My history as a videogamer can not be summed into one specific event or video game but several. As I tried to sort it out I realized that different games got me into different genres and so I present to you two genres that made my cut and the game that pushed me from casual to hardcore gamer.

Role-Playing

Lands of Lore III



Now if you are surprised by this pick you and I are in the same boat. Trying to think which game got me into RPG's this was the only game that I could think of, sure people had their Final Fantasies and the Elder Scroll series but Lands of Lore III was made for people like me. People who proudly shop the 9.99 top rack in Wal-Mart looking for a game with a half decent cover because if it didn't have good cover art I wasn't going to buy it. Now that I look back on it I realize that if that was the best cover art I could find I should of just called it a day.

The thing about that game that got me hooked was the first person perspective which I was used to since I had played a number of FPS games before that so it was an easy transition for me. It also involved the same type of leveling that Oblivion does; use a skill a lot and you progress in it. That made the process seem more natural to me as I never truly understood how if I leveled up solely on physical combat how I could spend points on my magic and spells and why I would want to.

RPG's are my bread and butter when it comes to video games and while they have taken a back seat due to the fact that there aren't any decent RPG's for the 360 that I haven't played and/or beaten. That leads me to my next genre which is...

First Person Shooters

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II


This was an obvious choice for me as it was a progression from helping my Dad shoot in the first Dark Forces to actually playing Jedi Knight by myself. I literally would hold my finger down on the Control button and shoot the guys when I saw enemies; my Dad and I were an unstoppable force in the world that was Dark Forces.

As a child I was attuned to FPS's from the start, I learned from my father who learned from the instruction manual. I played this game so often that my dad had to give me his work laptop for that sole purpose so that he could actually do work on the home computer. It was gaming bliss; I felt as if I was Kyle Katarn and it was my mission to rid the galaxy of evil. It taught me my most important rule about video games; story and gameplay will trump graphics every time. This single game set the foundation of my natural ability to beat people in FPS games.

The Transition

Shenmue


Shenmue. How I love thee. I will never forget the fateful day that I walked into Blockbuster and walked out with Shenmue, ready to be a changed man (or boy at the time). I literally played this game through twice in a day or two because I couldn't put it down; I don't know what it was about it but everytime I closed my eyes I saw scenes from Shenmue in my mind. It was one of my first games on the Dreamcast and until then I played games a lot but I wasn't a hardcore gamer I just enjoyed the the few hours I would play during a week. Shenmue changed that. I owe all I am to Shenmue; now you might thinking to yourself that I am crazy to do that because it's just Shenmue and it wasn't that great. Well at that point in my life, I wasn't doing too well and it provided a way out and I realized that games provide hope where there is none.

As a gamer I like to think of myself as well-rounded in the games I play; I originally planned to do three more genres but I realized by then I would of lost your attention so I gave you my two favorite genres. I also have to owe my sense of sarcasm (albeit not shown in this C-Blog) to Giants: Citizen Kabuto. I don't know why but my sarcasm definitely shot up after that game.

Dear Jack Thompson,

I just wanted to ask you a question, why do you make generalizations about games. For example you say that these 'violent murder simulators' are the reason people shoot each other and incidents like VTech and Columbine happen yet you fail to realize how many games are 'violent murder simulators' that actually give hope to kids in need. For example, there is a game called Re-Mission and while it is a violent video game it helps kids with cancer understand what is going on inside their body therefore giving them a sense a hope. Why would you want to take that away from them? If you take that away from them then you would be no better than those 'hooligans' at Take-Two or Rockstar. You said this and I quote:

"I have made a choice, and it is a choice for Jesus, Jesus said: "If any of you should cause any of these little ones to stumble, then it would be better for you that a millstone be tied around your neck and that you be cast into the sea." Rockstar is marketing adult murder simulators to kids. You are an apologist for that molestation. You're the one who needs to square his actions with the Bible, not I. I'm the one winning cases in the Bible Belt, not you. Please go to Hell more quietly. Thanks."

Now Jack, I'm a Christian and yes I play murder simulators like Halo, Crackdown, and God forbid I even played The Sims 2. Yet I haven't been experiencing the almighty wrath of God. Hey Jack, you do have to remember that God killed ACTUAL people not virtual ones, heck He has killed more people than all the murder simulators combined. So Mr. Thompson maybe you are the one who needs to square his actions with the Bible. Oh and by the way I don't think God likes it when you quote a verse from the Bible (which is already out of context, shame on you) and then condemn someone to Hell. So I ask you the age old question, what would Jesus do?

After listening to people totally bash Shadowrun because it doesn't have a single player campaign, it doesn't keep true to it's roots, and it's a clone of CS with magic. I decided to buy it for myself, well of course I had it pre-ordered like every other game out there even though only 10 people pre-ordered it at my EB Games. Well I was able to get a used copy before the UPS guy even delivered the shipment of then new releases, but that's a whole other story. When I finally got around to playing it I found myself more frustrated than ever at the learning curve it had but once I got used to the fact that I could teleport through walls, fly, and throw seeds that grew marijuana plants I realized that I loved the game. Now of course when I started the online games I was pretty bad but as I played more of course I became increasingly better. So I just have to be honest I think the game is awesome, of course it is no game of the year by far but for me it provides something other than WoW to play with other people. Now here is my gripe with it and this actually has to do with the community. I posted on the Shadowrun message board that I was looking for a clan well I got many replies and I picked a clan to join, well the next day I get 10 messages saying that I was banned from their clan for life as I apparently was in their clan when I made no such comment on that. But the worst thing is that apparently the clan I am in now has a rival clan who I also 'joined' so now I'm getting all this hate mail about how I am a deceiving, horrible, two-faced, person. And all this for a simple little post on a message board, what is the world coming to?

GamerTag: DefinedGlory