Last night while playing more Gears of War 3 one of the new people I was playing with asked the rather innocuous question of "What was your first video game?". And after listening to such responses as Halo 2 and Spyro the Dragon I knew I was going to horribly date myself with my answer.
And not only did I date myself** by saying it was "Combat" for the Atari 2600....
...I also gave the wrong answer as well. You see "Combat" may have been the first game I pulled out of the Atari 2600 box when my father was trying to hook it up to the TV on Christmas morning all the while my 4 year old self was bouncing around impatiently...it actually wasn't the first Atari game I owned.
My mother, bless her heart, bought me an Atari game so I could play it at my friends house across the street from where I lived in Texas. I will also say that Rocky, Travis and I had fun playing it and it was quite appropriate to own this game in Texas too.
"Outlaw" was a compilation of a few western themed mini games. Hell pretty much all the Atari games were mini games of some kind. But for this 4 year old having a game with cowboys in it, especially to a kid that played Cowboys and Indians outdoors with the neighborhood kids, this was gaming nirvana. And this was the game that started me on my lifelong hobby of video games and gaming.
So thanks Mom for getting me this when I was a kid. You were ahead of the curve with exposing me to technology. I also thank you for not accidentally picking up another cowboy and indians themed game as it may have scarred my childhood forever.
If you want to know more....just not at work ok?
** I want to point out that when I said 'Combat' the conversation got so quiet that you could hear a flea fart at 100 meters. It was either a cross between 'WTF is an Atari 2600' and 'Holy sheetz this guy is older than my dad'. I want to cry.
And not only did I date myself** by saying it was "Combat" for the Atari 2600....
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| Warfare was never so blocky... |
...I also gave the wrong answer as well. You see "Combat" may have been the first game I pulled out of the Atari 2600 box when my father was trying to hook it up to the TV on Christmas morning all the while my 4 year old self was bouncing around impatiently...it actually wasn't the first Atari game I owned.
My mother, bless her heart, bought me an Atari game so I could play it at my friends house across the street from where I lived in Texas. I will also say that Rocky, Travis and I had fun playing it and it was quite appropriate to own this game in Texas too.
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| Is that Clint Eastwood on the cover? |
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| Oooh....look at those graphics! |
"Outlaw" was a compilation of a few western themed mini games. Hell pretty much all the Atari games were mini games of some kind. But for this 4 year old having a game with cowboys in it, especially to a kid that played Cowboys and Indians outdoors with the neighborhood kids, this was gaming nirvana. And this was the game that started me on my lifelong hobby of video games and gaming.
So thanks Mom for getting me this when I was a kid. You were ahead of the curve with exposing me to technology. I also thank you for not accidentally picking up another cowboy and indians themed game as it may have scarred my childhood forever.
If you want to know more....just not at work ok?
** I want to point out that when I said 'Combat' the conversation got so quiet that you could hear a flea fart at 100 meters. It was either a cross between 'WTF is an Atari 2600' and 'Holy sheetz this guy is older than my dad'. I want to cry.
