For kids of my generation, video games are revolutionary. Children naturally like to play the hours away, so having a game pre-packaged for you to interact with at your command (controlled by your hand), became instantly addicting. It was candy for the electronic age.
In my family, it was also another way for my oldest brother to re-establish his predominance in the pecking order above his younger siblings. He took pictures of the t.v. screen whenever he got a high score on a game, to secure future bragging rights. According to his wife, old habits die hard. My bro battles it out digitally with other air travellers, heckling the low scorers from aisles away. That's some serious gamer roots. My father is not immune to the bug either, though he jokes that the last time he bested a game was Pong. He's funny :)
How boring does this look to us now?! And yet, back then, motion graphics were a big deal. Now, since me and my bros were nerds, a fact I have laid the groundwork for in previous articles (Monster mag, Super8 animation, Star Trek, Star Wars, comic books, Renaissance Faires, the list goes on and on), we knew that this first generation technology would tighten up real quick, and we wanted in.
Thus began our campaign for a system of our own. Given my parents rather Luddite and Spartan tendencies, our childish requests often fell upon deaf ears. We get gifts only a few times a year: birthdays, Christmas, and for the kids, at Easter. Children in the family get goodies in the form of a candy basket stuffed with that plastic green grass, laden with jellybeans that have sunk to the bottom, (making it a treasure hunt), plus a stuffed bunny or some other small toys. That's it, homeboys. Those are our values.
When the craze hit, we fought for that years Christmas gift hard. We got one big gift, plus stocking stuffers and clothes. The group family gift, by unanimous vote, had to be a gaming system. Since Dad's interest was piqued, it was a lock and we knew it. Sweet. Atari was the real high end system, but there was no way my parents would green-light the cost of a frivolous t.v game. We wound up with the Sears knock-off version called "Intellivison", probably because my Mom thought it sounded more educational. Yo, check this out:
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| http://www.trs-80.org/frogger/ |
It's a trip, right? I'm sure readers can guess why we were so enamored. Because we HAD the dice version of D and D. (Cough) nerds (Cough). As basic as the graphics seem now, the mystery of not knowing what would happen at any level or what foe would appear was intoxicating. We loved it. Video game arcades sprung up in malls across America, making quarters scarce in every household. Without those precious coins, no tokens could be bought. Arcades were dark dens of inequity with neon lighting, places where "bad" kids hung out, shaking down other kids for change, as alluring as any dragons' lair. Fortunately for me, my tastes did not run to a group setting. I thought (and still do) that Ms. Pacman and Galaxia sucked, with the exception of Frogger. I tend to hone my "skillz" in private.
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| http://www.everseradio.com/flying-off-the-screen-observations-from-the-golden-age-of-the-american-video-game-arcade/ |
The big TV networks knew this was a major youth movement. The execs tried to ride the video crest, nervously watching the audience numbers drop in lieu of this huge home entertainment wave. Here in the tri-state, WPIX Channel 11 had this hilarious call-in game for kids to test their mettle against their version of a video game. It was ridiculous, because younger kids had no idea how to match their voice to what remains a hand-to-eye feat, so they just sputtered out repeatedly "pixpixpixpixpix" in cute, wispy kiddie voices while me and my brothers laughed our asses off.
One unfortunate caller must have lost his front teeth, because his words came out sounding like "Piss!" over and over, totally off target. We were hysterical with laughter, caught in a raging fit of the giggles, face down in some pillows or sliding off the beat up couch in the family room. Embarrassingly still, the announcer said at the end, "Oh, I'm sorry, Michael from West Hempstead. You're score is 0. I'm afraid you've won nothing." Then there was the awkward response from a six year old struggling to grasp what just happened, responding in a small, shaky voice, "Oh, ohhhhhkkkayyyy..." or just an abrupt hang up. The prizes were lame anyway, like a gift certificate to a pizza place or something like that.
How great is that?! Brings back lots of good times. More articles on games to follow, my friends, that's for sure.
One unfortunate caller must have lost his front teeth, because his words came out sounding like "Piss!" over and over, totally off target. We were hysterical with laughter, caught in a raging fit of the giggles, face down in some pillows or sliding off the beat up couch in the family room. Embarrassingly still, the announcer said at the end, "Oh, I'm sorry, Michael from West Hempstead. You're score is 0. I'm afraid you've won nothing." Then there was the awkward response from a six year old struggling to grasp what just happened, responding in a small, shaky voice, "Oh, ohhhhhkkkayyyy..." or just an abrupt hang up. The prizes were lame anyway, like a gift certificate to a pizza place or something like that.
How great is that?! Brings back lots of good times. More articles on games to follow, my friends, that's for sure.
May all your memories today be fond ones.
