Recently I was going through the blogs I follow and saw a post by Kim from Later Levels. It was about sharing the gift of gaming, it’s part of a collaboration post originating from DanamesX from Tales from the Backlog. This collaboration calls for users to share certain experiences. This specific topic is about a time where you shared the gift of gaming with someone or a time where someone shared the gift of gaming with you.
My introduction to gaming started with my Dad. It was probably when I was around six years old, he came home one day with a original PlayStation. I think it needed to be fixed so he fixed it up and got Spyro the Dragon and Crash Team Racing. These were the first video games I played and hold a place in my heart since they were part of my childhood. I mentioned all this briefly in my about me post. I remember sitting down with my siblings playing these games for hours. I think that it eventually gave out on us so that was unfortunate. After that my Dad took my sister and I to a video game store called Game Haven. They sold all types of old games as well as new ones. That was where I got my Game Boy Color as well as the Spider-Man 2 game. I also got Pokemon Red, my first Role Playing Game.
Overtime I became the only one that played video games regularly other than my Dad so we would always go by Block Buster, when they still existed, or Game Haven, when it also still existed to look for new games. I remember the first ps2 game that he bought for me was Star Wars Battlefront 2.
This game was absolutely fantastic and I would still choose to play it over the remakes done by EA. I eventually saved up allowance money so I could get a ps2 and play it on my own. He was also pretty supportive of me playing video games since he used them for relaxation. He works a night shift so in his off time that’s how he relaxes. He introduced me to a lot of consoles I didn’t even know existed. For Christmas one year he got me a Nintendo Game Cube. The first game he gave me for that was Star Wars Rogue Leader Rogue Squadron 2.
I remember another Christmas where my parents got me a Nintendo DS as well. From there I branched out and have some kind of experience with a majority of consoles except for the more classic ones like the Nintendo Entertainment System, that was about fourteen years before I was born. I am grateful to have a father that shares a hobby with me. It’s nice to have someone to discuss video game news with and someone that can understand why you play them. To me video games are a stress reliever as well as an escape from life sometimes.