Full Circle Gaming

Although it did begin with countless hours on a Sears Video Arcade II (Atari 2600 knockoff) and an Intellivision II, it really took off in 1990. I bought myself a high school graduation present, a Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. I play it on a 13″ B&W TV. Hours and hours of games I vaguely remember. Some where beaten, some laughed at me. Next was the Super NES, or SNES. F-Zero, Castlevania IV, MegaMan, Mario, oh Mario. Lots of sleep was lost. Nights with my roommate included 2l Coke (each) , a bag of Chips Ahoy (each), and a rental. We where the reason they raised late fees at the local Blockbuster. Slowly this phase quieted down. I moved, late night gaming nearly ceased.
Then came Sony. 1995, I bought a Playstation and a 32″ TV. Game on. Final Fantasy VII, Doom I-II-Final, CART racing, Armored Core, fighting, racing, death & destruction. In 1998, again gaming began to fade. School was taking over along with starting a family, being responsible, etc.
Than came the Playstation 2. Like nothing I’ve ever seen. New standards were set. Controllers got polished through hours of hand sweat, and pressure. Super Licences where attained in racing simulators. I had on car with 1200+ miles of racing on the odometer. Hundreds of hours where logged on Final Fantasy games. Solid Snake saved the world, twice. Ratchet & Clank and the chicken gun, sheepenator, and vortex cannon. Eventually the notorious DVD board died on the PS2. Design flaw, go figure. Alas the neighbors had a PS2 sitting around, so it came to visit, for 2-3 years.
In the newest chapter, as more responsibility is piled on, gaming was starting to quiet down again. Ebb and flow. Enter Christmas 2007. The year of the Wii (Actually it’s second year in production). After almost 14 years of knowing my best friend, and beloved wife, she’s now infected. Infected with Wii-itus. It’s actually her Wii. She’s player one. She asks “Do you want to play a game?” (not like the W.O.P.R though). She stays up to 3am playing on a school night.
Full circle. I keep telling my son, there’s more to life than video games. Yes it’s good to play them ,just don’t obsess about them. Now my wife’s bitten, and it’s like the twilight zone…
God sure is amazing isn’t He?