Recently had a 'beer & wii' night with some friends. What fun! And what a great gadget....
Things have moved on considerably since my early gaming days. My first 'console' was a Commodore VIC-20. For those people too young to remember such cutting-edge technology, it was one of the first mass production home computers. The games came on cartridges, or cassettes, which you put in the cassette drive, pressed play to load, and you went off for 10 minutes to make a cup of tea (a bit like my dial up modem, ahem). After ten minutes of horrible screeching noises, you came back to find either the game had crashed, or you had a basic game like Arcadia to play with.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be though. The Nintendo wii is the dogs bollocks. I've only played a few games, but it's a real giggle - what I would describe as a social console. Even the basic games are real fun, like tennis, golf and bowling. My initial wii experience was quite dangerous for anyone else who happened to be in the same room - particularly on wii tennis where I nearly took out onlookers with my violent back swing. I've since seen realised that it's all about technique rather than power. I even managed to win a game of bowling against 2 of my friends (who are generally better at gaming than me) - but was swiftly put in my place during a 9 hole game of golf, where I was severely battered.
At my old United Biscuits job, one of my workmates was really into gaming, and we used to discuss just how far technology could go in pursuit of the perfect gaming experience. His gaming utopia was basically a simulation where you could actually play in any football game from any era, with players from any generation. I wonder just how far away this is now - surely it won't be long before you can slip on a pair of wii-control football boots, and be having a kick about with Puskas, Pele, Gascoigne & Stan Bowles......
