Highs and Lows of your gaming hobby?

entremet

entremet

Member
When I mean highs and lows, I'm taking about your engagement in the hobby.

My high was probably N64/PSone/Saturn era. I was excited for the 3d transition and some of my favorite consoles were in their prime. I played all the major releases for these systems and had a blast with multiplayer--Tekken 2/3, MK64, Goldeneye, etc.

My low was probably during college, which was the beginning of the Dremcast/PS2 era--yeah I'm old. I just was having too much fun in college to dedicate time gaming, plus school work. I don't regret it at all. And I ended up missing most of the PS2 generation, although I played the marquee games for that system later on.

It wasn't until the 360 that I got into gaming again seriously. Meaning following news, buying new releases, etc.

Right now, I'm mostly a portable gamer these days, although I own most of the current consoles.
 
I got back into PC gaming last year after an 8 year hiatus of Wii, PS3 and 360. I'm living the high life now. So many games, so many frames per second, so many graphical options. Life is good.

My low would be selling my Dreamcast in high school for a Nokia 3210.
 
Lows: when real life gets in the way; when a guy fled the province with my copy of Mortal Kombat 2; playing Infinite Discovery on a bet

Highs: when real life doesn't get in the way; when I traded Mario All-Stars for TMNT Turtles in Time; playing literally any other video game
 
Highs - Every successive generation really. From starting out as a kid with a C64 and NES, as the years have went by I've got even more engaged into the hobby/industry as a whole (aside from the low mentioned below).

Low - Was a little 'off the radar' from ~2001 to ~2003. Still playing and enjoying games, just not as much as I had been before. Then I sorted myself out and came back loving them even more.
 
Hm... high was probably from '90 all the way until '03. Elementary school and first three years of high school. Gaming non-stop, enjoying it 100% of the time.
Then came the senior year at high school and I went into crunch mode to get ready for the university and I honestly stopped gaming altogether. My PC was overrun in terms of performance (eg. I couldn't play shit because it was too slow). Then came the university (electrical engineering) and I didn't return to gaming until summer of '08 and Mass Effect on my (then brand new) PC. And I've been gaming 100% ever since. Finished my degree with no problems, got a job, steady life, etc. ALL with gaming included. \o/ Got an X360 in '09, PS3 in '10 and I'm having a blast right now.

And what's best, I actually buy whatever the hell I want since it's MY MONEY! (that was a message to my teenage self who was all:"I can't wait until I get my own money so I buy ALL THE GAMEZ") ;)

tl;dr: high: 1990.-2003., low: 2003.-2008., high again: 2008. - <the forever> ;)
 
Lows were where I was low on money and had to play old stuff a lot, just sort of passing time.

Other than that its been all good, I rather enjoy the hobby.
 
Lows: gaming for 14 hours a day during the first year of xbox live. Highs: gaming for 14 hours a day during the first year of xbox live. It was magical and sickening all at once.
 
Interest:

High: Right now :) In love with PC gaming after getting a desktop and discovering some old classics and genres for the first time.

Low: Probably right before I got my 360 in 2008, when my PS2 interest was running on its last fumes and I had a crappy laptop.


Actual gaming:

High: Probably in what US Americans would call junior high, marathoning PSX games. Ah, those were the days. Also last few years of university, when I had all the time in the world (studied Economics).

Lows: Right now :( Having a job and a girlfriend is pretty great, but not for gaming time... I go to bed each night with my gaming needs unfulfilled.
 
High: Probably last gen. I had over 100 ps2 games, most that I greatly enjoyed.

Low: This gen. I still buy a lot of games but I get no satisfaction out of 90% of them now, everything feels so dumbed down. My interest in games isn't dying due to me getting older, in fact I have an insatiable hunger for great games and lengthy games more now than ever (I finish most games within a few days of picking it up), it's just this industry is getting more casual and more about gimmicks than making great games.
 
High - Importing a Super Famicom when it launched in Japan. I had Nintendo's long awaited 16-bit system months before it hit the US, and it was worth every penny.

Low- This is my favorite generation in terms of games, but the anti-consumerism is grating on me.
 
Highs-
My supergun, I loved that thing, no more skanky ports. I used to buy the boards and Neo Geo carts from the local arcades for next to nothing.

Counter-Strike got me into PC gaming, incredible game.

Xbox 360 - got me back into console gaming from the PC, wasn't convinced at first but gaming without constantly feeling the need to keep upgrading whenever the next GPU revision or big games comes out felt great.

Lows-
My Amstrad CPC's monitor used to give me a migraine the following day without fail.

Dreamcast dying before it's time.

EDGE giving PC Engine SFII 8/10 when the SNES and Mega Drive both got 9/10 for the same game. PC Engine was even better in some ways, last EDGE I bought. Fuck EDGE.
 
