It's nice to see a legion of adult gamers (I don't like to use mature or older...) on the board. I figured that the Iphone/Ipod touch would bring out adult gamers more as well. I'm 39, and like some others on this board I was not allowed to have some of the first consoles. Thus, my early gaming was when I convinced my parents to let me buy the C64. I loved that machine. When I got out of the house, I then bought a Sega Genesis, SNES, N64, 32X, XBox, GBA, GBASP, DS, DS Lite, PSP and now the Wii. Having said that, the PC has been the core of my gaming, and RTS games are still my favorite. It would seem to me that the reason casual gaming is popular on the Iphone platform is that there are more adult gamers (who don't really participate in forums like this) who like simpler games, not hardcore games. And coconutbowling, what were you doing playing Mortal Kombat at age 5? I got the Genesis just for this game. I think I scared my future wife playing that game at the time...
I'm just awesome that way. And besides, I played Sonic the Hedgehog too. But man MK was so cool with fatalities and whatnot. They should port it.
36.5 year old male gamer. My wife has to deal with my lust over new gadgets and vids. It doesn't help being a graphic and web designer either. So when I heard about the apps coming to the ipod touch or iphone, I bought the 1st Ed ipod touch right before the charged update. It was only a matter of time before I know I would be wasting precious hours with my family dragging my finger across my ipod. You don;t have to twist my arm too much! I've been gaming since the late 70's with Atari/Intelly/ColecoVision. Moved to the NES,SNES, and so on... I hope Nintendo or someone starts releasing some of those great games on here soon like RC Pro Am or the like. My older daughter has an ipod chant to persuade me so she can go fishing or whatever.
Surprised to read your comment when all you're hearing is great times from those of us who were around in the beginning. Even though graphics and speed were not the same - the FUN factor of gaming in our youth was the same. I had as much fun (or more) as a kid, when my friend and i found the easter egg in the catacombs in Atari's Adventure. Or staying up all night with the extra lives from the code in Contra (up, up, down, down, etc...), laying on our stomachs and completing the game. Gaming was new and something about that fact made discovering new levels or hidden oddities (there were more back then) a pure adrenaline rush. Thank god for my experiences and my sharp reflexes at age 40 (and the ability to buy any toy i want).
Hilarious! The Contra code....oh man, completely forgot about that. Man, this thread just keeps bringing me back over and over again. And what's scary is that I still think I remember it Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, a, b, a, b, start) Was that it?
im a 62 years old man living in toronto, graduated from college, parent supporting, single and lonely and i too play video games since the commodore and since the iPhone came out, it has been the love of my life and i will cherish her like a baby its great to see all these people around this age and still play video games awesome!
Yes! and when you hit "select" before start - you had a two player game set up with 30 lives each...ahhh memories
i LOVED Star Raiders. Played the crap out of it. With that keypad, i felt like a space captain. One of my top 3 atari games ever. Closest thing here, is prob Solar Blaster. Even tho u don't control flight, the firing is similar.
Ahahaha, the infamous Konami Code. It wasn't only used in Contra (there were a load of games that used it), but i think Contra was one of the first.
I was born in 1972 (making me 36 years old, presently). I got an Atari 2600 for Christmas 1980, I believe (I was 8). I remember so loving Demon Attack and Pac Man on that thing. I got my first "home computer" for Christmas 1982, a TI-99/4A. I did a decent amount of gaming on the system, but really started heavy gaming with my move to the Apple //c in 1984. I have many memories of hot summer nights and Saturday mornings, sitting there playing Conan, Stellar 7, Lady Tut, Sammy Lightfoot, Rescue Raiders, Choplifter, Star Blazer, Archon, Aztec, Swashbuckler, Death in the Caribbean and the like. Wonderful fun. Then it was Mac, Amiga, Atari ST, and a lot of this and that along the way. ( I've owned a few machines, I must say. ) I currently have a nice collection of vintage machines I use to relive those old happy days as a young gamer. I highly recommend the hobby. I do a good bit of gaming these days on the X360 and PS3, less on the Wii, PSP, and DS. I keep the older consoles around, as well. They're great to play with. Nowadays my favorite console games are probably Warhawk (PS3), Orange Box / Half-Life 2 (X360), Geometry Wars (X360), and retro remakes from both XBLA and PSN. And...of course...I do play the odd game on my iPhone. We recently got my two-and-a-half year old her first computer. It's a VTech learning computer that looks like a toy, was cheap, and hooks to the TV. It's funny--the last VTech computer I owned was a Laser 128 Apple II clone. It cost about $600 (10x what this learning computer does) and was not even remotely as powerful as this "toy." We'll see how my daughter gets into it. She already loves Mario! It's good to hear everyone's story! blakespot
