A Golden DucatGaming has undoubtedly been one of the great joys of my life. It has been with me from the time I was little and got my first Nintendo for my birthday, up to this day when I maxed out my credit card so I could buy a new Xbox 360. I've seen Nintendo survive the 16-bit wars only to have their crown stolen by the upstart—as far as gaming is concerned—Sony.
I was watching when Sega bowed out of the hardware realm only to be replaced by Microsoft. When I was young games were made out of sprites. As I aged and sprites turned into polygons, I saw them get jazzed up with texture mapping. Cartridges begat CDs. And now the whole experience is wrapped in HD graphics and surround sound.
Perhaps I missed out on the true genesis of gaming or was too young to really enjoy the great arcade era in the U.S., but gaming and personal history have been closely tied as I've grown up, and God willing, will continue to be. I fondly recall my NES days in elementary school with my friends trying to top each other's Tetris scores we'd have scribbled on little pieces of paper. Or discovering all there was to discover in Super Mario Bros. 3.\
Those carefree summers during middle school—biking to the pool, playing catch in the street or holed up in an air conditioned room on exceptionally hot days with the blinds pulled, and mapping out the best and quickest routes to everything in ""Zelda"" on the SNES. I remember my neighbor and I spending our lawn mowing money renting games and mastering all we could for those 48 hours we had the chance to.
Three other guys and I getting passes out of class in high school, renting a TV from the AV guy and spending fourth block in the back room at the library playing ""GoldenEye"" on the N64 we had the gall to bring to school.
And then coming to college and meeting people via our love of gaming. Freshman year dominating floor mates in ""Mario Kart"" or giant ""Quake"" LAN parties. Let us not forget Halo—an excuse for not accomplishing anything. And that one fine spring day when a friend and I decided it was too nice to go to math class, so we went home to play ""StarCraft"" instead.
And now, weeks away from an entire academic era over, months away from officially calling it quits on the current-gen consoles, and at the very beginning of a new console cycle I see my beloved gaming industry and community catering to my ever-changing lifestyle. With future employment will hopefully come future income—which is good, because clearly the new era is going to be expensive. I'll need an HDTV and proper surround sound at some point to experience the games at their fullest.
I'll also have to pay for Internet access as college buddies spread out across the country. A convenient way to stay in touch, aside from standard means of communication, would be to socialize using ever-expanding console online plans. Xbox Live has a voice chat feature and will soon implement a video chat service with standard online gaming. It'll be like playing ""Madden"" back in our living room on Regent St., except I'll be in my underwear. OK, maybe it won't be so different.
In any case, there is more to say about gaming than I, or anyone, could hope to pen in two semesters time; more discussion and debate about its nature, influence over people, where it's going and where it's been. I hope I've been able to give you some insight into the world of gaming or perhaps spark an interest that may not have been there before. Thanks for reading. Now go forth and play games. It's why they're there.
This is Jason's final column in the Daily Cardinal. Contact him at jmducat@gmail.com.\
