First Post

I've decided to start keeping a blog where I will write about all the things I think about concerning video games as a career, an artform, and an industry. It's my hope that I can help change what I think is a negative connotation that goes along with the term "video games," help inform people of the rich complexities of this diverse media, and even learn a little bit myself as I organize my own thoughts and do some more formal research on some of the subjects I don't know much about. Maybe you, dear reader, will find yourself interested in playing a new game, thinking about video games in a different way, or even getting excited about the art and production that goes into the creation of these "interactive audio/video experiences."

To help put some of my musings into context for you, let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Alek, I'm 19 years old, and I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember. The first video game I can ever recall playing is a game for DOS home computers called X-Wing, a space flight simulator set in the Star Wars universe. The game was tremendously complicated for the mind of a toddler, but I would sit on my dad's lap and pull the trigger of the joystick when he said "Shoot!" He would handle all the other complex systems involved in the game while my young mind would be satisfied with the flashing lights and iconic imagery from those beloved movies.

A screenshot from X-Wing, the first game I remember playing.

As I got older, I started playing educational games such as Reader Rabbit and various games from The Learning Company. I also had a port of a game called Sonic CD for our home computer that I would play all the time, along with my sister. This lesser known game starring Sonic the Hedgehog would be another one of those very early games I had exposure to. Beyond these games though, I didn't have many of my own. My daycare had a Super Nintendo that I could play Super Mario Bros. on, and I could play my friend's SEGA Genesis when I went to his house, but I could never really sit down and sink my teeth into any of it. But then one year, my parents bought me an Nintendo 64 for Christmas, and the rest is history. I was finally exposed to an endless list of classic video games that I'm sure I'll talk about in depth at some point in this blog.

Now, I'm going to college to get some kind of education that will help me become a video game designer myself. Part of helping myself learn more and become more knowledgeable about video games is writing in this blog, and I hope that you, the reader, can glean some knowledge from it too. Or at least some entertainment. I'll be writing about all kinds of things, and if you ever want to get into the discussion or ask a question, leave a comment and I'll surely respond to it. I think it'll be very interesting!