It's rainy and warm today - and another wind storm is on its way. Batten down the hatches and close the shutters time.
Yesterday I kicked some elf butt with my barbarians. Yes, I got an early Christmas present from my son. We're Heroes of Might and Magic players (well, I am. My sons play everything). And I got the last game in the series - the barbarian hordes. Lots of fun. I built up a mighty army and stomped all over those pretty elf warriors.
In game one, (if you've played Heroes you'll know what I mean) the action was very stilted. Sort of like the ancient pakman games. Or Mario Brothers one! I remember the day my husband Finally saved the princess. He'd been playing for weeks (months!) and he finally got to the end! (I still hadn't quite managed to perfect the 'B' jump). Then Mario morphed and became more complex. I still held onto game one, along with the old Nintendo unit until it finally blew a fuse and died. Well, Heroes evolved the same way. From two dimensional clonking figures to amazing three dimensional life-like artforms. Gorgeous backgrounds. Amazing effects.
And I was thinking - During my lifetime we went from table-tennis games (the famous ping-pong TV game set in a huge table) to packman, to space invadors (You remember them?) to more complex games that were total busts (We had the first Star Trek game. My kids would make Captain Kurt shoot at Spock, and Spock would say, "Jim! Point that gun somewhere else!")
And then the games evolved and got even more amazing (Rama). And then we discovered Mario, Heroes, and the rest is...progress.
So that was the progress in my life. And telephones too. That's what I remember most about the progress made during my life so far. Communication and video games.
My great-grandmother was born in the late 1800's - she remembers the advent of electricity, cars, and space travel.
Now, who has more impressive memories? Is it just me, or is mankind getting bogged down in the gaming thing?
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9 comments:
We didn't have any video games until Beanie was about 16 so that was about 5 years ago. He got a PlayStation from his uncle. Shmoo was 13. Beanie was obsessed with games before that just playing at friend's houses.
Turns out I was right to be concerned because they still go through periods of obsession where if we didn't set limits on how much time they spend on vid games they wouldn't eat, or sleep or go to school.
Just recently because of the demands of his life, at 21 Beanie has gotten better at putting his playing in perspective, but Shmoo still has a tendency to want to play a new game until he beats to the exclusion of everything else.
So, yeah, I think people get very obsessed and bogged down. It could be argued that readers get the same way over a book, but last time I checked I didn't miss a meal, sleep or re-read the same page over and over again or run to the computer to get codes or hints how to unlock or conquer the next chapter.
My kids are very computer game and nintendo freaks. But teh games never got in the way of their lives - so I usually let them play as much as they like. My daughter isn't really interested at all.
As for books - I can remember getting stuck in books and not stopping to make dinner -ignoring my kids cries and husband's pleas. LOL.
My mother was the same way. She'd get her nose in a book, and we could run inside shrieking and she wouldn't hear what we said until she'd reached the end of her chapter.
Your gr-grandmother's memories bust all of mine - what a great post. I miss my grannies - I was the 5th living generation on Mom's side when I was born, and luckily the 'old ones' were with me for a long time. *g*
Most of my childhood memories revolve around music. Playing records, practicing piano, performing, that sort of thing.
As for your warm rain - I'm jealous. Freezing my arse off here. lol
The warm rain is no fun, it comes with a hurricane-like storm here. :(
I know zero about games I'm afraid. I'm not the gaming type, neither virtual or in real life.
Rain here, a deluge, spoiling the lovely pristine first snowfall of the season.
Memories? I am still relishing the memory of my first typewriter, age 16, an upright Underwood just like Hemingway used to type on! I took me ages to adapt to the computer world but of course now I love it.
And TV? Our first TV was rented to watch the wedding of the now Queen Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten.
I like TV (certain shows) but rarely get time to watch it. And as far as I'm concerned I don't have time for these game thingies either. I still love Scrabble and used to love Monopoly and Clue
and at Christmas when I was a kid we always played crochinole and chinese checkers. Am I getting to be an old fart or what?
I am a gamer too. I LOVE action games. I'll have to check out the game you mentioned. My all time fav lately is still Bud Redhead. Lots of action, jumping, skill, fun. I loved the Mario game but never mastered it. Remember Kong and Jazz jackrabbit? Myst? Ah, the memories. How about that annoying sound the ping pong game made. LOL
Oh the stories my Grammy told me. Walking 20 miles in the snow uphill to school and 20 miles from from school in the snow, still uphill. What amazes me is the fact that we were able to function without computers. I think at how my life would have been oh so different had we had home computers and the Internet when I was a kid. But then we wouldn't have had the time nor desire to sit in a quiet corner reading a book. I lived in books when I was a kid and teenager.
I believe I was taken to my greatgrandmother's funeral in a carriage.
Of course we lived in the backwoods where tradition and certain forms persisted, and I may have been less than three.
I avoid those games. I could so easily become obsessed..
King's Quest is my fave PC game. The Man and I have been up until 3 am many an evening trying to get past just this section, then we'll go to bed. I'll have to check out your Heroes one...
SdB
Well, I have to stop playing Heroes and get back to my deadline.
The bad thing abotu computer games is they usually take a long time to play.
And my tendonitis is Killing me.
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