time. That game owned all fps at the time. The single player was awesome and the multiplayer could last super long. Lots of gun to choose from. That game has to be released or something on the revolution with better graphics. :) That alone will be a winner. Then came gamecube. I have like 11 games for that. My favorite has to be Fzero since it makes you feel like you are going lightning speeds. Resident evil 4 has to be one of the best horror games out also. Been with nintendo and always had hit games. I think revolution will do the same again. :cool:

Edit: This doesn't include the pc side since 286 pc
 
20 here been playing since I've been alived. My grandparents/parents were Pac-Man addicts.


On a sidenote. I remember playing a Pac-Man style game on my commedore 64. However it was Tom Sawyer themed. Anyone else ever play that? I loved that game :(
 
ninethreeeleven said:
I even got the old man of the forum to respond, and an insult no less. :D
I just scanned over all the ages here and you Kyle are in fact the oldest Pong player to respond.... so far.
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I can get my mom to post. :p 42 I believe
 
Moose777 said:
Oh my god. You just brought back so many memories. I had so many of those ROM chips it was unreal.

I grew up with games, I had my Atari 2600, then my Commodore 64, then my Apple IIc, Apple IIe, IBM, Packard Bell, then my NES, 386, 486DX, PI, PII, PIII, and now I have 2 P4's and one AMD.

First game I ever played on a PC was Zork. God damned right I played Zork. 99% of people who I talk to about that game are like, "Dude, WTF is Zork?" In fact, I still have Zork and still play it to this day, though, I can openly admit, I used to spend countless hours in front of the screen with that game and I've never once beaten it.

Other games that were my favorite were, Q-Bert, that helicopter game that you have to rescue people with, a submarine game on the Commodore 64.

Man, I wish I could remember the names of those games.

Then, I got D00M and that was my kick to hardcore PC gaming.

I'm 27 and I still spend around $1k or more a year on games.
Click to expand...

I never finished Zork either.

I believe the sub game would have been Seawolf.

Man this thread has reminded me of so many games. I must have played hundreds of games without even counting the varoius arcade and pinball machines.
 
I'm 15, but I always saw my brother playing SNES. I was about ~6-7 at the time. Pilot Wings (I still can't beat that POS) Castelvania (SO godamn hard) Super Mario Brothers, and Legend of Zelda. Those games kicked ass back then. When my brother got a PS1 he got a the first RPG I remeber: Wild Arms. When he went outside the first town and had a random encounter I thought it was a boss battle :rolleyes: I was that young haha..still am too. Another thing I remeber fondly was being scared of the cenatour boss in Mortal Combat 3. I hid my face in a pillow hahah

I guess you could say I grew up with video games. :)
 
im 22, and i grew up games.

My uncle gave me his old atari when I was young, then in 89 I got a nintendo, then in 92, my dad bought us our first pc.. (had a commadore 64 for about a year before it died to, that was fun)
 
I'm 28, and i grew up with games... started with the Atari 2600, then NES, 286, 386, 486, etc.
 
Evil Scooter said:
Not the oldest any more... hehe.. anyone older than dirt here care to oust me?
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I'm hitting the big 4 0 come March next year, I have a Blitz 2000 arcade console sitting in my office, my 4 year old daughter thinks it's a riot.

Pac-Man/Donkey Kong/Rally X/Space Invaders.

Timex Sinclare

Vic-20

Commodore 64

Tandy TRS-80

Intellivision.

486SX/50-2

Seen them all come and go, still playing.
 
27 here,

played games since i was 8, starting from typing out code from computer magazines (basic of course) on a microbee with a lovely orange screen. Moved from that to a amstrad 8086 (with a huge 640K, EGA graphics, 2 5 /14 drives and and and, an original ISA Soundblaster, which I only got cause of Monkey Island)...from the 8086 I got a 486DX50 (none of this DX2/DX4 crap) and coupled it with a Tseng Labs ET4000. That was a serious mother for Doom/Doom2 Descent and Duke. Played with my mate via serial cable and used kali as well. Parellel I was a sega fan, with a Megadrive(genesis), then saturn. Got myself a PSX, then dreamcast, then all the latest as well.

My PCs have been continuing to grow, improve and I am hanging out for the new consoles, as I am sure to grab them all (I am married and my wife earns shed loads, so basically, I work for the fun of it, which mainly goes on toys)

So yeah, I am a big gamer and I don't see it ever stopping. Course, I am sure my kids wont give a flying, but then, more for me!
 
I had an Atari 2600. Other than that my buddy and I made some rudimentary music on a Tandy TRS-80, my family had an IBM PC junior, which had a rudimentary biplane combat game that got 5 frames per second. I was underwhelmed. I picked up the electric guitar and a J instead until 1997.
 
I'm 35. I grew up with games. My father bought a Commodore Vic 20 to play around with and I used it for gaming. Later I managed to save up for a Commodore 64. Got an Amiga as well (it was even an Amiga 1000, the first, rare, generation of Amigas).
 
I'm 30, and getting an Atari 2600 was a big deal- definitely one of my best Christmas ever. Got a NES and SNES after that. My friends and I used to keep lists of games we had beaten. I'm a PCer now (no consoles due to budget), but I'd say I've been gaming since 6 years old.
 
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