The LAST time I bought a gaming console was during freshman year of college. I remember going into a Kay Bee Toy Store at a mall in Richmond, VA--possibly Cloverleaf, but that cannot be verified at this time--and dropping over 100 bones for it, but walking away with a great sense of elation. Freshman and sophomore years were filled with many nights of Mortal Kombat 2 tourneys in my dorm room. Then I remember being hooked on Super Mario World. The ultimate addiction came during my Senior year, when my homeboy, Rashad, let me borrow the latest incarnation of the Legend of Zelda. I think I hibernated for a week in my dorm room. Even skipped some classes. I sometimes wonder now if my acting suffers today, because I missed some valuable lessons during that Zelda binge.
After defeating Zelda, things started to go downhill. I became bored with the SNES. Life was on the verge of turning a new page. "Real life" loomed on the outside of the dorm walls. Graduation drew near.
In 1997, I resolved to give up buying the latest greatest game consoles, because they would just continue to upgrade every year, and that was a habit I couldn't afford.
So I took up smoking.
No, I didn't.
I did watch as the game consoles evolved over the years. The controllers became more complex, developing more buttons than any one individual has fingers. The graphics went from Pong to Final Fantasy. When feeling brave, I'd even vie for an opportunity to lose at Madden (insert early 2000's) to a friend or little cousin.
Then came the PlayStation 3, in all of its sexiness--Blu-Ray DVD player, Netflix Streaming, Internets, Blu-Ray DV--I already said that. I resisted it for too long. Finally last week, it got the best of me. I have Target in Fair Lakes to thank for having 1 console left. I have always loved fantasy/adventure games, so I got the "God of War" Collection, which has the 1st 2 games. Then a couple of days ago, I stopped at Game Stop (appropriately named) in Vienna, and accidentally walked out with 2 more games on purpose--after paying, of course. "Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe" and "Fight Night Round 3."
I've already been sucked into "God of War." I just played "MK vs. DCU" for the first time yesterday. I played FNR3 after I bought it.
I can feel my world shifting again.
When I sleep, I dream of "X, X, ^, O" combinations. R2+O. L1, L1, X.
If I disappear, just have my roommate check my room. I could very well be overdosing on the beautiful sound of "LIU KANG WINS!"
Pray for me, Church!
I too, had gone cold turkey from gaming for several years. Being an old school (video game) playa, I even had the original home gaming console Pong! I naturally moved on to Atari 2600 and then...I discovered girls liked musicians, not video game geeks. I promptly put down my joystick and picked up an axe (that's musician slang for a guitar. A bass guitar in this case.) at age 12. Countless forfeited visits to the ice cream man culminated in the purchase of a $250 sunburst orange Fender Jazz bass knockoff which I played religiously and seemingly non-stop. Then one day I came out of my purple haze to realize that I was sitting in a Hampton University dorm room running diatonic scales when I should have been in class. At this point I had no time for or interest in video games, just school, music and a rapidly growing interest in fast cars. Strange considering the fact that I drove a very uncool '74 Pinto at the time.
ReplyDeleteFast forward a number of years to a customer waiting room in Springfield, VA, where I was having for my now very cool VW Corrado lowered. Something called a "Playstation" was hooked to the TV and becconed my to play a game called "Gran Turismo". I was once again sucked into the alternate reality known as video gaming for several years.
Then I met a girl, got married and put down the controller for what I thought was for good. Then I had kids, got fat and something called Wii and it's "Fit" came along.
Being a conspiracy theorist, I believe that video games are a tool of the illuminati to keep the masses mindlessly entertained, dumbed down and in a sheep-like state to do the bidding of the elite, blind to the advent of the New World Order, of which Barack Obama has been chosen to usher in. Or is that the latest story line in a video game I'm currently playing?