I can break my video game obsessing down into two separate time periods. My love of video games started with my childhood friend’s 8-bit Nintendo, and rounds of Super 
Spike V Ball, Zelda, Mario 3, and Castlevania. The first system I ever owned was a Sega Genesis I shared with my older brother. It certainly was not the more popular system when compared to the Super Nintendo, but being an RPG nerd, it fulfilled my needs with games like Phantasty Star II and IV, Shining Force II, Sword of Vermilion, and of course countless numbers of Sonic games. In my early teen years I owned a Sega Saturn, a rather defunct system whose only achievements were Dragon Force (a game I wish I could find on an emulator), Nights, and Guardian Heroes. Later I joined the mainstream video game player with the Nintendo 64, and played epics like GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Hybrid Heaven, and countless other games.
However something happened right around 10th grade: I stopped caring about video games.
My gaming really only took on a retro focus, replaying old Sega Genesis games, or playing games that had been out for years and I picked up because I had time to kill. My 
gaming tended to be limited to the summer when I had time to fill between lifeguarding and wondering why girls didn’t like me. Once in college, gaming took on a social quality. Outside of playing Final Fantasy X (a gem that my roommate picked up at the time), my gaming was limited to social games like Halo, Super Smash Brothers, Day of Reckoning (a really under-rated wrestling game by the way), and retro Blizzard gaming such as the original StarCraft and Diablo II.
One would have thought my video gaming career was over. I graduated college and was focused on killing my soul piece by piece by becoming part of the daily grind and getting a desk job. Then, a chance encounter on Craigslist ushered in a second, unexpected video game renaissance. I found a guy who was selling a Xbox 360 with a 20GB hard drive and 3 games (Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Madden 07) all for about 250 bucks. After pricing that out on GameStop, I decided to pick up the unit as a “why not” sort of thing. I stopped by this gentleman’s house to pick up the Xbox 360, and found myself in a rather dangerous part of North Philadelphia. The house was falling apart, however the inside of the house had more expensive electronics than I had ever seen before. He had a 60 inch HDTV (this was 2007 before they were like 1500 bucks), and when I arrived he was selling brand new cell phones, which had yet to come out. He was telling me all about his “connections.” Now I’m not saying this guy was selling a stolen Xbox and stolen cell phones out of his house…because that would imply that I knowingly bought hot property, which is a felony…but I will say I started to get a picture of why exactly he could afford to sell it to me so far under the MSRP price.
After leaving North Philly with my new Xbox and my life, I picked up Fight Night on the way home, and concluded that I had myself a new system for casual gaming, DVD’s, and mostly for people to come over and play. In the box was a 1 free month subscription to Xbox live, so I punched in my code and decided to check out Call of Duty 4. And then it happened…I got sucked back in to gaming. Before really putting time into Call of Duty 4, I hadn’t realized there had suddenly been an output of games for adults. Now to be clear, there were certainly games released only suitable for adults like the grand theft auto series that introduced a level of violence, vulgarity, and sexual themes not seen in gaming before, however they still weren’t games for adults. The teenager was still part of their target demographic for those games (despite what their legal department may tell you.) Today games are released with the child gamer in mind, as well as the gamer who has been playing video games since childhood.
So now, at the detriment of my physique and sex life, I play a good 10 hours of games per week. The sophistication, graphics, and community aspects of gaming have become mind blowing. I once literally played Call of Duty with a squad of US Army Soldiers while they were stationed in Iraq (I believe it was about 3am EST) and was put on a team with them. They constantly yelled at me to “get back in formation” and I watched as they totally schooled every team we were put up against. While playing, I got to talk to them about serving in the armed forces, being in Iraq, even how basic training translated into them all being naturals at Call of Duty somehow.
Before picking up the 360, I knew the graphics had gotten better, but I had no idea the actual gaming experience had become so advanced. The idea that I would have deprived myself of such games as BioShock, Fallout 3, and Modern Warfare is a chilling thought. Just think, if I hadn’t put so much time into video games, I might be married, be more successful at work, and not have the body of someone who sits at a desk 8 hours at work then goes home to sit in a recliner for 3. It would be a strange world for me indeed…
