My Gaming History

Well, I finally took the plunge! Nearly one year after the system made its debut here in America, I have the finances and urge to get one!

But first, some information about me. I am an adamant gamer. My gaming lust began when I was in my early years and I picked up the Atari joystick for the first time. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Joust were my main favorites. But I truly believe I became a gamer when I asked for a Nintendo for Christmas after staying with my cousin and watching him play the original Final Fantasy almost non-stop for two days. I was envious.

But, after finding the Ninetendo in my parents closet two weeks prior to Christmas, I was stoked. I enjoyed many of the original favorites, Super Mario Bros., Tecmo Super Bowl, The Legend of Zelda II, and Super Mario Bros. 3 (which I got for my first communion:-)). I then made the jump to the Super NES, enjoying the new Mario, as well as many other games.

But it was one game that would truly begin my gaming addiction--Final Fantasy II (IV in Japan). I still have to thank Bill Lanik from the Video Vault (the store was in an old bank) for not charging my brother and I too much in late fees for the 2 months we rented the game. This was the first time I became truly hooked by anything. It was enthralling. I then coaxed my mom into buying us Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan--still what I will claim is my favorite game of all time). It was the beginning of an obsession; I own every Final Fantasy game on a Sony console (except for XI--really does it even count?).

Fact is, I cannot even remember how I got a Play Station, but it isn't important. All I know is Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid are my favorite moments from the console (Spyro the Dragon and GTA also great experiences).

The enjoyment I had with the PS1 led me to skip school my senior year of high school in order to sit in line at Target in Rochester in order to get one at launch (I was actually offered a job because of how I helped older shoppers decide which games to buy for their kids). We did visit Winona State (for 30 minutes) but Brent, Clobes, and I spend most of the day sleeping and playing Madden (I also got Armored Core 3--didn't like it).

I loved the gaming experiences I had on the console (GTA games, Final Fanasy X, X-2, and XII, NCAA Football, Katamari [nahnah...]) but finishing college in debt left me a little short on cash while student teaching left me short on time to try to get one at launch. I teetered, almost sold out to Microsoft. I own an X-Box and enjoyed it. Then, the price difference a key, I won an auction on Ebay (it is a dangerous site for my pocket book...). I was immediately filled with buyers remorse and was only saved as the sellers paypal account went fraudulent and my money was returned to me (Whew!).

Most recently, I have been playing games on both PS2 and X-Box: the Guitar Heros were an addiction for my student teaching experience and final semester of college while FIFA 07 and embarrassingly enough Playboy the Mansion (Like the magazine it is overshadowed by its nudity, but is actually a legitimately great and fun game).

But, as the months went by, and the things I read in PSM (adios my good friend), I felt the tides turning back towards Sony's system and made the decision to give it a go and stay brand loyal. Now the quesiton was how I was going to get one...