Low: Giving up gaming for 5 years and becoming like a totally different person socially and professionally.

High: After changing careers, I locked myself in my home office and drank cognac while playing Persona 4 for 83 hours straight only leaving for basic human tasks.

entrement said:
When I mean highs and lows, I'm taking about your engagement in the hobby.

My high was probably N64/PSone/Saturn era. I was excited for the 3d transition and some of my favorite consoles were in their prime. I played all the major releases for these systems and had a blast with multiplayer--Tekken 2/3, MK64, Goldeneye, etc.

My low was probably during college, which was the beginning of the Dremcast/PS2 era--yeah I'm old. I just was having too much fun in college to dedicate time gaming, plus school work. I don't regret it at all. And I ended up missing most of the PS2 generation, although I played the marquee games for that system later on.

It wasn't until the 360 that I got into gaming again seriously. Meaning following news, buying new releases, etc.

Right now, I'm mostly a portable gamer these days, although I own most of the current consoles.
Click to expand...

Hey, we're probably the same age! Wow, the Dreamcast era.
 
Highs
- Sega Saturn
- N64
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Starsiege Tribes

Lows
- Death of Dreamcast ... I quit console gaming after that
- Being in college without the ability to update PC for new games
- Duke Nukem Forever
 
we.are.the.armada said:
Low: Giving up gaming for 5 years and becoming like a totally different person socially and professionally.

High: After changing careers, I locked myself in my home office and drank cognac while playing Persona 4 for 83 hours straight only leaving for basic human tasks.



Hey, we're probably the same age! Wow, the Dreamcast era.
Click to expand...

I'd like to hear the story behind this!
 
daviyoung said:
I got back into PC gaming last year after an 8 year hiatus of Wii, PS3 and 360. I'm living the high life now. So many games, so many frames per second, so many graphical options. Life is good.

My low would be selling my Dreamcast in high school for a Nokia 3210.
Click to expand...
Wow, Exact opposite for me. Traded my Samsung phone for a Dreamcast. :)

And selling my Super NES (PAL) plus all my RPG carts for a VooDoo card for my PC. :(
 
Low: Being impoverished, underemployed and struggling to keep a hand me down PC running. Pretty much just played EQ since it was cheaper to pay $10/month than keep up with new games/consoles.

High: Career in full swing, drowning in a backlog of games.
 
entrement said:
When I mean highs and lows, I'm taking about your engagement in the hobby.

My high was probably N64/PSone/Saturn era. I was excited for the 3d transition and some of my favorite consoles were in their prime. I played all the major releases for these systems and had a blast with multiplayer--Tekken 2/3, MK64, Goldeneye, etc.

My low was probably during college, which was the beginning of the Dremcast/PS2 era--yeah I'm old. I just was having too much fun in college to dedicate time gaming, plus school work. I don't regret it at all. And I ended up missing most of the PS2 generation, although I played the marquee games for that system later on.

It wasn't until the 360 that I got into gaming again seriously. Meaning following news, buying new releases, etc.

Right now, I'm mostly a portable gamer these days, although I own most of the current consoles.
Click to expand...

Low: easily has to be my college years, toward the end of the SNES' life and most of the N64's life.

High: the Wii, easily. I've been out of college, have my career established/stabilized to the point where I get lots and lots of vacation time at work and can take off for gaming all the time. I only work three days a week at the hospital, so I essentially have a four-day weekend every week. Taking an entire week (read: three days) off from work for a new game or for a hardware launch or for a multi-day marathon session of an old favorite is easy these days. Life's good, in that respect.
 
HylianTom said:
Low: easily has to be my college years, toward the end of the SNES' life and most of the N64's life.

High: the Wii, easily. I've been out of college, have my career established/stabilized to the point where I get lots and lots of vacation time at work and can take off for gaming all the time. I only work three days a week at the hospital, so I essentially have a four-day weekend every week. Taking an entire week (read: three days) off from work for a new game or for a hardware launch or for a multi-day marathon session of an old favorite is easy these days. Life's good, in that respect.
Click to expand...

You're a doctor? I thought you guys worked constantly.
 
Highs: PS2 Era. So many good games. Getting into PC gaming this gen.
Lows: 16 bit era. I was a kid and games were expensive as fuck. Only ended up owning 4 titles (two of which were free) and occasionally renting games with any money I could scrounge up.
 
My lows: From about 2002 to the start of 2005, I didn't do any gaming at all. Totally dropped off, and for some reason, thought I'd lost interest in my hobby. It was a transitional period for me, as I'd left School for College, and really didn't know what to do with my life.

