I would love to say that I have been a hardcore gamer all my life.  But this sadly isn’t the case.  To get the full story I will have to go back a ways.  I guess it started in junior high and the Apple IIe computer.  The computer teacher would allow us to go into the computer lab during lunch to play the limited selection of video games they had at the school.  You may recall some of the games: Asteroids, Spy Hunter, Number Munchers and Oregon Trail.

It progressed from their when my parents got my siblings and I a NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) for Christmas one year.  We logged countless hours playing games like: Super Mario Brothers, Micro Machines, Super Mario 3, OutRun, Super Offroad, Stunt Kids, Marble Madness and High Speed Pinball.  The list could go on and on but those are the games that stand out the most in my mind.

Delivering news papers got me my second system.  A GameBoy, which I won at the company raffle.  Now I didn’t have to read books or stare out the window of the car on trips.  I could play Tetris, Mortal Kombat and Pokemon (yes I did own the first Pokemon – actually a pretty good RPG).

Then came the Sega Genesis.  Sonic.  Vector Man.  NHL 95.  Tazmania.  Virtua Racing.  What more can I say.  This system was awesome.  The Genesis would be the last Console I would own for a very long time.

I did play the other systems at friends places.  In those days, there just wasn’t enough disposable income in most families to own many systems.  It usually worked out that I had a friend that had one of the systems on the market.

About the time of high school, gaming was starting to lose out to other things in my life.  I became more interested in girls and had a couple of girl friends.  Being athletic I started to spend more of my time playing basketball and soccer.  I played on school teams and in summer leagues.  Skateboarding became a big thing and I started to pour a lot of time into skating around town with my friends.  I still did game now and then.  I had friends that had PlayStation’s and N64’s.  My gaming became more sports minded.  Mostly hockey games.  NHL 97 was my favorite game of this time.  But I can say that I didn’t game much at all.

My natural ease at mathematics and computers lead me to getting a diploma in computer science.  It was during this time that gaming started to come back into my life.  We were required to lease a laptop from the college for the course I was taking.  This laptop was the cats meow at the time.  333MHz processor. 8MB video card. 128M RAM (that we later upgraded to 256).  Cost was a whopping $4000 which we could buy out for $100 after the course was over.  My classmates and I started to play LAN based games (Counter Strike, Ages of Empire).  The main game we played was Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear.  This game became our addiction.  We were playing on the college network at the time and had gotten into trouble.  We were told that we could not game on the college network anymore.  This lead us to chipping in together and buying a used switch on ebay.  This thing was a beast.  Having 12 ports on it we could still connect to the school network but not tie up the network resources when we gamed.  One of my friends would lug this thing to class every day so we could play during breaks and at lunch.  We even went as far as to have LAN parties on weekends at my friend’s house.  Other games that I was playing at this time were: Max Payne, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed and Balders Gate)

After graduation from college I worked a landscaping job while I searched for a job in the computer industry.  Problem was jobs in the field were few and far between.  I guess you could contribute this to various things like the rise in interest in working with computers (it was no longer a nerdy thing but a viable way to make money).  But the biggest thing that happened was the collapse of Nortel (you may have heard about it) just before I graduated.  A few of my friends found jobs but most of us worked non-industry jobs while trying to get into the industry.  I guess I am getting off track a bit here but this bit of information will help with the understanding of later events.

With the extra income coming in I was able to get enough money to build my own gaming computer and our LAN parties turned from bringing out laptop to dragging our computer towers and monitors to each other’s houses.  I also ended up selling my laptop to my sister for $1000 so I could buy a PS2.  This was my first gaming system since the genesis.  You think console gaming is expensive now.  It took all of that $1000 to buy a PS2 with a memory card, extra controller and Metal Gear Solid 2.  Games were upwards of $90 back then.  Our gaming nights started to include playing NHL Hitz tournaments.  I started to play games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy.

I mentioned before the decline in the computer industry (at least it was a decline in Canada).  I returned to school in hopes to get my degree in computer science.  This was to beef up my resume so I would have a better chance in getting a job.  It was a split second decision that was the best decision of my life (even though I didn’t know it at the time).  I have no doubt, looking back, that it was God’s hand at work.  I know this is a bit long winded.  But it give light to the change in my gaming habits.

