One of those little nagging things about lecturing in a Gaming course is that I’ve always felt a little left out when my students rave about the newest console title. I mean, so many of them tote around PSPs to school it’s scary.
My parents got my two brothers and myself an Apple II computer in 1983, and while both my elder brother and myself got into computer games from that point, I was also altogether interested in the creation of games through writing programs.
From that point, I’ve chalked up about 24 years of computer gaming but very little on consoles, despite my good bud Matt’s best attempts to get me to at least take a look at consoles.
That said, the nagging feeling that I could be missing out got to me eventually, and a fortnight ago I started seriously looking deciding whether to get an XBox360, a PS3, or a Wii. All three have their advantages and appeal, but I decided on the PS3. I figured that if the console gaming didn’t appeal as much as PC gaming, at least we’d have a Blu-Ray high-definition player.
The Blu-Ray player didn’t disappoint. The first title we got – Ridley Scott’s director’s cut of his movie Kingdom of Heaven looked so splendid on high-def that Ling actually enjoyed the viewing much more than the two times we watched it on the big screen and on DVD later.
As for the collaborative gaming with wife-thingie itself, well, the picture here says it all. Ling’s never quite played games before; my few attempts to get her interested in PC gaming failed so badly I gave up. But now she’s gotten into Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and enjoying it that I cannot but help feel satisfied at this small achievement. Oh, she still gets me to go through the combat portions for her, but she’s handling all the platform and adventuring aspects of it.
Pigs can fly, indeed.:)
I’ve been playing video games since my mother first brought home an Atari 2600 when I was just over 3 years old. And though I play far fewer video games now than perhaps ever in my life, I note that this fact doesn’t appear to restrain me from buying the games or the consoles. These days I’m a hopeless collector rather than a player of video games.
(Entering into the realm of console games so early probably has a lot to do with why I pledge no particular allegiance to any one system manufacturer or game publisher. Fanboy I ain’t!)
Your purchase of the PS3, in retrospect, appears to make the most sense, Blu-Ray playback being just the tip of the iceberg. (I recommend getting Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle on Blu-Ray—beautiful blacks and wonderful shadow detail throughout.) And if you find that the two of you really enjoy playing console games together, there’s nothing preventing you purchasing, say, a Wii or whatever somewhere down the road when prices are lower and game titles more abundant.
Heh I remember being quite intrigued by the Atari as a boy, but it never really figured into my consciousness or “want” list. I think I was pretty happy with casually playing Ultima and the original Castle Wolfenstein games on the Apple II throughout. I really only got hooked in around 1992 when I got a sound-blaster equipped 386 clone computer and Wing Commander 2.:)
Haha; and I think we’ll most likely just stick with one console. There’s a strangely attractive quality to playing games on a Plasma TV; the true black colors and deep contrast more than compensate for the lack of true high resolution on a PC + LCD monitor, but it’s hard to find the kind of console game that’ll interest both Ling and myself.:)
Merry Christmas, Yang and Ling!
Merry Christmas too, bud.:) Ling hasn’t been blogging because she’s too engrossed in Virtua Tennis 3 haha.:)