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My first gaming memories

There are some things in life you never forget. Memories can be powerful constructs that elicit a strong emotional connection to a specific thing or time in your life. I cannot tell you with certainty what the first game was that I ever played, but I am positive of the first game I remember playing. It was B17 Bomber on the Intellivision. The game was rudimentary by any measure today, but it was groundbreaking at the time. I was amazed how the game truly made me feel that I was flying over Europe bombing German encampments. Keep in mind that I was five or six years old. And now I am gaming over 40.

B17 Bomber on the Intellivision is the first game I remember playing

Click here to read more about my history with gaming

It is astonishing to me that I still remember the Konami Code and the sequence needed to jump to Mike Tyson in Punchout!! The secret levels in Super Mario Bros are as easy to recall as my first phone number. As time has progressed and the gaming industry has transformed, these types of memories have gone the way of the dodo. Today’s games have eliminated the need for codes and tricks. Now we get beautiful graphics, Hollywood caliber voice talent, and stories that rival anything on the silver screen.

The greatest generation is Gen-X

In the 1980s, the video game marketplace exploded onto the home entertainment scene in a huge way. My entire generation was caught up in the wonder and attraction of it all. I was no exception. As a child born in the 1970s, my generation is the first to have been born before gaming’s inception, but also to have embraced it wholly. My father dabbled with gaming on the Intellivision but he never toyed around the Nintendo Entertainment System at all. I may have gotten him to check some games out over the years, but he has never shown any interest in playing anything at length.

Within my peer group, nearly everyone I know is a gamer to some extent. Many of them are also gaming over 40. The reality of the gaming industry today is that there is something for everyone. You can find nearly every imaginable genre represented. This is because while there is a robust number of gaming manufacturers, the industry has invited Indie game designers into the arena with open arms.

Huge Game Selections — There is an incredible number of gaming titles available and retro game stores have popped up all over the country, catering to gaming nostalgia.

My kids are addicts

When my kids were born, I couldn’t wait to introduce them to the world of video games. Both of my sons spent time sitting on my lap watching me play. I would give them the occasional opportunity to take the controls on something easy. By the time they were three or four years old, they were playing certain games quite well.

In recent years we began to fight over access to the gaming consoles in the house. Eventually I could no longer avoid the need for everyone to have their own. Now we all game separately, but we are always talking about the games we play and compare our experiences with each other.

My oldest son has settled into Action RPGs as his genre of choice. His most recent games of note are Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I have also played both and can vouch for their exceptional quality. My youngest son loves virtual reality. He splits his time between that and Roblox. His popular games right now in VR are Boneworks, VR Chat, and Beatsaber. I have played Beatsaber and understand its appeal, but I prefer Audica by Harmonix. I can honestly say I have never played Roblox but it has been on his play list for years.

Audica is my favorite VR game. It is made by Harmonix, the developers of Rock Band.

The games I play and why

When it comes to my current gaming habits, I seem to ebb and flow with my favorite games and genres. I generally have several games going at once, taking turns playing a different one from day to day. The current carousel of titles comprises Astroneer, Cities: Skylines, Batman: The Telltale Series, and I just finished the story in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I still need to go in and complete all the loot quests.

That is a phenomenon that is new to gaming for me in recent years. I have this compulsive need to complete not only the main story but also the side quests and acquire all the elusive extra things. Some games are more involved than others. Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, has so many side quests and loot crates, that I almost lost my mind.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is the first game that ever gave me that level of dopamine fueled pleasure. Now that coveted 100% Completion Achievement is my constant lover and enemy. I get to the pinnacle of accomplishment just enough to keep me hooked at trying but not too much to cause me to find it useless.

Batman: Arkham Asylum 100% — Batman: Arkham Asylum was the first modern game that I achieved 100% completion on.

So many genres, so little time

As I get older, certain games attract me more than others. I also find that I go through cycles when it comes to the types of games that hold my attention. Additionally, some of the same titles will pop back into my playlist from time to time.

Some games that I have played a ton but seem to keep coming back to are:

Those are my favorite games of the last ten years. As a matter of fact, I will count down my favorite games of the last decade beginning next week.

Playing with my kids

As I mentioned earlier, I introduced my kids to gaming at a very young age. The first games we played together were Hasbro Family Game Night and the Lego Franchise games like Lego: Star Wars, and Lego: Batman. The fun was endless until they outgrew those titles.

Rock Band is a game that I have played since it came on the marketplace in 2007. Both of my kids were far too young to play it for many years, but they would tinker with the drums or wail into the microphone on occasion. The irony is that as soon as they were actually old enough and coordinated enough to play with me, they had no interest in it anymore. That is tragic, because I still pull that game out from time to time and I would love to play with them.

I spent countless hours and ridiculous amounts of money on this Rock Band when it was released in 2007.

