Your first gaming device...

[Kolzig]

My first gaming machine was my brother's Commodore Vic-20.

It's actually still the only machine that I have still kept safe in the closet archives through all these years. Haven't played with it in 20 years so I hope it still works actually.

Later we got Commodore 128 that didn't have almost any games, but it had a secret code or something to change it to emulate Commodore 64 and then all the sweet games worked again.

After the 128 got sold, my brother got the best gaming device I have ever experienced and that was Commodore Amiga 500. The PC era just hasn't felt the same since Turrican 2, Rick Dangerous, Stunt Car Racer and bunch of other incredible gaming experiences.

We had a really amazing mega retro event recently a few weeks ago at the university with around 30 old tv sets and bunch of old computers and consoles from various eras. They are aiming to have it twice per year and it was the third time now. I recently joined the group arranging that and they do have smaller meetings once every two weeks.

[Tanukitsune]

Ah yes, the good ol' Amiga 500... I miss mine, but I can't really justify getting a new one since most of the games I had on it I now own on the Megadrive or PC, even if the Amiga version was superior.

[melmer]

we would 'cheat' by placing the barrel of the gun right up against the screen

[osmosisch]

[melmer]

I wonder why they don't they make keyboards in that colour anymore?

[osmosisch]

No idea, but I hung onto mine just for nostalgia's sake. Unfortunately the power supply has given up the ghost by now though.

[Henroid]

Seeing that photo makes me realize, I've never used tape cassettes for computer data. I mean I've been aware of it, but I've never written or read data to them first hand. I'd like to, just so that I can say I have.

[osmosisch]

  On 11/8/2012 at 2:18 PM, Henroid said:

Seeing that photo makes me realize, I've never used tape cassettes for computer data. I mean I've been aware of it, but I've never written or read data to them first hand. I'd like to, just so that I can say I have.

Until my last move, I still had some cassettes with programs on it that I had recorded from the radio. There used to be a show that would tell you when to start recording, then there would be an interminable sequence of awful modem noises, and then you could load that into memory.

I remember this was the first time I realised how abstract the concepts of information and its representation are.

[melmer]

you haven't lived

[melmer]

I remember ghost busters 2, you had to reload the whole fucking 5min tape every time you died

[ThunderPeel2001]

  On 11/8/2012 at 2:22 PM, Mington said:

you haven't lived

*ah nostalgia* I actually love that noise now.

EDIT: That first minute is just loading the loading screen, isn't it?

[Henroid]

  On 11/8/2012 at 2:20 PM, osmosisch said:

Until my last move, I still had some cassettes with programs on it that I had recorded from the radio. There used to be a show that would tell you when to start recording, then there would be an interminable sequence of awful modem noises, and then you could load that into memory.

I remember this was the first time I realised how abstract the concepts of information and its representation are.

That is so cool. Isn't there a game (discussed on Idle Thumbs I think) for like the DS that handles its save files as audio files and you can exchange them in this way?

[SiN]

Bangai-O Spritis!

[DanJW]

This is me with what is probably my first gaming device.

[blueninj0r]

My first system was a Master System 2 with Sonic built in.

I thought you played the game by looking into the cartridge slot. Favourite game was After Burner...never got past the third level. One day, maybe.

[syntheticgerbil]

  On 11/9/2012 at 9:55 AM, DanJW said:

This is me with what is probably my first gaming device.

I love that hat!

[darthbator]

I'm another 2600 kid. I remember my dad brought home a 2600 when I was super super super young. For some unknown reason we replaced it with a 2600jr later on. (I remember having 2 for a while idk if one didn't work correctly all the time or what...). I am pretty sure our original 2600 was a knock off and my dad was just interested in comparing it to a real 2600 from Atari. My dad was never super into video games but he's always had an interest in consumer electronics and computers (in a non professional capacity).

I am pretty sure the first game I played on the 2600 was space invaders...

I actually only spent a few years with the Atari. Once I saw a Nintendo at a friends house I raved about it until my parents finally got one. I think it was somewhere around 1988-1989.

EDIT: I was actually thinking of my first "video gaming system". I am sure I had one of those old GIANT Tiger fixed position LCD games before anything else. I clearly remember something with a space ship that could move to 3 positions and asteroids....

[BFrank]

I had a TRS-80 and played some games on it in '83-'84, but the NES came along and I didn't look at PC games again until after college.

[darthbator]

I messed around with some PC stuff when I was a kid but I was never that interested in it as a gaming platform until Diablo. I REALLY wanted to love the original WarCraft but it was a little to complex for how old I was. All the road building was a big barrier for me at that time.

I also remember REALLY loving Prince of Persia 2.

[jeremywc]

I remember playing with my dad on a 2600 when I was around 3 or 4. The only games I specifically remember playing with him were Kaboom!, Centipede, and Tennis. I'm pretty sure he had more, but that's all that comes to mind. I often wonder what he ended up doing with that thing. The last time I saw it was in his closet when I was about 7. Like everyone else, we graduated to the NES and SNES as time went on. I didn't get a PC that was decent enough for gaming until the mid-90's.

[mcarter78]

When I was little, my dad would go hang out with his buddies once a week for "computer night." We had multiple Commodore 64's at the time and LOTS of disks. When I got to be 8 or 9 or so, I was given one of the C64's and all of the game disks. There were literally HUNDREDS of games all on disks with handwritten labels, sometimes 10 games to a disk with generic menus to load them. It wasn't until several years later when I started getting into BBS's that I realized that the old "computer night" was a bunch of C64 software pirates getting together to download games! That was my first gaming device, the one I've spent the most time with, and probably favorite. When all of the other kids were getting NES, I was the only one that had my own "computer."

[DrFat32]

The first game system I remember playing was a Binatone TV Master circa 1977/8 so I would have been 6 or 7. I remember it because my Dad was worried it would knacker the rented TV so it would only go on for about half a hour at a time.

[Kolzig]

Ahh today is again the mighty retro event. I was last night putting the machines and televisions with the guys from the club.

Can't wait, a few hours anymore and it starts.

I'm such an apprentice when compared to the masters who are in the club.

[toblix]

Ah, Finnish. I love it. It's like, this is a language, deal with it.

[Roderick]

As if you've never konsolipelien with your games!

Nice poster, Kolzig.