I was born in 1994 (year of the N64 i think) that makes me 14, and my first console was the SNES. Oh how i loved the games on it, i was addicted to Mario Paint (which i am hoping someone will do for ipod touch) and Super Mario Kart. Then the PS1 came out, and i played it for weeks and weeks because my dad downloaded copies of it and burnt them onto a blank disc, so i had loads of games. It was back when i was 5 and i completed my very first game, Gex: Enter the Gecko. Thats when i realised i wanted to spend my entire life on video games, i was so happy when i defeated the final boss (It was hard back then...and is STILL hard now. The boss is called Rez, look it up on youtube to see how tough it was for a 5 year old) The PS2 came out, and i bought Jak and Daxter. I spent 3 MONTHS collecting every single item in that game (i was 9 at the time) I also realised that games is a form of showing your imagination, and i loved it. Recently, i have developed 2 games with my team which actually makes me the youngest homebrew developer in the UK (unoffiicial) And i also have a few awards from gaming myself, like spending the most time on Devil May Cry (364 hours 13 minutes) so yeah, thats basically me and my gaming, and this year is the year i actually become what i want to be...A GAME DESIGNER!!! thanks, -lukearcade22
This is a nice thread. It is fun to read these player histories and see how we all have become iDevice gamers. I'm 41, male and first tried electronic gaming in 70's with some Pong TV console which my uncle had bought for himself on a trip in Canada. Next contact was an Atari TV console which my another uncle borrowed from his working place at a TV rental shop. From then on I was hooked and bought my first computer, a Sinclair ZX81 which had just appeared. I had already read a book about Swedish computer ABC-80, and knew the basics in electronics, and so it didn't take long before I was programming and making my own games in Basic and z80 machine language. That was really exciting times. Later I purchased a MSX computer and then an Amstrad PC when I begun my computer science studies. Racing and flight sims were my main gaming attractions, and I've been a pc gamer ever since. I also got an original xbox, but didn't find it much fun. I bought my iPhone a few months ago, mostly out of curiosity and being fed up with the clumsy N**** mobile phones. This purchase was to change my gaming and computing habits totally. Now I'm using the phone to do most of my websurfing, reading, gaming and music production (thanks to apps like beatmaker, noise.io, idrum and randgrid, my hardware synths and pc software are now underused). I never thought I might enjoy mobile gaming, but now I seem to be totally addicted to this iPhone (I'm writing this with it), the huge amount of software in appstore and the community of Touch Arcade forums. Thanks a bunch, Apple, for messing up my habits!
I am 36 and a big time retro gaming fan from the UK. Started gaming on the ZX81 and had too many other systems to name. I am currently a member of Team Weekend Gamer where we make free gaming TV and Audio shows (that can be viewed/downloaded from our website www.weekend-gamer.co.uk ). I also moderate the Retro Gamer Magazine forum and am retro editor for www.gamingverdict.com Mostly into retro styled games for the iPhone, but am disappointed by the high price of titles like Pacman.
"Originally Posted by Mr. Charley Hilarious! The Contra code....oh man, completely forgot about that. Man, this thread just keeps bringing me back over and over again. And what's scary is that I still think I remember it Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, a, b, a, b, start) Was that it?" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code
Wow, I'm surprised how many 80's gamers are 'in da house' on TA. I'm 34 and distinctly remember busting out the ol' Pong console from the back closet when I was a wee lad. I had no idea what it was and played it only a few times, but it didn't hold my interest. It wasn't until we went to my cousin's house probably in '81 or '82 that we discovered Intellivision and what it brought. That Christmas my mom surprised us with a console of our own, and after popping in Pitfall and playing Ice Trek I was hooked on this new world that was open to me. From there, we played every Intellivison game we could get our hands on and envied those with the bucks to buy a Colicovision. In 1987 the only thing I asked for for Christmas was a NES (didn't know about the NES for TWO YEARS). Since my buddy has the Sega Master System, we essentially had the best of both worlds. Once I got the NES, I started to subscribe to Nintendo Power and picked up other gaming rags. As time went on I've owned a Gameboy, SNES, Genesis, N64, Dreamcast, Playstation, Playstation 2, XBox, Gamecube, 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, Gameboy Micro, Nintendo DS, and my beloved Touch. I eventually got into PC gaming (which led me into my current IT career) but that waxes and wanes since it's more expensive to keep up; but with the onset of a wife and kids, my gaming time has dwindled down to about 2 hours per week. Oh well, at least I can game while I'm waiting in the car for her ....
