Games and I: Part 1
I recently bought a new Core i7 Processor with an awesome Republic of Gamer's ASUS Rampage II Extreme motherboard that comes loaded with a SoundBlaster X-Fi inside. Inclusive of the cost of new triple channel and a huge new casing and mouse, I spent well over RM3,000 on these upgrades. Counting the high end graphics card, flatscreen monitor and Cooler Master 850W True Power supply unit, and 2 SATA hard disks, The overall amount of money poured in this venture likely exceeds RM 6,000.
At long last, the world is set right. At long last, as is proper and should be, I have a gaming system that is superior to that of quite a LOT of other people that I know. A true gaming machine for a true gamer, I would like to think... *smug grin*.
I feel so overwhelmingly satisfied and happy, because in my history of gaming, it wasn't always good, and in terms of hardware and such I rarely and almost never get first pickings. I had to compromise and settle for lesser items, or I have to place myself at the mercy of other people's preference by playing on THEIR platforms.
I think it is curious how I came to be here, given how I began being involved in gaming.
In the Beginning...
Some time in the early to mid 1990s or so, my family had two items of note that burns brightly in the obscureness of my memories. On one hand, we had bought a Sega: Megadrive console, which if I recall correctly was among the top consoles of its time. Console games are quick access games that offer direct single and multiplayer fun at just the plug of a cartridge (which was the medium in which games are stored at the time).
The most notable thing about Sega was that it was mostly Japanese, and therefore, as is typical of them, they had really hot babes in their games. It was an introduction of sorts for me to the world of hot game chicks.
The memory remains clear as day on that matter; for those curious enough, the main chicks of Golden Axe and Bare Knuckle (also known as Streets of Rage in US version I think) are most notable. Looking back, I find it amusing that for some kid clueless on matters of sexiness and all (if you are all that curious, I learnt about sex some 3 years or so after that) to actually be able to just swallow whole the idea of some seriously hot chick fighting monsters and badguys with a sword and wearing nothing but a bikini... and not question the practicality of it.
But aside that, I learnt that a lot of games for the console (back then) lacked a certain kind of depth, and usually, in cases of arcade fighting style games especially, it required a kind of skill that rests heavily on hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes; otherwise what we would call twitch gaming. And of course, much to my dismay, I learnt that my twitch abilities does not seem to grow on the same level as quite a number of other people.
I would soon largely abandon console gaming but that stigma would remain.
Aside from the console, some years later my dad bought an 80386 Computer, which ran on a 1MB RAM and 40MB hard disk. It was one of those systems that was a precursor to the Intel Pentium series (which will be out a year or two after that if I am not mistaken). If memory serves, we obtained a copy of Wolfenstein 3D; the grand daddy of First person shooters, from a collegue of my mom's, who used to play it at the office. Wolfenstein was fun and unique for its time, and if anything, firing a chaingun at Hitler himself until we.... liquify him is awesome fun. I couldn;t tell though if I was better at it or my brother, but generally I concede in these matters to my brother.
The other booming game genre we had was flight simulators. Flight sims comes in two flavours, twitch and non twitch; that is to say, action packed fast paced combat sims, or tactical sims. I had little play time on the former, because we never own such titles like X-wing vs Tie Fighter and such ourselves, so whenever we could get our hands on it, it was usually my brother's hands. We did get a copy on the later type, which was a F117 Nighthawk flight sim. I was given some time trying it out this time, and while there was a sentiment for me to try to obtain ranks and promotion in the game, I could not however match my brother's enthusiasm in the genre. Flight sims until today remains something largely my brother's cup of tea.
At one point though, and from sources I have absolutely no recollection of, we managed to get another game. Though I started by viewing it with the same enthusiasm as with previous games (which is largely just average amount of amusement, but not putting too much passion into it, because my brother will hog all the time on it anyways), this next one would end up seriously defining my gaming diet. That game was Dune 2.
Dune 2 was interesting. We had buildings we can make, defense turrets and walls to further line our beautifully built establishment, which we will then use to churn out military forces to attack the enemy's base. Today we call the concept Real-Time strategy (RTS), but back then I call it simply pure awesomeness. As always though, my brother, in all his usual annoyingness hogged as much time as he could on that game. It would be much later before I can get my hands on it personally, but that I did, and many a times I played without having him looking over my shoulder.
Even on that most basic of RTS, the rule that bigger is not always best, has begun to be applied. I think most people are imprinted with that idea, bigger is best, because I can fairly say that my brother very much preferred building just the biggest and baddest and toughest unit he can in any given mission of the game. I started by following this path too, until one day... a breakthrough.
All these games have a system of scoring and all, and some a measure of time; as in how long you took to run the course. To keep it in general terms, there comes this one mission, where I somehow just... saw.... a logic. An idea. A simple.... strategic choice. A cheaper unit in that game, I saw, could be more effective than the biggest unit available then, provided it was handled carefully. I tried the idea, and through a series of maneuvers, this army of cheaper units beat the mission at better efficiency and par time than my brother ever could.
