From Pong to Fortnite an Introduction

You can call me GHG, Crono or Ron. I sure do have grey in my hair.  Let me see now, my first video gaming memory? It might have been seeing PONG at some restaurant-bar with my parents.  Or it might have been seeing Atari's Outlaw or  Midway's Sea Wolf at the skating rink.  In the home it was most certainly seeing Atari PONG or one of the Coleco Telstar PONG clones at other kids houses.  I'd often split from my parents when they went shopping and headed to the game demo station.

I played arcade games a little.  The usual suspects, Asteroids, Defender, Gauntlet.  I've played some of the rarer games too, like the arcade version of Space War and Thayer's Quest.

My first "TV game box"?  A used Atari 2600 bought for 10 bucks in 1986 (before the NES got nationwide release), my parents didn't have the financial resources to buy me vidja games themselves.  I was techy, so my parents didn't help me hook it up.  It came with a LOT of games.  It was after the crash of 84, so I was able to pick up new-in-box games for cheap.  I think I picked up Star Raiders for less than $10.  I don't think I even saw an NES till maybe December of 86...it might have even been 87.

From 86 to 97 I was pretty much in a deep dark depression and money was an issue...that's why I was way behind the curve.  I kept on playing that 2600 till I got a NES in 94 IIRC. My first NES game was Legend of Zelda, though it might have been Metroid because I had played the Super Metroid demo at Wal-Mart.  I could pick up games CHEAP and sometimes even game magazines.  I picked up some early Nintendo Power's....though I lost them all in a flood some years back.

In 97, things started looking up for me, games were a part of it, I picked up a SNES in 97, I think my first game was either Link to the Past or Secret of Mana.  I got Chrono Trigger in the early fall and loved it, and it helped bring me out of the depression, which is why "Crono" became part of my standard online nickname. I got Final Fantasy III (6) soon after, after liking that, I went to the local video store and rented time on a PlayStation they had set up in a kind of kiosk to try out Final Fantasy VII.  After that I thought.  "I've got more money now, maybe I can get a current system.  I was at the local pawn shop in November and saw a copy of FFVII...relatively cheap and WITH the Versus strategy guide.  I think it was $25?  Since I was under the impression that RPG's weren't as popular in the US... I picked it up..figuring I'd pick up the PlayStation to play it on in the spring.

I got the PlayStation (used) in May as a gift to myself for my birthday.  My second game was the PlayStation port of Diablo, which I'd read about in a PC centric magazine and thought was interesting and just happened to come across the PSone version. 

I bought a LOT more games, used ones...and even new ones.  I even picked up some of the later SNES games new like Mario Paint and Yoshi's Island.

My first new system was actually a portable, the Game Boy Color, in late 99 I think.  I bought to try out that Pokemon thing all the magazines were going on about. I was online then, via WebTV.  Had to pick up a new PSone in 2000 to replace my aging older model PlayStation.

I had planned to pick up a launch PS2, the first system I ever planned on getting at launch.  But...I wasn't able to get to the store in time because...as an adult...WORK!  By the time I got to the stores... I think after 9 AM?  They were gone!  I had to settle for a screen for my PSone...when I saw one of those battery packs.  I basically replaced that GBC with a battery powered PSone!  Which sure impressed people in waiting rooms even if I had to carry it in a bag.

PS2's finally showed up again in March of 2001 and I picked one up.  Can't remember my first PS2 game.  Might have been Dark Cloud, BGDA or Tekken Tag Tournament.  I think I was a member of the Playstation Underground by that time, I eventually got inducted into the Gamer Advisory Panel.  I was in the SOCOM II beta, SLAI beta and Monster Hunter Beta.  Man did I complain about MonHun's controls.

I was part of the PS2 Linux community and had the Ethernet-only version of the PS2 network adapter BEFORE the Ethernet/dialup version was released to retail.  Got broadband specifically for the PS2 and had a wireless network by the time SOCOM came out with the blessed WET11 bridge.  My first MMO was Everquest Online Adventures in early 2003.  My Linux kit's keyboard served me well with online PS2 games.

Since I had the Linux kit, I also had a hard drive in my PS2 years before the official PS2 hard drive was released.  I had to get a second PS2 for that. Over the years I picked up a LOT of PS2 games, though fewer than PSone games.  I'd learned the error of picking up tons of budget/used games that I didn't have time to play.

I picked up a PSP in 2005 on launch day.  My first games were Untold Legends and Wipeout Pure. I still have it, but the UMD drive failed on it.  I was eventually given a Silver PSP 3000 as a gift during a long hospital stay.  That thing kept me sane there.  It's still fully functional, though not usually charged.

I did NOT get a PS3 at launch...medical bills and the fact that there wasn't much I wanted to play on it till 2008.  Luckily Oblivion came out, which I had tried on a friend's Xbox, and I picked up the MGS4 CECHE model, the last of the FAT models and the last with any sort of PS2 compatibility.  I immediately installed Linux on it of course and switched between Linux and games as I desired.  To this day my favorite PS3 game is Fallout 3.  When given the choice between Linux on the PS3 and losing PSN access, I switched to Linux (I prefer Fedora) on PC and gamed on the PS3.  I did HOME and FreeRealms, DCUO, and Minecraft when it hit the PS3.  (I'd messed with it a bit on Linux)

I picked up a PS4 on launch night, though I wasn't able to find the launch game I wanted, Lego Marvel. Had to settle for Contrast, Resogun, Flower and DCUO, none of which I actually paid for.  I never got around to playing Contrast!

I'm eclectic on the PS4, "a bit of this and a bit of that".  Yes, that means Skyrim...again, and Fallout 4.  Free-to-play MMO's like Star Trek Online (I played it via Wine on Linux, but the performance was an issue).  Games like Fortnite (Save the World, NOT Battle Royale), Indies, and other things.  I picked up a Saitek x52 HOTAS for War Thunder, only to have to pick up SECOND HOTAS because Elite Dangerous only supports the Thrustmaster HOTAS 4!.  I've got the PS4 camera but only use it as a mic.  I do have both PS3 Move controllers, but don't have PSVR.  And yet again, I have more games than I have time to play, but it does mean I have games for my many moods.

I like the PS4's ability to screenshot, record and stream, though I don't stream often.  I'm not one of those goatee'd edgelord college boys who can stream 10 hours a day.  And when I do stream it is to Youtube, not Twitch.  Twitch has too many homophobic edgelord jerk viewers for my liking.

I picked up a used Vita back in 2014, to replace my PSP and take advantage of the Vita PS+ freebies and cross buy.  I love the thing even though I'm not one of the hardcore "there are only virtual novels and JRPG's" japanophiles on the Vita Reddit.

I wouldn't consider myself a "pro" in anyway.  I might be "hardcore" in some ways, but in others I'm a "filthy casual".  I'm fairly knowledgeable, but not an expert on certain genres.  I do in general prefer gaming on console, in part because I loathe Windows, and Microsoft as a company.  And I do favor the PlayStation eco-system, though I'd love to have a Nintendo Switch if only for portable Skyrim.