Gaming Bio - Amstrad Action!

 

So, this is an idea I came up with a while ago, when my working life involved two hours of bus travel every day with only a dodgy laptop to keep me awake (it often failed).  I starting trying to create my own gaming biography - a list of every computer game I've ever experienced.  Yes, I was very, very bored.

Looking at the biography that I put together two years ago, my history as a gamer is very obviously defined by whatever system existed in my home at the time.  So, for your viewing pleasure, I present to you what I came up with for the first ever gaming device that I ever owned: The Amstrad CPC 6128!

Amstrad CPC 6128 Gaming Biography

Grand Prix game
Roland in Time
Sweevo’s World
Dizzy
Seymour goes to Hollywood
Titus the Fox
Terror of the Deep
Way of the Exploding Fist
Dragonbreed
*Some ninja game*
*Some screwball game*
How to Be a Complete Bastard
Enter the Balrog
Elite
Paperboy 1 & 2
Yogi’s Treasure Hunt
TMNT

I'm unimpressed with the list already, mainly because I know that it is nowhere near comprehensive.  I was a subscriber to ye olde Amstrad Action magazine, and since the Amstrad was dying as a gaming machine the mag was able to include a couple of complete games every month on the tape that came with it.  I'll have to scope out a list of Amstrad Action games online so I can update this list.  At the very least I need to find out what *Some screwball game* actually is - the vague memories that I have of that particular treasure deserve a proper title at the very least.

My plan for the biography is to keep updating it, and when possible I'm going to pick some of the more interesting games out and look a little more in depth at them.  Hopefully the Amstrad list should be getting updated soon . . .

QUICK BITS

- I recently ordered the new D&D DM Kit from Amazon, but they're really letting me down on delivery yet again.  Christmas presents that were ordered a few days later have already arrived (yes, my wife has already started her shopping - this is actually late for her) but my goodies are still nowhere to be found.  Grr . . .

- Played a 3-way Warhammer Battle Royale the other day.  Should get a battle report of it up soonish . . .

- Am continuing to struggle to play Oblivion on the Xbox 360.  Like Fallout I can recognise that it is an excellent game, but something is just not drawing me in.  I think I might be prejudice against first person RPGs.  Either that or I need to move onto another genre of games for a while - I think Dragon Age and Final Fantasy may have drained me already this year . . .

I am a geek

I am a geek.

That kinda sums up this post, and this intended blog in general.  We can go into specifics though.  Let's give it a shot:

I am a geek.  Since my early teens that's pretty much been the case, although I definitely didn't embrace the title then as I do now (being a geek is kinda cool now anyway, right?).  Over the years I've stretched my geeky muscles by dipping into comic books, TV shows, films, role playing games, war games and computer games.  I'm sure there are other things that I should be adding to that list, but hopefully you should get the general idea.

So, these were the interests that I pursued during High School, in the dark, trying to let as few people as possible actually know that I wasn't 'normal'. (Incidentally, I don't think that even remotely worked, but that's what you do when puberty is giving your body the once-over).  University, however, was a completely different ball game.  Or, in my case, disc game - I got to add playing Ultimate Frisbee to my geek credentials, but more than that I got to share and even (gasp!) advertise my less-than-traditional past time choices.  I think that this happened to coincide with our culture in general becoming slightly more accepting of geekiness, but also (like many geeks before me) me becoming more confident in myself.

Uni came and went in a blur of . . . well, you know what happens at uni.  What didn't happen straight afterwards for me was a career, so I had a few years left of working in minimum wage retail and having as much time as possible to dive into the land of the internet that I could now actually afford to have in my home (yes, World of Warcraft took over my life for a while).

But of course, things eventually change.  I met, fell in love with, and eventually married a girl of a distinctly non-geeky background.  I discovered and trained in a career that I love, and most importantly my beautiful daughter was born in July last year.

Life has changed in a big way for me over the past few years, and the big three-zero is just around the corner.  Despite having big-time geeky interests I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the time, finances and company to pursue my geeky hobbies.  Which is what this blog is going to be all about.  Ta da!

So, if you're interested in sticking around I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences on fitting in my geekiness with a more traditional family/career lifestyle.  I'll be talking about computer gaming experiences from the present and from days gone by.  I'll be presenting battle reports of war games (currently Warhammer) that I've been playing, and possibly some Dungeons & Dragons sessions (if I can ever get our gaming group in the one room again) and I'll also be sharing thoughts on issues/products affecting my geeky world.

And, if you're really lucky, you might just get some cute baby pictures thrown in!

Talk to y'all soon,

Wombo