Blast to the Past

I find it funny how the majority of consumers of today's saturated gaming market don't know about the origins of video games, heck even I'm no exception for my knowledge goes as far back as the early Atari home consoles. Now I don’t want to dive too deep into the history of video games, so I will just briefly talk about the very first video game.

From what I have read the very first video game dates as far back to the late 1940s based on cathode ray tube-based missile defence systems. Now some clever bloke thought it would be interesting if they retooled it to become an entertainment device, thus we have the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device. The idea of the game was to control a missile being launched and the player must twist some knobs to control the curve and speed of the missile. Back then they hadn’t quite invented graphic display so a plastic overlay was needed. So essentially it was a bunch of blinking lights covered by a bit of plastic a few doodles here and there. To some this event may not seem significant. I however feel that it has some importance in the history of gaming since it has demonstrated how a situation can simulated electronically and to some that simulation can be a form of entertainment, which is now pretty much the basis for most video games ever made.

History lesson over, time to talk about my gaming history. The first I got to play was Atari’s Asteroids on the PC. Though lacking visually, this game’s design features for its time one of the most amazing making it one of my favourites. The most predominant feature was when the ship you control flies off the edge on one side of the game it reappears on the other side (honestly this was mind blowing for me as a kid). And of course the game was simple and fun, nothing was more satisfying than trying to beat the highest score. My parents back then were kinda evil so I was deprived from owning a console like a SNES or a Playstation. Often I had to go over to friends and neighbours to play on theirs. It was only after saving the cash I received as gifts was I able to purchase my very first game console, a PS2. However it was a Japanese PS2 so I was only restricted to Japanese titles which meant the only time I can get new games is when I go to Hong Kong. I currently own a GBA, NDS lite, PS2, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Hoo boy… I guess that will be it for tonight, might work on a game review if I’m in the mood tomorrow. Oh yeah, heres a few pics to finish off the post.

Asetroids FTW!