nerdy timeline, part 2

When last we left our hero, he was in college and getting closer to true adulthood. On the verge of leaving behind video games forever and resigning himself to casual gaming at friend's houses and dorm rooms we find Nate alone on the third floor of a residence hall at Calvin College . . .
College- During college I was always busy, and fairly involved. I didn't have much time for video games. My junior year a guy on my floor let me borrow his Sega Dreamcast that he never played and that started a love hate addiction with Tony Hawk 2. Also, during interim (January) of this year, an Xbox with Halo made it's way to our floor for a couple weeks, and life pretty much stopped for some of us. My experiences during this year showed me that video games were probably not good for me. I continued in this misconception for several years, into marriage, and was only diverted by a few fun PC games along the way.
Spring '07 - During Spring break I flew with my wife from Seattle to Grand Rapids to visit friends and family. We stayed with Stephanie's brother Jonathan for a couple days and his roommate had a Playstation 2 with a bunch of games, including one that caught my eye - Street Fighter 2: Anniversary Collection. I used to love Street Fighter 2 back in the day, and this version was great. I decided I had to have it. Upon returning to Seattle I began to look into getting a used PS2. Sure Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii were all the rage, but I really just wanted this one game (yeah right).
PS2 - A 20 minute drive and 80 bucks snagged me an almost new slim PS2 from someone on Craigslist and thus video games and I were reunited. I'm not a complete video game nut, but because I had a few free weeks during the summer, and have only been employed part time in Grand Rapids, I've had a lot of face time with my games.
There, now we've got the background covered, we'll be all set for future rants and reviews dealing with one of my favorite topics.

yes, I am a nerd!

Those who know me best know that the past year has seen my return to the realm of video games. I took a hiatus, knowing full well that I can go overboard at times, but last spring decided I would deprive myself no longer. At first I was going to write a post about the Nintendo Wii (my brother in law just got one and I've probably played it more than he has), but decided that a little background for ya'll (I know you don't care) and a little reflection for me might be helpful. So, here's a little video game timeline for my life:
early elementary school- My parents never bought us any video games or consoles and we didn't have a computer. My contact with video games was limited to 7-11's or Chuck-E-Cheese's arcade games, and the NES that various friends owned (most notably Dustin's family). Mario games, Excitebike, and Megaman were just a few favorites. I was one of the little kids who moved the controller up every time Mario jumped.
late elementary- My cousin got a Sega Genesis and I entered the realm of Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Combat, and others. In 6th or 7th grade I saved up enough paper route money to delve in myself and bought a Super Nintendo packaged with Super Mario World and Mario Paint at our local Costco. . .
middle school- I met my friend Will in 6th grade and his dad was a computer maniac. He built computers, and although they didn't have car or health insurance, they did have three powerhouse computers and all the gadgets to go along with them. My parents finally realized the benifits of having a pc and Will's dad put one together for our family. Enter - Doom, Wolfenstein 3d, Syndicate Plus, Warcraft, and lots of little shareware games on floppy. This era also saw some addittions to the SNES library; most notably Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country, two incredible games.
high school - In high school I started wanting to be cool, which really limited my computer game playing, but let's be honest. I still played a lot. The biggest standouts were Warcraft II, Quake, Ultima Online, Diablo, and Duke Nukem 3d. There were dozens of others. Overall I didn't play the SNES much in high school and as Playstation and others were becoming popular I lagged behind the times. I got pretty busy with basketball, youth group, and social stuff. I played a little here or there at friends house's and even rented a PS1 a couple times from the video store, but overall I took a huge hiatus from the realm of video games which lasted through college and into adult life.
adulthood - . . . ?????
What will happen next? Will Nathan make his way back to the fantasy world of slaying demons and dragons, blowing things up, and racing down boardwalks at breakneck speeds? Or will the real world pressures of adult life claim him forever? Stay tuned to the next post to find out!