But mostly video games. I noticed "leisure arts" on a book cover just now and thought it funny. '84 is the year I became a PC gamer for the most part. Bye bye to consoles for the rest of the 80s. That stuff's for kids, or so I must've been thinking as a late teen. I'm still going to mention NES and SMS later though. Who can resist that.
Oh gaming. Perhaps I was spending more time on sports, records and photography, but there was plenty of arcade visits still going on, not to mention playing my friends' consoles at their homes. Here's what I played and remember.
Let's dig into 1982! I got games, games, games, and a little bit about music at the end 'cause I was into it then.
I'm currently playing Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure again for any remaining achievements and to look at my figure collection. Here's an overview of the complete figures for the game.
My first task in 2026 is the Atari years, 1977-1984. The system dominated the home console wars until the Famicom in '84. Arcades were king and PCs were just beginning to explore more complex experiences but for a high price. Here's a very personal breakdown of those years. I'm sure others have different ideas of what's most notable.
Only one more week left of my 70s gaming. Other than Space Invaders, a few Atari 2600 games, a pinball game, and Mattel Electronics Baseball, I haven't really been doing much. The 70s are pretty lean for video games I'm interested in. So why not look forward to a very packed September of 80s gamesI
Yeah, not doing any more 70s games but I will just mention Space Invaders Extreme 2 as being awesome before moving onto my theme for this month, twin-stick shooters.
I've come up with a 2025 plan for my gaming. The goal is to put the entire history of video games into 12 parts so I can travel in time over the course of the year (I do this for music and literature as well). Here's what I came up with.
I explored some short Game Pass games and dove deep into Halo 5 this week. Also, a recap of Retrocon.
Early 80s video game technology had come a long way since Pong and Computer Space, but there were still limitations on how realistic graphics could be. Therefore; a lot of game designers drew on classic animation for inspiration, since the slapstick action and visuals were much more achievable with the technology that was available. Mario, for example, was inspired by Popeye.
This is the last week of Switch and, for that matter, all electronic gaming for me but just for January. I'm going to explore gaming in the first generation of consoles, which is to say, no consoles, because I don't have much interest in Pong or the Odyssey. I've got a gaming related puzzle, some origami paper, and several board games I'd like to try. But until then, this is the Switch stuff I did this week, which wasn't that much because I got obsessed with old 1930s serials like Buck Rogers on youtube (watched on Switch).
New Switch game, new console and new retro game buys at Classic Game Junkie where they're having a pre-black friday sale. Here are some pics.
In my year-long project, June is 1970s month. In video gaming this means Pong, Atari 2600, arcade games and various LED handhelds.
I had a friend down the street from my house whose family got the ColecoVision in 1982. The neighborhood kids and I would, with exceeding excitement, go there to play it. I was 15.
During my temporary work layoff, I've sometimes visited a museum or game store/arcade. Here's the story in pictures.
Pac-Man World: Re-Pac was recently released, and it’s a remake of Pac-Man World, a 3-D platformer originally on the PSOne to celebrate Pac-Man’s 20th anniversary. Pac-Man World may not be one of my favorite Pac-Man games, but I have a lot of special memories about it that I thought I’d share with you in this blog. Plus my opinion on the remake, what has changed and stayed the same, etc. So grab a bowl of Pac-Dots and let’s get chomping!
August is coming up in a few days. My plan is to watch/play favorite and new media from the 80s. I also like to review what I watched/played back then. So here is a list of the games I played the most in the 80s year by year.
It seems, every once in a while, I get on a list kick with games, music, or film and can't stop researching and making them. Well, I'm on a list binge right now with games.
You are crossing the wide expanse of Lemurian grasslands to reach the mystical gardens of Ur where the crystal goblet Crystofel is guarded by the Lamia of the Fountains of Lamneth.
This is a retro game store I found today in Glenside, PA while trading in old games. The town just borders northwest Philadelphia.
Over the years, there have been many different types of cartridge software released. Where music and video media (eventually) became standardized, each game system had its own form of storage media. In addition to carrying interchangeable game software, companies tended to make the design and appearance of the cartridges themselves distinctive as a marketing gimmick. Most of us have memories of having game cartridges in boxes, not to mention blowing on the edge connectors when our games glitched out. So here's a brief overview of various game cartridges throughout history. This is not an exhaustive list.
I like to figure out a 12 part study of some sort to cover an entire year. This year it was all about history, and I was able to divide western history into 12 parts. I can't help thinking about next year already and one of my ideas is console generations. The only problem is that there are only 9 of them. So how to make it 12? Any ideas? I'll list the 9 I got so far.