The Makings of a Gamer
July 10th 2008 15:53
I confess, I'm a gamer.
In fact, I've been a gamer for quite sometime. In family montages a la The Wonder Years families are always seen riding bikes, learning to swim, having bar-b-ques. My memories are... a bit different...
I remember my dad and I fighting our way through the first Zelda game, getting stuck trying to find the dungeon in that stupid graveyard, or yelling at the screen when we got our big shield eaten. Of course, that yelling was nothing compared to our anger when the cartridge started losing our saves, no matter how much we blew in it or shook it around. Anyone who played the NES system knows what I mean.
And then there was mom and I, staying up until 2 in the morning (on a school night!) to beat Bubble Bobble. Or battling each other in Dr. Mario (I let her win, what a good daughter!).
I remember how jealous I was of the first kid in my class to get Super Mario 3 and remember thinking A Link To the Past was the coolest game ever made.
And now I'm in grad school. Fortunately, I've been able to combine my academic interest and my enjoyment of video games. I've presented papers at academic conferences about games, had a short article published, and teach classes on games.
This blog will be a synthesis of these different interests, and different takes on games. Some posts will be mainly sparked by my research, and class discussions. Others will be out and out reviews of current or retro games. Hopefully, as the blog progresses and grows, I'll get some input from you guys about what you'd like to hear more about.
Preview of Upcoming Attractions!: In my next blog I'll give you guys a brief sample of one of the main questions of my class on video games: What is a game?
In fact, I've been a gamer for quite sometime. In family montages a la The Wonder Years families are always seen riding bikes, learning to swim, having bar-b-ques. My memories are... a bit different...
I remember my dad and I fighting our way through the first Zelda game, getting stuck trying to find the dungeon in that stupid graveyard, or yelling at the screen when we got our big shield eaten. Of course, that yelling was nothing compared to our anger when the cartridge started losing our saves, no matter how much we blew in it or shook it around. Anyone who played the NES system knows what I mean.
And then there was mom and I, staying up until 2 in the morning (on a school night!) to beat Bubble Bobble. Or battling each other in Dr. Mario (I let her win, what a good daughter!).
I remember how jealous I was of the first kid in my class to get Super Mario 3 and remember thinking A Link To the Past was the coolest game ever made.
And now I'm in grad school. Fortunately, I've been able to combine my academic interest and my enjoyment of video games. I've presented papers at academic conferences about games, had a short article published, and teach classes on games.
This blog will be a synthesis of these different interests, and different takes on games. Some posts will be mainly sparked by my research, and class discussions. Others will be out and out reviews of current or retro games. Hopefully, as the blog progresses and grows, I'll get some input from you guys about what you'd like to hear more about.
Preview of Upcoming Attractions!: In my next blog I'll give you guys a brief sample of one of the main questions of my class on video games: What is a game?
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