TX Dragon

I’ve been playing video games a very long time … my kids and I started out in the olden days with an Atari 2600 as well as going to the video arcade down the street - Space Invaders … everyone old has probably played Space Invaders to the marching downwards to crush ya - at the arcade … we bought tokens not feeding quarters into them - I loved the one that had cops & robbers and even the siren noise … it was a fast paced game and lots of fun - I wasn’t good at it but I enjoyed it a lot.

We moved onward with a Commodore 128 - I wish I could remember the name of that wonderful wizard game - Electronic Arts published it - you could play. Yes I spent many a long late nite playing that game after the kids went to bed because when they were up they played after homework and chores were done and I got to watch them and we talked while they played … gee … what a novel concept .. talking with your child while they play video games - what was I thinking? Or you could build your own levels and play them … it was an adorably cute game that I dearly loved to play and I really enjoyed creating my own levels to play too though I was not very good at it at all.

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We had the first Nintendo and Super Nintendo at our house and played the Zelda games … those frustrated my son a lot - he didn’t have a lot of patience for all that leveling up to fight the monsters and live through it or to cut down trees to find the hidden underground areas …. yes, I am old and that was a long time ago … LOL

You should see the looks on the young guys faces when I go to the Katy Mills Mall Game Stop (used to be EB Games but they merged) to buy a game if they find out the game is actually for me. One told me that “my grandchildren would love this game” … yes I do have a grand child who loves games and yes he did love the game … but the game was for me … and I told the poor kid so. His mouth dropped … he looked like a fish out of water. He was shocked to think that “old people” play video games … he seemed under the impression that only young guys his age (maybe 18 - 21) and younger play video games. I don’t shop there very often … I was playing video games before those kids at the Katy Mills Mall Game Stop were born … egads … I really am older than dirt aren’t I?

Plus back in the days of pencils and papers and dice and painting miniatures .. I played Dungeons and Dragons. The books (including the Dungeon Master Guide - yes I got to be Dungeon Master every once in awhile - I wasn’t good at it but I enjoyed it) and those tiny miniature figures are in the closet - I gave them to my son when he was a teen-ager but he left them at my house so they are still here packed with other stuff from his childhood he left behind when he left as a grown man.

I am a gamer. My son is a gamer. My son in law is a gamer. My grandson is a gamer. My daughter is a gamer - she plays Toontown on the computer with her kids and her husband - I’ve watched them play it and I don’t like the game - they wanted me to play it with them but I said no. I was tempted though - it would be fun to play a game with them.

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The Game Stop at Fry Road & I-10 though … the guys in there are a bit more worldly and grown up … usually their guys range in age from 18 to probably mid 30’s or so … they are used to me and are not shocked to see me in there buying games for me - they don’t treat me as if I were a freak of nature because I play Final Fantasy or the Legend of Heroes … I get top trade in value … rofl … I keep my games in good condition and unfortunately many kids do not (they are kids after all!)

Video games do not take over our lives but we have fun playing them as a hobby. I have a Playstation 3 and a PSP. My grandson has a DS, a Game Boy advance, a Playstation 2 and a Game Cube. My son-in-law used to have an Xbox but it broke so now he has a Playstation 3. The only system we don’t have amongst us … yet … is an Xbox 360. And we all have computers of course ;P … remember the original Bards Tale games many many many years ago? They were lots of fun … the Playstation 2 Bards Tale was okay .. .but it wasn’t nearly as exciting to me as the old ones … or maybe I am just fondly remembering how fun it was to play back then and would not be impressed now if I could play those old ones again.

I haven’t bought the newest Final Fantasy Tactics game … I’ll get around to it - I am still playing Final Fantasy XII and enjoying it very much!

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