I have been playing games my entire life -- even before I can remember, according to my parents, who claim that I would play their Atari 2600 at age 3.

2009 has been one of the most memorable years of gaming I've ever had, but making a statement like that makes me ponder just what kinds of years of gaming I've had.

Early in my life, my family was sort of poor so my access to gaming was rather limited. I grew up with a fair amount of consistent exposure to games but my life as a "hardcore gamer" didn't really take off until my family elevated its economic standing, which happened around the N64/PSone era.

Here's a brief look of some of the gaming memories I have been able to recollect during the few hours I took to compose this post:



'96: Got N64 on Black Friday -- was intended as a Christmas present but my dad, being a retired gamer, was too excited to hold the surprise. Super Mario 64, baby!

'97: Starfox 64 becomes my first pre-ordered game ever, via Toys 'R' Us -- did anyone else ever get that promotional VHS for Starfox 64 that detailed the Rumble Pak and provided a look at the game *GASP* in motion? I watched that like 50 times! I play Final Fantasy VII for the first time -- a friend's copy. It makes me want a Playstation; a month later I get my own Playstation, as well as my own copy of FFVII.



'98: After playing a friend's copy of Resident Evil, I become excited for Resident Evil 2. Being 11, I button mash Tekken 3 until I get all the characters and see all the endings. <3 Megaman Legends. Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid convert me into a Zelda and Metal Gear fanboy, respectively. Haha, I was playing RE2 and MGS at age 11... Anyway, I still have my Gold Cartridge OoT! Except that the box is messed up...

'99: Dreamcast, the first console I ever get on launch day. Final Fantasy VIII grabs my hype, and in my youth, I overlook every flaw of the game and make it all the way to disc 4 before I simply find myself stuck.



'00: PS2 launches and my friend gets one, but I don't. I want one so bad, but they are just too damn hard to find. My first exposure to Half-Life on a friend's PC, though it launched earlier.



'01: On word-of-mouth impulse from a friend, I buy Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast and convinced my parents to front a subscription for me. It. Consumes. My. Life. I get my PS2 in late Spring. Metal Gear Solid 2 demo + Zone of the Enders (... see what I did thar..?). Devil May Cry. Metal Gear Solid 2 absolutely wows me by year's end. Gamecube and Xbox launch, and I remember hating on Xbox because it was Microsoft -- I get neither of these platforms right away, though my brother, being an avid Oddworld fan, gets an Xbox to play Munch's Oddyssey. Final Fantasy X stirs my hype at the end of the year. Remember when Square moved the release date forward? It came out the last day of my finals that semester, and it was the first game I ever stood in line to pick up. I had all of winter break to play it.

'02: I get my Gamecube with a copy of REmake and Smash Bros. Melee. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault singlehandedly gets me interested in PC gaming AND World War II. Despite not owning an Xbox, I buy my first Xbox game: Jet Set Radio Future. I play it on my brother's Xbox and love it.

'03: Wind Waker hits during my Spring Break. I stand in line for 3 hours to pick it up the morning of its release, and I am the first in line -- they still weren't doing midnight launches for individual games in the U.S. then, and the line only ended up being a total of about 20 people. Dang, times have changed. I get my own gaming PC the very month that Final Fantasy XI makes it's US debut and Call of Duty launches. FFXI consumes my life; Call of Duty establishes my interest in Infinity Ward and fuels my ongoing WWII craving. I get my own Xbox, the JSRF/Sega GT bundle. Otogi, Viewtiful Joe. Guilty Gear X2's US release opens me up to fighting games.



'04: My first two midnight launches of games: Half-Life 2 (waiting at my PC for the-then-brand-new Steam to unlock my preload -- I was lucky and had no issues playing that night); Halo 2, waiting outside of a new local GameStop with friends in the cold winter air. Halo 2 makes me sign up for Xbox Live. Doom 3 also came out. I'm still playing FFXI. A lot. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time garners my hype and even manages to pull my attention from FFXI... Until I hit the plot twist, which singlehandedly destroys the experience for myself and, to my knowledge, many others. The Phat Nintendo DS launches.



'05: I graduate from high school, get ready to move onto college. I quit FFXI once and for all early on in the year. Xbox 360 launches like 6 months after it's announced at E3. "WTF, where did they come up with the name Xbox 360?" and I'm lucky enough to find one a week after it's launch, becoming an early adopter. On Christmas day, I get World of Warcraft -- Can you guess how that turns out? Mmm, Mario Kart DS. Oh yeah, that Far Cry: Instincts game on Xbox is pretty good.

'06: I use the vast majority of my free time to play WoW. DS Lite and New Super Mario Bros, both of which I grab as soon as they are available. Dead Rising comes out. Twilight Princess finally debuts after what feels like forever. Wii and PS3 launch -- "WHOAMG MOTION CONTROL!" "$599 US DOLLARS!?" Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter! Gears of War! Rainbow Six Vegas! I did not get a PS3, but I did get a Wii (again, by pure stroke of luck) about a week after they launched. Remember when people started declaring that "next-gen" had officially started at this point? Seemed to be the game review catchphrase of the year. Final Fantasy XII (it's been that long already!?)

'07: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Call of Duty 4. Halo 3. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. BioShock. Assassin's Creed. Orange Box. Rock Band. Mass Effect. '07 is still fresh in everyone's memory; probably doesn't need any strong elaboration.

'08: Gears of War 2. Left4Dead. Fable II. Rock Band 2. Fallout 3. GTA IV. MGS4. Dead Space. Mirror's Edge. Like '07, very vivid. I pretty much quit WoW.

'09: Sequel year to '07... Sort of. Some sequels pushed back to 2010. But, Modern Warfare 2, ODST, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed II all still '09. GTA IV episodes. Borderlands. Forza 3. Left 4 Dead 2. Batman: Arkham Asylum. Shadow Complex. Resident Evil 5. And then some! I attended 4 midnight launches in the latter half of the year, 3 of which were fun due to strong gaming community elements. Flippin' great year!