This decision to go back to school look me away from my gaming friends.  No more LAN parties (I did play some games with friends online but it didn’t hold for long).  It was just me any my PS2 and a few PC games that I could play on my own.  Gaming didn’t go away entirely.  I still played the new Metal Gear and Final Fantasy games that came out.  It’s just that my new friends were not gamers.

I am ashamed to admit that I did by a Game Cube with my roomate.  Not to say that it wasn’t fun.  We play games like Mario Party.  These party games were basically the extent of my mulitplayer gaming during this time.  I lost interest in computer gaming and my computer became outdated.  This was the end of my computer gaming.  I was strictly a console guy from then on and even then I didn’t play that much.  The PS2 became my dvd player with the odd Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy playing.

I was becoming disinterested in everything computer related.  My grades started slipping and the university decided that I should take a year off before continuing my studies there.  You may be asking why this was the best decision of my life.  It force me to look at my interests and decide what I was going to do with my life.  After a few months of soul searching and praying, God led me to a program called Electronics Systems Engineering Technology.  This was God sent as I applied with only a few weeks left until the course started and got in, even though they told me that I would most likely be put onto a list as spaces were offered first come first serve.  I graduated and got a job almost instantly.  God sent.  It was my training in both computers and electronics that landed my a  job at Vecima Networks Inc. (now most of you should be able to find out where I live).  During this time gaming started to come back up and my roomate bought a Xbox 360.

You may ask how all this comes into my return to gaming.  Here it is.  My move lead me to my new carreer path (I currently work for a government owned company called Sasktel) and to my beautiful wife.  God sent.  We now have enough disposible income (far more than I ever imagined) to afford a new car, our first house (tiny 780 sq. foot house built in 1912) and enough left over (after loan payments and bills) to let me game.  I am glad I have a wife that lets me game and spend money on gaming.

My setup currently consists of:
- LG 42″ 1080P LCD television
- Sony HTSF2300 5.1 1000W receiver and speaker system.  Very nice.  Has HDMI pass through.  All my HDMI devices hook up to the receiver and then I only have one HDMI cable running to my TV.
- 60GB first gen PS3 (the one with the backwards compatability) – want to put in a larger hard drive (maybe 160GB)
- Nintendo Wii
- Sasktel MAX cable box with video recorder and HD (get employee deal)
- Logitech 520 Harmony remote.  Controls all my home theater electronics except the PS3 and Wii.  I just tell it I want to watch TV and it turns on all the devices it needs and sets them to the correct inputs.

I am proud to say that my return to gaming is on the rise.  I know own more games for my PS3 than I ever owned for one system.  Ten that I can think of off hand.  I know that is not much but considering that I have only had the system for a year and a half that is pretty good.  I am now obsessed with trophies and am proud to say that I got my first platnum trophy a month back on a very good game called Burnout Paradise.

Before you go slamming me about owning a PS3 instead of a 360, let me explain.  I really do not care which hardware is better or which system has better online.  Sony has been good to me (PS2 still works to this day).  Truth of the matter is Sony is a hardware company and makes great hardware based machines.  Microsoft is a software company and naturally would be better at software.  Sony has better hardware and Microsoft has better software.  End of debate.  Now if only Sony could make the system and Microsoft cound program it, that is a system I would buy.  That system would be amazing.

In the end of the day you just pick the system that has the games you want to play.  I mostly play offline, adventure based games so the 360 has no appeal to me.  I know I am in the minority here and that is fine with me.

If anyone has a PS3 wants to game with me.  My PSNID is JonnyKlass.  I am currently playing Killzone 2 and would love to get owned by some guys/gals from the community.  Just take it easy on me.  I am an old PC FPS gamer that cannot get used to the thumb sticks over a mouse and keyboard.

God led me to HCG just over a year ago and since then have been writing for the site under then name Archangel.

My name is Jonathan Klassen and I am a gamer.