Computer games

Hello everyone.

One of my many hobbies is computers, gaming consoles and the like. I believe that computer games may have already been discussed in this forum, but I started using computers in 1984, at the age of 3 years old. Back then, there was no Internet, no email, and a relatively limited number of educational games, unlike the thousands there are today.

My first computer was an Amstrad CPC464. My parents bought it in 1984, packaged with a dozen gaming cassettes (I think that some computers of the time used disks instead of cassettes). I got what would be my first ever printer a year later, as a Christmas present. There were no Microsoft Office applications in those days, but even so I was a young kid, and I would only just be starting to go to school.

Some of the games I played included 'Oh Mummy', where I had to uncover the rectangular boxes and exit the gaming area without beng caught by the 'mummy' characters, and also 'Trap Door', which was one of many of the time to be based on then-current children's TV programmes. I enjoyed playing those games, but some were completed rather quickly, and more easily with practise, which made them somewhat boring after a while.

Although I still play modern computer games on my phone, web tablet etc., I still like playing the 1980s-style classics today. Either way, I don't like playing games that contain violence or swearing, as such schemes can scare or otherwise offend me. I try to avoid gambling games as well due to their high age certification (i.e. 16+). Although I am 32 years old (as of 2013, meaning I should be OK with any reasonable game), I prefer games that are family friendly and have low age certifications (i.e. 3+). I do enjoy playing the amusement arcade games, especially the coin dozer machine games, which are virtually endless in terms of levels.

  • My first games were on the ZX Spectrum. This involved loading tapes that often crashed. My favourite games were manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and Attack Attack. Now I have a decent PC, I get too addicted to games and have lost thousands of hours in Fallout 3 & 4, Call of Duty, Wolfenstein etc.

  • I used to play flash games on the internet like tower defense, sonic and some puzzle games that used to pass the time while I was at secondary school, it was my break from reality while I was there as there were too many bad people at the school out in the playground so they'd have a room where you can use computers at lunch time and eat at the same time. Sometimes i'd play on flash games during ICT class because I felt I wasn't learning anything (class was too disruptive and that sort of thing) and anytime the teacher would go by I would quickly switch to a word document pretending to do work.

  • Hi i used to own a binatone programmable games console, in which you could change the bat size, ball speed etc etc. Best games on the current net imo is Eve-Online, dates times and spreadsheets abound in glorious fashion. In between waiting for the days to count down for training i frequent World of Warcraft. One tries to solo everything, sometimes to no avail. Not into guilds/corps or suchlike, always go my own way. Its a very lonely world out there.

  • No, it's not just you.  I've tried a few times to play games like call of duty, etc, but I can't get my hands to do all the different buttons at the different times.  Sonic the Hedgehog for the master system/megadrive is one of my favourites.  Simple buttons and entertaining.  My brother, who also has an ASD, is very into gaming.  Think we've collected every console since an Amstrad.  Hugo's house of horrors!  We even have a Nintendo Famicom!

    Unfrotauntely I'm one of those people who are into Minecraft.  I can do things my way and organise stuff how I want it.  And buttons are simple.  It can be quite amusing when I play games like Saints Row, because I try to drive off in a car I've just stolen and I'll end up pressing a wrong button, probably hitting the nitro, and ending up head first into the sea because I've gone off the edge of the harbour.  Because of my co-ordination I don't get asked often to play serious multi player games, because the serious gamers get annoyed with me because I can never get the buttons right.  Not that I'm bothered by this.

  • Yes, when I was young I had a BBC computer and remember learning to code in Basic, with a text book that came with the computer.  e.g. getting the computer to draw a circle on the screen in 3 different ways.

    I like turn taking games, and dislike most real time games as I always struggle with the idea that i'm missing something.  I spent a LOT of time in my 20s playing Sid Meier's Civilisation although I like some versions better than others.  I also like "The Settlers" but prefer the initial set of phase of the game before the enemies appear (its SO disappointing if you have spent 10+ hours building your village then those nasty vikings come and burn it down in the 5 minutes you were in the bathroom).  I've done a few versions of an online game called Travian too, which is real time but very rules and levels based.  Oh, then there were the months I lost to Facebook's Farmville.... I had a very pretty and large farm before I decided that maybe it would be nice to spend time with my husband occasionally.

    I also like board games, settlers of catan is good and more recently a group of friends and I have been playing the Battlestar Galactica boardgame which is lots of fun because it involves accusing each other of being Cylons.  I like Risk too but am not very practised.

    I dislike first person shooter games and have never been into the Grand Theft Auto or Tomb Raider type of action game.  I wouldn't know what to do with a games console, everything I play is on the laptop or iPad/iPhone now.

    Do other people find real time gaming difficult too or is it just me?

  • my first game was on the commodore pet which was a green screen with no colour, the game was called nightmare park

    www.youtube.com/watch

    You can't get more old skool than that.

    All written in basic

  • Greetings bristolvr3,

    Amstrad is pretty old skool, I have never played this console before! My very first console is the Sega Mega Drive, and one of the games I played on this console was Alex the Kid. That was in the 1990s. I got my first computer in 1999, which was a Dell computer, Pentium 3. The few games I played on that computer was Doom, Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament (First-Person Shooters).

    I too like playing the old games, although I also like playing NES games (Tetris and Bomberman) on the internet. My favourite game so far is Snowboard Supercross 3 (sort of Snowboard/Tony Hawk game) on the Xbox, although I have been told it was better to play this game on PlayStation 2, because the configuration and layout of the PS joypad favors the game. When I am travelling to work by bus, I take my Nintendo DS and play either Metroid Pinball or 42 All-Time Classics (In America, they call this game Clubhouse). The mini game I play the most out of the 42 games is Field Tactics.