Game On!
Today is a national holiday, you know.
What – you mean that you DON’T know what holiday today is??? How gauche! Just ask any male between 12 and 25 years old; he’ll tell you that there is a very good reason that he’s skipping school/work/sleeping in Mom’s basement today to celebrate instead.
Today is the release date for Sony’s new Playstation 3.
The press seems to think it’s a new thing for people to camp out in line. Haven’t they ever heard of Star Wars? Hell, I sat out in front of the UA-150 Theater in downtown Seattle for 6 hours to see “The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980. (Hey, it’s cool. I was 14, so it’s not like I had to use a vacation day for it.)
I’m not going to rush out for one of these things, mainly for two reasons: One, I don’t have much interest in gaming anymore, except for my 12 year obsession with shooting Doom monsters, and the challenge to beat the HAL 9000 at Disney trivia, since no human will play with me any longer.
But the other reason? These suckers are PRICEY! The new Playstations are $600.00, and the games run for about $70 - $80 each. So by the time you’re done buying the console, a couple of games, and the extended warranty for when you throw the controller at the TV, you’ll be dropping close to a grand. Yikes.
They’re predicting though that the PS3 will be one of the top selling Christmas presents this year, another fact I still don’t understand. Never in my life did Santa bring me a $600 Christmas gift, and I certainly knew better than to ask for one. (Greedy little kids will find their stocking filled with only socks and underpants.)
But there was a time in my life that I was video game crazed, though.
1981.
The Atari 2600.
The greatest invention of my youth.
I LOVED my Atari. I had blisters on my fingers for months from that non-ergonomic joystick. My eyes blurred from staring at the green screen of “Pitfall” for hours on end. I can still hear the sounds of Defender in my head.
But I didn’t get my Atari for Christmas. I actually bought it myself. See what a resourceful 15 year old I was? I saved my paper route money for months and month to buy one. I did really good hanging onto my money, but no matter how hard I tried I still didn’t have enough green in the bank.
It was rough – my Pac Man Fever was burning, and there was nothing I could do. Short of selling pencils on the street corner, it felt like Poor Old Tommy would never fulfill his Atari dreams.
Okay – the truth. I did pay for it myself, but it wasn’t as hard as I’d like you to think.
I had about $40 saved. And then I went with my Mom to E.T.T.L. Bingo in Midway, WA, where I won $150 on a blackout. Oh, sure – I had to put up with the nasty stares of dozens of old smoking blue-hairs for daring to win their jackpot, but there I was - $150 richer.
Now, I probably should have done the right thing. Invested the money, gave some of it to charity, try to turn it into $300 at the horse track.
But no. I ran out to Southcenter 30 minutes after winning, and thanks to the power of underage gambling, I had my Atari.
So good luck to all of you sitting out in front of the electronics store this AM – stay warm, watch your wallet, and don’t forget to pick a Bingo card with O-64 in the corner.
What – you mean that you DON’T know what holiday today is??? How gauche! Just ask any male between 12 and 25 years old; he’ll tell you that there is a very good reason that he’s skipping school/work/sleeping in Mom’s basement today to celebrate instead.
Today is the release date for Sony’s new Playstation 3.
The press seems to think it’s a new thing for people to camp out in line. Haven’t they ever heard of Star Wars? Hell, I sat out in front of the UA-150 Theater in downtown Seattle for 6 hours to see “The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980. (Hey, it’s cool. I was 14, so it’s not like I had to use a vacation day for it.)
I’m not going to rush out for one of these things, mainly for two reasons: One, I don’t have much interest in gaming anymore, except for my 12 year obsession with shooting Doom monsters, and the challenge to beat the HAL 9000 at Disney trivia, since no human will play with me any longer.
But the other reason? These suckers are PRICEY! The new Playstations are $600.00, and the games run for about $70 - $80 each. So by the time you’re done buying the console, a couple of games, and the extended warranty for when you throw the controller at the TV, you’ll be dropping close to a grand. Yikes.
They’re predicting though that the PS3 will be one of the top selling Christmas presents this year, another fact I still don’t understand. Never in my life did Santa bring me a $600 Christmas gift, and I certainly knew better than to ask for one. (Greedy little kids will find their stocking filled with only socks and underpants.)
But there was a time in my life that I was video game crazed, though.
1981.
The Atari 2600.
The greatest invention of my youth.
I LOVED my Atari. I had blisters on my fingers for months from that non-ergonomic joystick. My eyes blurred from staring at the green screen of “Pitfall” for hours on end. I can still hear the sounds of Defender in my head.
But I didn’t get my Atari for Christmas. I actually bought it myself. See what a resourceful 15 year old I was? I saved my paper route money for months and month to buy one. I did really good hanging onto my money, but no matter how hard I tried I still didn’t have enough green in the bank.
It was rough – my Pac Man Fever was burning, and there was nothing I could do. Short of selling pencils on the street corner, it felt like Poor Old Tommy would never fulfill his Atari dreams.
Okay – the truth. I did pay for it myself, but it wasn’t as hard as I’d like you to think.
I had about $40 saved. And then I went with my Mom to E.T.T.L. Bingo in Midway, WA, where I won $150 on a blackout. Oh, sure – I had to put up with the nasty stares of dozens of old smoking blue-hairs for daring to win their jackpot, but there I was - $150 richer.
Now, I probably should have done the right thing. Invested the money, gave some of it to charity, try to turn it into $300 at the horse track.
But no. I ran out to Southcenter 30 minutes after winning, and thanks to the power of underage gambling, I had my Atari.
So good luck to all of you sitting out in front of the electronics store this AM – stay warm, watch your wallet, and don’t forget to pick a Bingo card with O-64 in the corner.
posted by Tommy G at
9:22 AM
1 Comments:
Pitfall - I loved that game! 20 minutes seemed like an eternity back then!
By
Monty, at 9:30 AM
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