When Minecraft showed up in 2011, my kids were both immediate adopters. I resisted playing it initially because it seemed childish, simplistic, and trivial. My mind quickly changed when I finally caved to the insistence of my children. I loved that game. I haven’t played it in a long while because it has evolved into a game that is so complex and involved that only the die hard players can truly appreciate the scope of its options. But for a few short years, barely a week went by that I wasn’t playing Minecraft with one of my boys for a few hours here and there.

Multiplayer sucks

The original Doom is the first game I recall having network play. It allowed you to enter a three dimensional world with your friends. The graphics and physics were not great but the experience was transformative. The first good title that brought it to the mainstream of acceptance was Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64. It allowed for 4 player PvP or Player versus Player. I literally burned away days of my life battling it out with friends in those maps.

There was a dark period of gaming in my life that I referenced in last week’s post. I was sort of broke most of the time and couldn’t keep up with the gaming world. When I finally rebounded and purchased an Xbox 360 I dove headfirst into the Multiplayer Gaming world with Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare. The argument can be made that CoD2 is still the greatest multiplayer game every made.Even in my early 30s, I was staying up until dawn killing adolescent children in the UK on a daily basis.

Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare — I would stay up until dawn on a nightly basis playing this game.

Eventually I stopped playing online multiplayer games. Why? Because of asshole kids. It is astonishing to me that young children are playing some of these games to begin with. Beyond that, it is mind-numbing to hear the language that comes out of their mouths. I once had a child tell me to go fuck myself. He could not have been more than ten years old. 10 YEARS OLD. Tops…

Multiplayer continues to dominate

The industry of multiplayer gaming has taken the world by storm. Today we have tournaments filled with players from around the globe battling it out for real money. They have been dubbed Esports and they are constantly growing in popularity. I have loved gaming my whole life, but I cannot bring my self to watch Esports. I am sorry, but I just can’t. With that said, I am excited for the industry of gaming today. For the first time in history, the video game market made more money than the film industry. Without doubt, the production quality of some games rivals Hollywood productions.

For a period time a few years ago, I felt the gaming industry was forgetting about those of us that are gaming over 40. I think that changed when they saw the success of the Nintendo Wii with older audiences. The mobile gaming market has exploded recently and I am noticing more and more titles on PC and console that have adult themes, featuring characters that resemble me more than a hyper stylized Japanese teen.

I have hope for the future of gaming. I have a seen a resurgence of single player titles of late after years of multiplayer being the only option for the most popular releases. You may have noticed that until this point I have not mentioned Fortnite. I take issue with that game for one simple reason. Fortnite is a science experiment. It’s purpose was to stimulate award centers of the brain with reliable hits of dopamine. The whole game is one giant loot crate. In essence, it is free gambling. Of course there is no evidence of any of this…it’s just my opinion.

Regardless, fuck Fortnite. Never played it. Never will.

Christopher Hess, LMT

You can find me on gaming networks:
Xbox: ZeroOctane LMT
Playstation: ZeroOctaneLMT

Note: Over the next week, I will be introducing readers (however few there are) to the new format of The Daily Octane. Each day will be the topic reveal for that calendar day going forward. Additionally, I will provide context for why I feel I have ANY business even writing about the subject.

A Brief History of Gaming

Games are as old as human history. There are depictions of ancient Greek combatants playing dice on the battlefield. The vikings were known to play chess. The Romans popularized the Gladiatorial battles. The Greeks also held the Olympic Games. In recent decades, family based board games have been all the rage. During the 1970s, computerized video games began to find their way into our lives. In the 1980s and 90s, competitive card games like Magic the Gathering took hold of a whole flock of less desirable youth.

Greek heroes Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game between battles at the siege of Troy.
(Image credit: Jakob Bådagård/Public domain)

When it came to games, my childhood is very typical. At a young age, I was exposed to Chutes & Ladders, Checkers, Chess, Monopoly, and a slew of card games. That is just a minuscule sampling. The reality is that gaming was only a small part of my daily existence. That reality fundamentally changed forever in 1979 when my parents made the choice to invest in an Intellivision. The Mattel company began development of the Intellivision gaming console in 1977. Coincidentally, the Atari 2600 exploded onto the home entertainment scene that very year.

The battle between system adopters in the late 70s and early 80s pales in comparison to today’s feuds between Playstation and Xbox, but it was there all the same. While I was decidedly late to the video gaming world (relatively, of course. I was only 4 years old), I was firmly in the Intellivision camp. It wasn’t until years later that I even tinkered around with an Atari. Some of my friends had Ataris and that was enough for me.

