Dan Dan The Art Man

Videogame Memories # 7 GUEST BLOG POST by J.R. Murdock I grew up with video games. I think I was 5 when I was first introduced to the PONG console and I could hook up the Atari system to the back of the television by the time I was 7. I watched the games in the bars (yes, I grew up in a town where kids could go the bar) change from Tank and Breakout to Pac Man and Zaxxon. Computers in the schools that started appearing were the Apple II and Apple II+. I discovered Lode Runner quite early. I was fascinated with video games. It was in the early 80s when I discovered Dungeons and Dragons. It was also in the early 80s when I discovered Dungeons and Daggorath for the TRS-80 that my father had bought for me. I was entranced by the thought of exploring a dungeon, but it was a difficult game that was slow, clunky and you couldn’t save your place unless you had a tape drive (that I would acquire much later). But then I found Wizardry for the Apple II. This game took much of what my young brain knew about Dungeons

Videogame Memories # 6 GUEST BLOG POST by John Mierau Note: A few choice words lie below but were blipped from the audio. It's kind of odd that I'm a science fiction and fantasy writer, an IT pro and-yeah, sure, world class geek-but not a gamer. So why am I blogging about gaming? Well, I WAS a gamer. It showed up in my life at exactly the right time: my most formative years- right at the end of high school and my first year of university -and it has informed my life ever since. My big games -now, don't laugh!- were Doom, Command & Conquer, and (ah, the memories!) Duke Nuke'em. When I started university, a friend of mine got me my first gig in networking. It was summer, he was busy as hell with this weird new gig and he asked me to help him out. The gig was installing network cards in a bunch of 386's for the federal government. Back then it was a brand spanking new gig, working in IT admin. And it was a doubly wired gig, seeing as my buddy Jason went to college for Fisheries & Wildli

Videogame Memories # 5 GUEST BLOG POST by Richard Green aka Mainframe I Remember "Pong" by Richard Green of Geek Out With Mainframe I'm not talking about having a game console that happened to play "Pong" as well as dozens of other games; not a smartphone app; not a website where you can play it to your hearts delight. Rather, back in the 70's my Dad came home with a "Pong" home game console that only played "Pong" (o.k. maybe a few other very similar games like handball, but all of them very "Pong"-esqe). It could not play anything other than the games that were loaded in the firmware; no buying more games for it, no upgrades, just "Pong". I've tried over the years to figure out what model it was, but I haven't been able to find it in various Google Internet searches. The game controllers were wired into the console and only had a slider for the player to use. Most first generation game consoles had a knob, this had a slider. I'm not sure how many buttons and/or switches were on the game console itsel

Videogame Memories # 4 GUEST BLOG POST by Scott Roche I am very much what you’d consider a casual gamer. I have a Wii and an X-Box (yes the original). I also have a GBA. Were it not for my kids these things would likely be gathering dust. I enjoy video games though, I really do. I have an iPhone and games like Angry Birds, Battleheart, and Scrabble get more of a workout than just about anything else. I just got a EEE Transformer tablet and I expect that I’ll be looking for games to play on that as well. For me these games are time killers, for use when I just want to veg. When I was a kid though, things were different. I remember playing E.T. on the Atari 2600. Getting that little alien to navigate the pits ate up HOURS. My first video game console was an Intellivision. It had some truly awesome games including an Asteroids knockoff that owned me for months. Years later I received an Intellivision II from my Dad and this time around it was all about Burger Time. Finally, I went mainstream and managed

Videogame Memories 03 GUEST BLOG POST by Alex White Mario and Mother By: Alex White of The Gearheart Sometimes I wonder if my mother was right about video games. I’m pretty sure our right brains are getting fat. Video games weren’t always this cheap, nor were parents always this understanding. Games may seem expensive now, but when you factor in inflation, it’s not bad at all. Furthermore, as the first gamer generations reach parenthood, they’re more likely to purchase a system, making consoles a ubiquitous presence in the American household. Seventy-two percent of American homes have consoles, and the age of the average gamer has risen from eight (1986) to thirty-seven (2011)[1]. What does this mean? What once was magical and elusive has become an indulgent digital buffet of incredible content. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Every time I walk past an abandoned PS3 or 360 kiosk, and I don’t see some kid getting neck and eye strain staring up at a tiny, broken screen, I don’t regret it. That missing

Videogame Memories 02 GUEST BLOG POST by Tim Ward Two of the biggest video game influences that I had growing up were Super Metroid and Final Fantasy III. Super Metroid was a real challenge to remember and read maps, as well as engross my mind in a futuristic world. Summer break from elementary school chilling in my basement with my friends doing spin jumps and shooting missiles at doors was an unforgettable experience. Final Fantasy came a few years later, and was the most impactful in developing my appreciation for fantasy adventure. FF III was unique in that it became an instant obsession. A friend brought it over and we played all the way to meeting Sabin, but there were no empty slots for memory, so I made my Mom go out and buy it. This was in sixth grade, and I became an instant FFIII nut. I could easily go home and play till I went to sleep, then at school I brought my strategy guide and drew pictures of moogles. When my teacher confiscated the book, someone stole it off her desk and I made my mom’s

Videogame Memories 01 GUEST BLOG POST by Jeff Hite In the beginning, there was pong, or so I am told. I am not that old, though I am close. I have actually “written” code using punch cards, and played games that required all keyboard input because the joystick wasn’t really a real thing yet. I was born in the 70’s and despite that fact I was pretty darn near 30 before I had ever played a video game that used a controller that didn’t look like an upside down “T.” I take that back when I was a teenager my brother had a first generation Nintendo, that he shared with me and yes the magic up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A select start does actually means something to me. Then again so do iddqd and idkfa. Despite that nearly useless knowledge, these are not my earliest video game memories. Those come from much earlier. I don’t remember how old I was when I first saw it, that magic screen projecting device, but it was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen. It was two and a half hours away f

Even though I don't have much time to play them these days with 3 kids running around and most of my free time devoted to writing, video games have played a major role in my life. I have many fond memories of playing video games. I chose my career path because I wanted to get into making video games. Space flight games were a big influence on my upcoming novel. I thought it would be fun to get some guest blog posts before my novel comes out from people on their fond video game memories. I've provided two of my own in text and audio below as an example. My first time seeing Super Mario Bros on the NES, and my first time seeing Mario 64. I could tell so many other stories, but these have always stood out in my memory as bright and shiny. What do I need from you? Email me your stories, or record your experiences and attach them as an .mp3 file. I'll write up your recording, or record what you wrote so both text and audio will be available in the blog post. Also write up a brief bio of yourself, and attach a

I was interviewed on AudioTim again with host Tim Ward. We talked about my first crack at doing a second draft on a novel, and about my novelette "His Last Day." AudioTim Podcast: http://www.audiotim.com/ My Info Website: http://writingsofdan.blogspot.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan