I have always been into Video Games from their start. I think of myself as a casual gamer, not an overly critical I have to play or I will die gamer. Sometimes I don’t play for weeks.
I would go to the Arcades on the beach with my Dad quite regularly. I remember the first Video Game they got was Computer Space in 1971 or 1972. I was 7 or 8 years old. The cabinet was made of fiberglass and all curvy with a metallic glitter paint job. I had to stand on a stool to play it. The arcades then had stools around so smaller kids could play all the games. It was a black and white shooter game. Soon after came Pong, which was everywhere. You could find it at Gas Stations, Pizza Places, Sub Shops, Convenience Stores and just about anywhere else.
I had most of the home systems that eventually started to come out, Except for that awful Magnaxox system that you had to overlay plastic colored sheets on to your TV screen. I played it at a friends house and knew to stay away from that one.
Once the video game crash of 1983 happened and Video Gaming Consoles all but disappeared, the next system I got was the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. I had lots of fun with the NES, but it would be the only Nintendo Gaming System I would own. Nothing they had after that appealed to me. I have owned or still own a Sega Geneisis, Sega CD, NEC TurboGrafx 16, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast ( Still one of My all time favorites ), XBOX, PlayStation2 and XBOX 360. I never owned the Playstation 1. I played it in the store and the controller felt uncomfortable in my hands to the point where I did not want to use it. I know that sounds crazy, considering how much everyone loves that controller. Even the huge original XBOX controller felt better to me and I do not have extra large hands. I eventually bought a PlyStation 2 because all my friends kept telling me it was unbelievable and I had to get it. Once again I hated the controller and that made all games seem less fun. Any aftermarket controller I tried felt better but the quality and performance sucked. I only bought 6 games for it the whole time I had it. Once the XBOX came out I never touched it again until I picked it up to sell it.
I would say the XBOX and XBOX 360 are the peaks of my video gaming experience becuase both my daughters were willing participants. I had four XBOX’s in my home and Hard Wired the house for a Home Network. Me, My kids and friends would play Halo against each other from different rooms in the house. Halo was the game that got my daughters hooked on video games. Today we have five XBOX 360’s in the house. One in each room that has a TV. We use them for LAN play and with Windows Media Center for live TV / DVR as well as streaming movies from the home server or content from the internet.
I have also become quite good at repairing the Red Ring of Death. Three of the XBOX 360’s are from the original launch. One is still working fine and the other two both got the Red Ring of Death. I bought some kits from XBR Depot , the kits installed fine and both 360 units have been working great since.