I wanted to take a moment to remember the games that most influenced my life.
It was early in my life that I realized that I couldn't possibly sit for 90 minutes in front of the TV and watch an entire football match. It was just too boring.
So when my Father and my brother watched eagerly I started going to the computer and playing with MS-paint. I know, Autism anyone?
It wasn't long till I realized that I needed something more, something more fun. Something deep that moved you inside, had real moral value and taught you the truth in the world.
So I started playing Worms with my older brother.
If that was the spark to my fanaticism towards video games then Command & Conquer: Red Alert was definitely the fuel. I played that game with such vigorous enthusiasm that my mother eventually started locking the door to my father's office, which had the only computer in my home, just so I would start sleeping or taking showers.
It's not that I was a great tactician or anything; I preferred the "Safety in Numbers" approach. Build as many Refineries as you possibly can and spend it all on Mammoths and Tanias. As a matter of fact "Chew on This" were my first ever spoken words in the English language.
The first game I ever finished was Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. The point-and-click adventure game genre had me in its grips after that one. I've finished every Broken Sword game, All the Sierra Quest games I could get my hands on including Torin's Passage which is my all time favorite (despite the fact that no one else in my country has ever heard of it).
The Strategy genre had my heart to, but I never finished those games. I never played the story, because it didn't interest me. The C&C series I played in Skirmish mode mostly and Wargames as well. The only Strategy game I ever finished in story mode was Age of Empires 2. History started to be interesting.
I remember vividly the day I sat in my room actively ignoring my girlfriend and playing Myth when my soon-to-be ex-best best friend came in the room and uttered these words: "Hey Ingvi, You have to try this game, it's fucking AWESOME. It's called Delta Force". Let's just say that several months later I discovered the excistance of "Living-in-Cave" Syndrome. It's a Vitamin D deficiency brought on by lack of exposure to light.
My brother had played games like Quake, Doom and Resident Evil but I never liked them because I always shat myself when something unexpected happened, like a leper jumping up from the water throwing chunks of his own flesh at me. I was an innocent child. But with the emergence of Tactical FPS games, I had found my love. I played Counter-Strike till my fingers bled. Delta Force, Delta Force 2, Delta Force: Land Warrior and Delta Force: Black Hawk Down I played till my big toe was numb (don't ask).
I had only played games on PC up till the point in my life where someone told me about a game that I had to try. It was called Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and it was available both on PC and on PS2. I started by downloading the demo and that was it. The next day I went to the nearest computer store (which was an hours drive away, two villages over to the north) to buy that stupid game but the clerk informed me that they didn't have that game for PC and wouldn't for a while. They only had one copy of the PS2 version. My transformation into the world of console had begun.
I am now a fully hyperactive PlayStation fanboy and have every console from Sony hooked up to my TV at this moment. And I am even writing this article on a Linux installation on my PlayStation 3.
I sincerely apologies for any grammatical error you may find among my words for I am only a simple Dyslexic Icelander and therefore I don't know any better.
It was early in my life that I realized that I couldn't possibly sit for 90 minutes in front of the TV and watch an entire football match. It was just too boring.
So when my Father and my brother watched eagerly I started going to the computer and playing with MS-paint. I know, Autism anyone?
It wasn't long till I realized that I needed something more, something more fun. Something deep that moved you inside, had real moral value and taught you the truth in the world.
So I started playing Worms with my older brother.
If that was the spark to my fanaticism towards video games then Command & Conquer: Red Alert was definitely the fuel. I played that game with such vigorous enthusiasm that my mother eventually started locking the door to my father's office, which had the only computer in my home, just so I would start sleeping or taking showers.
It's not that I was a great tactician or anything; I preferred the "Safety in Numbers" approach. Build as many Refineries as you possibly can and spend it all on Mammoths and Tanias. As a matter of fact "Chew on This" were my first ever spoken words in the English language.
The first game I ever finished was Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. The point-and-click adventure game genre had me in its grips after that one. I've finished every Broken Sword game, All the Sierra Quest games I could get my hands on including Torin's Passage which is my all time favorite (despite the fact that no one else in my country has ever heard of it).
The Strategy genre had my heart to, but I never finished those games. I never played the story, because it didn't interest me. The C&C series I played in Skirmish mode mostly and Wargames as well. The only Strategy game I ever finished in story mode was Age of Empires 2. History started to be interesting.
I remember vividly the day I sat in my room actively ignoring my girlfriend and playing Myth when my soon-to-be ex-best best friend came in the room and uttered these words: "Hey Ingvi, You have to try this game, it's fucking AWESOME. It's called Delta Force". Let's just say that several months later I discovered the excistance of "Living-in-Cave" Syndrome. It's a Vitamin D deficiency brought on by lack of exposure to light.
My brother had played games like Quake, Doom and Resident Evil but I never liked them because I always shat myself when something unexpected happened, like a leper jumping up from the water throwing chunks of his own flesh at me. I was an innocent child. But with the emergence of Tactical FPS games, I had found my love. I played Counter-Strike till my fingers bled. Delta Force, Delta Force 2, Delta Force: Land Warrior and Delta Force: Black Hawk Down I played till my big toe was numb (don't ask).
I had only played games on PC up till the point in my life where someone told me about a game that I had to try. It was called Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and it was available both on PC and on PS2. I started by downloading the demo and that was it. The next day I went to the nearest computer store (which was an hours drive away, two villages over to the north) to buy that stupid game but the clerk informed me that they didn't have that game for PC and wouldn't for a while. They only had one copy of the PS2 version. My transformation into the world of console had begun.
I am now a fully hyperactive PlayStation fanboy and have every console from Sony hooked up to my TV at this moment. And I am even writing this article on a Linux installation on my PlayStation 3.
I sincerely apologies for any grammatical error you may find among my words for I am only a simple Dyslexic Icelander and therefore I don't know any better.