I realize then that I can never have my brother's enthusiasm on sims, or other people's twitchiness, but here, on the plains of strategy, I had at last found a calling...
A General is born.
(to be continued....)
At long last, the world is set right. At long last, as is proper and should be, I have a gaming system that is superior to that of quite a LOT of other people that I know. A true gaming machine for a true gamer, I would like to think... *smug grin*.
I feel so overwhelmingly satisfied and happy, because in my history of gaming, it wasn't always good, and in terms of hardware and such I rarely and almost never get first pickings. I had to compromise and settle for lesser items, or I have to place myself at the mercy of other people's preference by playing on THEIR platforms.
I think it is curious how I came to be here, given how I began being involved in gaming.
In the Beginning...
Some time in the early to mid 1990s or so, my family had two items of note that burns brightly in the obscureness of my memories. On one hand, we had bought a Sega: Megadrive console, which if I recall correctly was among the top consoles of its time. Console games are quick access games that offer direct single and multiplayer fun at just the plug of a cartridge (which was the medium in which games are stored at the time).
The most notable thing about Sega was that it was mostly Japanese, and therefore, as is typical of them, they had really hot babes in their games. It was an introduction of sorts for me to the world of hot game chicks.
The memory remains clear as day on that matter; for those curious enough, the main chicks of Golden Axe and Bare Knuckle (also known as Streets of Rage in US version I think) are most notable. Looking back, I find it amusing that for some kid clueless on matters of sexiness and all (if you are all that curious, I learnt about sex some 3 years or so after that) to actually be able to just swallow whole the idea of some seriously hot chick fighting monsters and badguys with a sword and wearing nothing but a bikini... and not question the practicality of it.
But aside that, I learnt that a lot of games for the console (back then) lacked a certain kind of depth, and usually, in cases of arcade fighting style games especially, it required a kind of skill that rests heavily on hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes; otherwise what we would call twitch gaming. And of course, much to my dismay, I learnt that my twitch abilities does not seem to grow on the same level as quite a number of other people.
I would soon largely abandon console gaming but that stigma would remain.
Aside from the console, some years later my dad bought an 80386 Computer, which ran on a 1MB RAM and 40MB hard disk. It was one of those systems that was a precursor to the Intel Pentium series (which will be out a year or two after that if I am not mistaken). If memory serves, we obtained a copy of Wolfenstein 3D; the grand daddy of First person shooters, from a collegue of my mom's, who used to play it at the office. Wolfenstein was fun and unique for its time, and if anything, firing a chaingun at Hitler himself until we.... liquify him is awesome fun. I couldn;t tell though if I was better at it or my brother, but generally I concede in these matters to my brother.
The other booming game genre we had was flight simulators. Flight sims comes in two flavours, twitch and non twitch; that is to say, action packed fast paced combat sims, or tactical sims. I had little play time on the former, because we never own such titles like X-wing vs Tie Fighter and such ourselves, so whenever we could get our hands on it, it was usually my brother's hands. We did get a copy on the later type, which was a F117 Nighthawk flight sim. I was given some time trying it out this time, and while there was a sentiment for me to try to obtain ranks and promotion in the game, I could not however match my brother's enthusiasm in the genre. Flight sims until today remains something largely my brother's cup of tea.
At one point though, and from sources I have absolutely no recollection of, we managed to get another game. Though I started by viewing it with the same enthusiasm as with previous games (which is largely just average amount of amusement, but not putting too much passion into it, because my brother will hog all the time on it anyways), this next one would end up seriously defining my gaming diet. That game was Dune 2.
Dune 2 was interesting. We had buildings we can make, defense turrets and walls to further line our beautifully built establishment, which we will then use to churn out military forces to attack the enemy's base. Today we call the concept Real-Time strategy (RTS), but back then I call it simply pure awesomeness. As always though, my brother, in all his usual annoyingness hogged as much time as he could on that game. It would be much later before I can get my hands on it personally, but that I did, and many a times I played without having him looking over my shoulder.
Even on that most basic of RTS, the rule that bigger is not always best, has begun to be applied. I think most people are imprinted with that idea, bigger is best, because I can fairly say that my brother very much preferred building just the biggest and baddest and toughest unit he can in any given mission of the game. I started by following this path too, until one day... a breakthrough.
All these games have a system of scoring and all, and some a measure of time; as in how long you took to run the course. To keep it in general terms, there comes this one mission, where I somehow just... saw.... a logic. An idea. A simple.... strategic choice. A cheaper unit in that game, I saw, could be more effective than the biggest unit available then, provided it was handled carefully. I tried the idea, and through a series of maneuvers, this army of cheaper units beat the mission at better efficiency and par time than my brother ever could.
I realize then that I can never have my brother's enthusiasm on sims, or other people's twitchiness, but here, on the plains of strategy, I had at last found a calling...
A General is born.
(to be continued....)
posted by Raccoon General | 1:29 AM
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