As well as being a computer geek, I also love playing video games. I have played them since I can remember, and Ive lived through pretty much every generation since the 1980s.
Gaming Systems I’ve Owned
Commodore 16 Plus 4
My first ever gaming computer was the Commodore 16 Plus 4. I think we got in for Christmas in 1986; I can’t really remember because I was so young. But I do remember the excellent two-button joystick and the stacks of games we had. Yes, you had to load them off tapes <Press Play to Continue>, but they were great fun.
Some of my personal favorites include:
- Scramble
- Squirm
- Vegas Jackpot
Atari 520ST FM
The second computer I owned was the Atari ST. While strictly not a gaming computer, it had a few cool titles that kept me busy. I mainly used it for homework and writing MIDI music.
Some of my personal favorites include:
- Sensible Soccer
- Lotus Turbo Challenge
- Lemmings
- Another World
586 PC-CDROM
Next, I got my very first PC, but it wasn’t until about 1994. It was a 586, which was actually a Pentium 75mhz. I think it had 8 MB of RAM, which was unheard of back in the day.
Some of my gaming highlights included:
- Rollercoaster Tycoon
- Screamer 2
- Doom
Playstation 1 (PS1)
The PS1 was my first proper game console for Christmas in 1996. The rest is history as they say, the PS1 was an epic games console. It hasn’t aged very well, but I have fond memories of wasting my teenage years playing this for hours on end.
Some of my gaming highlights included:
- Gran Turismo 1 & 2
- GPolice
- Ridge Racer
- V-Rally
- Dance Dance Revolution
- Alien Trilogy
Pentium 2 PC
I bought my first PC in 1999 when I was at University. Needless to say, it was a waste of my student loan, but it was a good PC. I think it was a Pentium 2 300mhz with 128MB RAM and an Nvidia Riva TNT2.
So many gaming highlights, LAN parties, and just geeking about:
- Quake 3 Arena
- HalfLife
- Civ2
- Unreal Tournament
- Geoff Crammond GP2
PlayStation 2
Next up was the PS2. I was lucky enough to get one on Launch Day. This console had so many awesome games that it’s hard to name my favorites, but I will give it a try.
- Gran Turismo 3
- Gran Turismo 4
- Grand Theft Auto 3
- Silent Hill 2
- God Of War
- Simpsons Hit and Run
- Pro Evolution Soccer
- Metal Gear Solid 2 – Sons of Liberty
- Need for Speed: Underground
- Dance Dance Revolution
- Tekken Tag Tournament
- Burnout 1,2 and 3
- Bully
- Black
PlayStation 3
There is a theme developing here. Next, I got a PS3. Again, I got this quite close to launch. It was one of the backward-compatible 60GB Fat PS3s with all the memory card slots. It was a great bit of hardware, and watching Blu-Ray movies at home was pretty cool.
In my opinion, the launch titles were not good at all, but the first year’s games also suffered from performance issues, especially when compared to the Xbox 360. I remember buying Pro Evolution Soccer, and it was unplayable due to lag. Patches fixed it, but it was still not good enough for what was a very expensive console at the time. That being said, there were still a lot of perfect games that saved this console from the scrap heap.
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Gran Turismo 5 & 6
- The Last of Us
- Uncharted 1, 2 and 3
- God of War 3
- Call of Duty 4
P.S. Look at what my dog did to a brand-new copy of Black Ops. Bad dog!
Nintendo Wii
Next, I bought my first ever Nintendo. This was an impulsive buy because I played Wii bowling at a friend’s house and was hooked on it.
The Wii was a strange console. On the one hand, it had terrific first-party games, but on the other, I just never played it.
- Mario Kart Wii
- Wii Sports & Resort
- Wii Fit
- Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2
- Just Dance
- WarioWare: Smooth Moves
- Goldeneye 007
PlayStation 4 Pro
I didn’t get my next new system for a few years, in between I got married and had my first child. Once the dust had settled, I dipped my toe back into gaming.
The PlayStation 4 Pro was a mid-generation upgrade to the PS4. It offered improved graphics and performance for some games. Apart from being really noisy, the fan noise was ridiculous! it was an amazing games machines
Some of my gaming highlights included:
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- The Last of Us – Part 2
- God of War (2018)
- Spider-Man
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
- Bloodborne
- Wipeout HD Fury
PlayStation 5
The last console I bought was the PS5. The PlayStation 5 is Sony’s latest console. It’s a powerful machine with some great exclusive games.
Some of my gaming highlights include:
- Demon’s Souls (2020)
- Gran Turismo 7
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console that can be played at home or on the go. It has some of the best first-party games in the industry.
Some of my gaming highlights included:
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Splatoon 2
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