EPT
Each console generation aligns with a phase of my life. I grew up with the Nintendo 64, a system characterized by a youthful and childishness that mirrored by own. I passed my early teenage years with the Gamecube and PS2, systems with which my tastes in games advanced towards what they are today and many new gaming experiences were had. During the last console generation, which ended last Friday at the PS4′s release (sorry Wii U, you don’t count), I matured as a person and a gamer, as well as earned some of the best gaming memories of my life.
It all started with Halo 3. When I was in my early high school years, prior to the release of the XBox 360, my friends and I mostly played DDR in our friends’ living room, stomping on plastic arrows until his parents went to sleep and we could no longer play. After a few friends got 360s, we switched from addictive rhythm games to online multiplayer FPSes, the first of which (for us) was Halo 3. I wish there were a way to keep track of the hours we spent playing that game together. I can only imagine it was in the high hundreds. Other than getting our asses regularly handed to us in Team Slayer (since only two of us were actually good), we were obsessed with a mod called Bounce Joust. Bounce Joust was a variant of Narrows which provided you with all of the most ridiculous weapons and challenged you to die as spectacularly as possible while launching yourself across the mid-map canyon. Whether we were having mid-air Gravity Hammer duels or simply testing the launch physics of sticky grenades, it was always hilarious. I doubt that I’ve had as much fun with a multiplayer game before or since. While the generation was the death knell for split-screen multiplayer, it sure went out with a bang. I’ll never forget our “summer of Halo,” a time inextricably linked with the seventh console generation.
Luckily, the 360 was not done providing my friends and I with amazing multiplayer experiences just yet. Left 4 Dead came out a year after our Halo 3 extravaganza, shortly after the start of my college career. After obsessing over the antagonistic and skill-intensive Halo 3, the cooperative terror of Left 4 Dead was not just incredibly fun, but also a type of game we’d never played before. Fending off the zombie hordes solo was definitely fun, but that paled in comparison to getting a full party together (especially at the same house) and escaping each campaign as a team. Most of our get-togethers became all night L4D LANs, throughout which we would slowly increase the difficulty in an attempt to truly conquer the zombie apocalypse. On one incredible night we were attempting to complete the Dead Air campaign on Expert at 5 A.M.. Everyone was exhausted, but we decided to make one last go at the finale. After finally fending off the monsters long enough to flee on the helicopter, not only did we finally beat the level, but we also received the “Untouchables” achievement for taking no damage throughout the onslaught. On Expert. The cheers could barely be contained, and we nearly went out for a celebratory breakfast before realizing no one else was awake. Playing Left 4 Dead was another amazing part of this console generation for me, one I’ll remember whenever I game in the future.
I started to love watching games during this console generation, a minor hobby that eventually turned into my obsession with esports. Though I liked seeing other people play (to a certain extent) as far back as elementary school, spectating my friends’ Call of Duty games is the first viewing experience which I remember as being extremely entertaining. I still recall sitting in the same room while one friend of mine nearly tore his hair out while attempting to get the “Mile High Club” achievement in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He played it for hours on end and became extremely adept at clearing out most of the plane, a process I found intriguing and amusing. I also loved watching my friends pair up to play Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty: World at War. They would endlessly refine their zombie killing techniques from Verruckt to Shi no Numa (the latter being the most entertaining to watch). Watching them struggle and strategize against the undead meance entertained me so much that I wanted to see them play other titles and I often joined them explicitly to watch when they began their mission to 100% Star Fox 64. After that I sought out other games to watch and enjoy, which eventually led me to my love of competitive gaming.
The seventh console generation also contained many games that awed me with their spectacles and concepts, games that inspired me to believe that video games were an art form. Bioshock, a game that arrived early in the cycle, was an incredible gaming experience, a visual and narrative adventure I could not put down. Portal and Portal 2 also entranced me with their simple yet amazingly deep gameplay coupled with their hilarious wit. This generation brought the immersive and detailed environments of Skyrim which provided a fantasy gaming adventure more visceral than any that preceded it. Catherine was simultaneously challenging and thought-provoking. The strange game attempted to convey a type of story that rarely appears in video games, a tale of relationships, love, and fear. My favorite game of the generation was Bastion, an incredible example of the amazing things that are born when creators are unburdened by established orders or ideologies. These games made gaming something more than mere fun: they became things worth analyzing, worth criticizing, worth studying, and worth becoming emotional about.
Even though I enjoyed playing games before the Xbox 360 and PS3 came out, this was the generation that truly transformed me a gamer. As a kid, I liked hanging out with my friends and playing a few games. In college, I loved playing games, theorizing about games, discussing games, and watching games. Even when I had no way to play anything (well, I always had a DS or something), I voraciously followed gaming news and watched trailers for upcoming games even if I doubted that I’d ever play them. I chose to major in computer science not just because of my interest in technology in general, but because programming would open a door towards a career in the gaming industry. My gaming hobby comforted me in ways that few others things could, as I discovered when I attached myself to gaming videos and news as a homestick study-abroad student in Japan. After leaving college, the majority of my disposable income shifted towards gaming-related media and I continue to take pride in supporting both indie developers and the industry as a whole. I soon started listening to gaming podcasts and, inspired by the idea of creating content about gaming, I started writing this blog. In the time of the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, my devotion to gaming made it more than a mere hobby. It became one of my true passions.
Now the era of those memories and changes is over. The seventh generation ends and the eighth arrives. A lot has changed since the last paradigm shift in gaming, both for games and for myself. While the 360, PS3, and Wii were there to witness (the beginnings of) my maturity, the next console generation will be the era of my early adulthood. The PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U will be the systems I remember when I recall how adult responsibilities and relationships changed my perspectives as a gamer. At the moment, my hardware of choice for the generation seems destined to be the PC, but I will not be surprised if the PS4 or XBox One take that crown before the end. As nostalgic as I am about the end of this console cycle, I am equally excited for what the next one will bring.
You can read this chunk of nostalgia and other labors of love at the N3rd Dimension.
