Rants, Raves, and Ramblings

It has been way too long since I’ve made an entry. Believe me, I’ve wanted to make entries detailing all of my little projects, adventures, and insights – I just haven’t had the time to sit down and type them all out. A rather privileged problem, if I may say so. And it has the bonus effect of resulting in about a dozen good entries just waiting to pour out of my skull. So for anyone looking for new posts – don’t get too discouraged by the relative silence here. There is plenty brewing.

I know that I’ve professed my lack of interest in video games before, but that’s mostly to deflect the incessant talk about video games that invariably occurs when you admit that you like them within hearing/reading distance of a game nut. Back in the ’90′s, I used to play a lot of console games; it was a major hobby of mine. For the last decade, I’ve found myself relegated to playing the occasional PC game – not for any deliberate reason, mind you, but because games simply don’t interest me like they used to.

I think video games are a fascinating medium, and certainly one of the most engaging. I do predict that the video game industry will one day (in my lifetime) be on par with that of the movie and music industries, in terms of money and popularity. I just hate how playing video games has become so popular that a substantial portion of the population somehow find it worthwhile to talk about minute details of the industry that bore me to death. I have approximately no interest in what publishers are doing, what new technologies are coming out, or what gossip is going on about some big game. I just like playing a specific handful of games – that’s it.

That being said, I was recently reminded of some old games that I felt warranted a little reminiscing about.

As I was moving into my new house last summer, I rediscovered my Nintendo 64, and in doing so also found some old games that, once upon a time, I spent countless hours indulging in. Super Mario 64, GoldenEye, and Bomberman 64 – all favorites of mine from the late 90′s. I instantly hearkened back to Jason Scott’s fantastic talk about Super Mario 64 at last year’s Notacon*, and before long I was playing the game from the beginning.

SM64 really is a timeless classic, and I found it every bit as fun as it was in 1997 (okay, maybe a little less so – but still very close). It has aged well, and Mr. Scott’s musings about the underlying philosophy of the game rang ever so true to me as I went through and got all 120 stars (with a little help from my friend Jade).

GoldenEye, which I still count as my favorite game of all time, was a blast to play through again as well. I was pleased to find that all the little details that made it fun and all the secrets that gave it intrigue were still intact. I even managed to defeat every level at every difficulty alongside gaining every cheat, which was a first for me. GE will also hold a special place in my heart for being the focus of my first regular Internet forum, which was ostensibly centered around discussion of the game but eventually devolved into anything but.

Bomberman’s virtue is held in its uniquely Japanese styling; everything about it, from the maps to the characters to the music screams kitsch Japanese. It’s a fun enough game, especially in multiplayer, but I think I enjoyed revisiting it mostly for the memories of high school that became associated with it.

I couldn’t find two other games that I recall playing a lot, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (which I ordered off Half.com last week) and the almost universally hated Quest 64 (which I ordered right after I finished typing the title). I did hook up my old Sega CD as well, but only played a limited amount of Sonic CD before losing interest. Still hungry for old games, I went out and bought a Playstation 2.

Now I hated Sony forever for entering the video game market; I was a Sega loyalist until they got out of the console business, and after that, I got behind Nintendo. I always saw Sony and Microsoft as heralding the entry of true corporate interest in the video game market, and still fault them for introducing the current dismal state of video games which has kept me completely uninterested in the field for about the last decade. Still, I did spend quite a few hours at the houses of friends playing games like the original Resident Evil, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and GTA3. Plus, I had just finished reading John Nathan’s fascinating biography of Sony, which sparked my intrigue in them just long enough for me to pay GameStop for a refurbished system.

As the Fall semester began, I found myself playing less and less as I had to concentrate on all my usual duties, but I hadn’t completely forgotten this temporary rebirth of gaming interest. Over the Winter break, I downloaded ZSNES and played a Harvest Moon ROM for a few weeks, making a valiant attempt to complete the game for the first time since playing it on ZSNES six years ago. (I never owned a Super Nintendo – just played a few ROMs on an emulator during the summer of 20020).

I guess all that’s left is to pull out my old Game Boy and Pokemon Blue cartridge. God help me.

The 90′s were indeed the era of console games for me. Somewhere in the very early 2000′s, I completely lost all interest in console gaming – overnight. I haven’t looked back since, unless it was at games or consoles that came before that time, and even then it was done on a strictly nostalgic/non-serious basis. On the other hand, PC gaming became a cool new obsession, and I did indulge myself in that particular pastime for a bit. However, I’ll save the details of that particular journey for another post…

*You can actually see me in this video, as I was right up front for this particular talk.