First game I ever played was Pong on my uncle's Intellivision.
First game I ever owned was a tie between Pac-Man and River Raid for the 2600.
Loved all 3, but just the concept of "interactive television" would just blow the mind of any 10 year old boy. Heck, I played E.T. and was enthralled (often cited as the worst game of all time).
However, I didn't get "hooked" until high school when I got Bard's Tale for the C64. Follow that up with Wasteland and Dragon Wars, and I was hooked. Any game that has a party of characters that you build up by fighting random enemies, and I'm there. My grades dropped when Final Fantasy came out for the Nintendo. And then my favorite game of all time is Baldur's Gate II. Well, maybe it's a tie with Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm spending my free time this Easter Weekend replaying Final Fantasy 9 for the 4th time in my life.
I think back and I believe my parents should have done what today's parents do: limit how much time your kid spends playing video games. In the days of the C64 and original Nintendo, I was absolutely hooked like a drug. My usual A+/95 average sunk to B-/80 average. Still good enough to pass muster with the parents, but less than I really could have accomplished.
University kicked my ass.... I figured the same gliding I did in high school would be enough to pass my classes and boy was I wrong. After getting a smattering of C's and a D and losing my entrance scholarship, I put off all gaming to the summer months and really cracked down on the books.
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