So Many Consoles & So Little Time

While I started my gaming odyssey with the Intellivision, I most certainly did not end it there. My collection of gaming systems has been vast and nearly complete. Everyone likes a good list, so here is mine:

Intellivision
- The Intellivoice add on the system, which debuted in 1982 added realistic voice to the gaming experience
Commodore 64 landed on the scene in 1982, although I didn’t get mine for another year or two. The Commodore was akin to a Personal Computer and was trying to battle for market share from Apple and IBM. Still, its primary selling point was its library of role playing games, which were groundbreaking at the time.
The N intendo Entertainment System exploded into the US market in 1986 after a slow roll out in Japan and then select markets in the US. Its fundamentally changed the gaming genre with enhanced graphics and a corporate philosophy of total control of the game development. The NES was the first system to have an iconic trademark level character in Mario.

The iconic plumber. He was the first gaming ambassador.

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The Gameboy was a logical followup to the NES in 1989, allowing players to take the games with them wherever they went. It would not be the last handheld gaming system, but its name is still synonymous with portable gaming to this day.
The TurboGrafx-16 quietly came on the scene that same year. It featured groundbreaking 16 bit graphics and an alternative art style in its game design. The company struggled with marketing failures, a very high price point, and abysmal title options. However, I can still remember my amazement when I first set eyes on the gameplay.
The Sega Genesis was the first attempt from the startup company, Sega Games Co. It also beat Nintendo to the 16 bit gaming world, but its relative obscurity did not make it a huge hit right away.
The Super Nintendo was released in 1991 and was the first Nintendo system to have 16 bit graphics. Even though it was second to the market, Nintendo still dominated the marketplace.
The Sony Playstation was the first gamechanger on the scene in 1995 offering 32 bit graphics. Sega did not have the juice to battle Nintendo, but Sony had large stores of capital for research and development. They came on the scene ready for war. In addition to 32 bit graphics, The Playstation brought the introduction of Compact Discs to the gaming world, which had traditionally consisted of cartridges.

The Nintendo 64 was the answer to the Playstation, debuting in 1996. While it remained a cartridge based game system, it was my first 3D gaming experience.
- as a side note, I actually got a Nintendo 64 before a Playstation. It was also the first game system I ever bought with my own money. I was a Private in The United States Marine Corps at the time. I have wonderful memories of hanging out in the barracks with my fellow Jarheads playing these games. The Nintendo 64 was also a very robust system. I still have that original console I bought all those years ago and it still works.
I got the Playstation 2 at launch in 2000. My cousin stood in line all night for me at Walmart because I was working as a bar bouncer at the time. Thanks, Ben. This game system was extraordinary and still stands the test of time. It was the gold standard of gaming for years, despite the release of the first Xbox.
The Nintendo Dual Screen or DS as it is generally called debuted in 2004. I have actually owned several iterations of DS models, but I will not list them all out here.
The Xbox 360 thrust onto the scene in 2005 and was a massive hit. You may notice that I didn’t list the original Xbox as a console. I never owned one. To this day, I have never had an original Xbox in my position. While I have played it, it was never really impressed with it. The Xbox 360 was also not purchased right away, as I did not bite the bullet and buy one until 2007 when Harmonix released Rock Band on consoles.

The Playstation Portable or PSP also came out in 2005. Sony was not quite ready for a new console, so they attacked Nintendo’s strangle hold on the portable market. I owned one, but I believe I only ever owned four or five games. My oldest son got far more use out of it than I ever did.
The Nintendo Wii launched in 2006 to immediate and enormous success. That holiday season it was THE hot ticket. You could not find a Wii on the shelves that year. People made small fortunes selling them on Ebay and other sites. Once again, I had this system at “launch” but my ex-wife wouldn’t let me have it until Christmas. Supposedly, it was for the kid. It is important to note that The Wii was the first game system with wholly broad appeal. I can recall the news stories of geriatric residents of group homes playing Wii Tennis and Wii Bowling in the common areas of their retirement communities.
The Playstation 4 arrived in 2014. It was the first console I purchased specifically for my son. It was a Christmas gift for him that year. I played it some, but it was decidedly his. That is until I stole it from him years later and it still sits in my office right next to me as I type this article.
The newest console on the market (for me at least) is the Xbox One. The Xbone, as some people sarcastically call it, was released in 2013. Once again, I did not buy one right away. I was not exactly wealthy at the time and I was having a harder and harder time convincing my wife (at the time) to let me get one. I have five of them in the house now that I am divorced.
My latest purchase is my gaming PC. I own an iBUYPOWER Gaming Tower and it is a powerhouse. I am not going to bore you with the specs, but it is quite the system. It is used for Steam gaming and especially for my:
- Occulus Rift VR system, which is the first of the big two VR systems. I do not own an HTC Vibe, but I am well aware of how good that system is too.

In Closing…

While that is all quite the exhaustive list, there are plenty of gaming systems I have never owned. I may touch on some of them in future posts.

I am no expert on gaming, console, PC, or otherwise, but I am going to certainly make an attempt to express my feelings on the subject in future Saturdays. If you are a fan of gaming, please join me.

Christopher Hess, LMT

Come back tomorrow for Sunday’s Topic reveal.