Highs: Still having no clue as to what I wanted to do with my life - College ended up boring me and turning me away from the field I thought I wanted to pursue - in early 2005, I discovered Amazon, and started delving back into games. Metroid Prime, Super Smash Melee, bought a DS Lite, went mad on games for that, then Metroid Prime 2, Zelda: TP, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Was waiting for Mario Galaxy to hit on the Wii, and then I got the console and Galaxy together - great times. And at the same time, I found myself delving into music and trying new genres.

I've never been more into the hobby than I have been the last 7 years.
 
High: NES era/SNES debut (1988-1992)

Low : 1996-1997 (end of the SNES/underwhelming N64 - fortunately, the PlayStation and, most importantly for me, SOTN came along to save the day)
 
High: buying import Super Famicon games from Game Cave and downloading and inkjet printing entire translated scripts to play JRPGs - it was such a process and it made some games so enjoyable. I felt like I had something no one else did. Also, this generation and connected and shared gameplay experiences has been downright amazing.

Low: 2002-2005 - college and slightly post college period where I had no money to game and my interest waned.
 
Lows - Turning down a date with the lead cheerleader of the football team to watch the Konami 2010 highlights.

Highs - Playing video games with the chums
 
Highs: basically the whole period of 1990-2000... from the US release of Mario 3 all the way up to Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia.

Lows: This gen, dudebro gaming.
 
Highs

The SNES - Being born in 86 I grew up with NES but the SNES was a masterpiece of a console that I have many a fond childhood memory of.
Ocarina of Time &#8211; The first game I pre-ordered, the first game I picked up on day one. I played the Kokiri Forest segment of the game to &#8220;make sure it worked&#8221; before putting it up for Christmas. That was the longest two weeks of my life
Shenmue and the Dreamcast &#8211; My family was never overly wealthy, so I could not afford a dreamcast when it first launched, but I managed to convince my wealthier friend to purchase one around launch. He initially liked it, but then a few months later decided he didn&#8217;t want it and sold it on to me for cheap. 6 months later I bought Shenmue and It was amazing. I will always have a soft spot for the DC and Shenmue and it&#8217;s sequel are a huge part of the reason for that.

Lows

The PS2/GC/Xbox era &#8211; Not being from a well off family I missed out on a huge chunk of games that were released during this era, my gaming habits and overall interest dwindled as well. This was my "college/uni" period where what money I did have was being taken up by study, travel, food etc
Twilight Princess/Wii Launch &#8211; Don&#8217;t get me wrong, I love TP and the Wii, but I bought this at launch and spent hours upon hours playing and made my way to the temple in the sky&#8230;&#8230;then I accidentally deleted my save file. It hurt so much, and I did not want to play through the whole game again to get to that poing. I ended up seeling my wii like a week later due to this, it was a sad time.
 
High- Late NES into the SNES era, Probably my favorite gaming memory was playing SMB3 for about 2 days sold with my buddy the week it came out. That and the jrpg output in the later years of the PS1.

Low- Realizing over the last few years that this is my least favorite generation ever and starting to wonder if I'll even be playing new games a year or two from now. This gen has been rough on me.
 
Highs: N64/Gamecube years.
Lows: Wii/DS years. Mainly because I got both really late, and transitioning into college took away from my gaming.

Right now though, I'm getting back into a high. Things are looking good gaming wise in the next few months.
 
Highs: Back in the simple days when I bought a game on instinct or a good review because I my only media contact was magazines and word of mouth.

Lows: Nowadays it's all pixel counting, fanboys, DLC, forums etc.
 
High - When I first got into importing and played Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, months/years before they came to Europe and in glorious 480p

Low - Mass Effect 3 ending
 
Lows:
Expense. Having to pay customs duties, VAT, and shipping on every retail game. Example, Kid Icarus Uprising cost me approximately $80US.

Losing enthusiasm for great games because either life gets in the way, or another game does.

Fanboys who can't appreciate a game because it's on a console they dislike for whatever stupid reason.

Highs:
Downloadable games.

"Nintendo gaming" being a fantastic complement to PC gaming.

All the amazing games I've played and will never forget.
 
Highs: Getting back into PC gaming recently. I was really getting burnt out with the current consoles and I'm glad PC gaming has really pulled me back in. Also anything from N64-era. Seriously so many fun memories with friends playing Smash Bros, Goldeneye, Mario Party, etc.

Lows: Pre-360 I lost interest in gaming for awhile and let my PS2 collect a ton of dust. Sometime in late 2007 my 360 red ringed and I didn't get it fixed for like a year, and I didn't really get back into it until a few months after that
 
Highs - Playing Goldeneye with friends on N64. If you were there for that, few things beat that out.

- Importing Saturn games from Japan at around the same time. If I wasn't hanging out with friends, Radiant Silvergun kept me good company :)

- Diablo II with buddies back in high school/college. So many nights up until 7AM just questing/looting. So yeah. Right around 2000 was when gaming was perfect for me.

- When I found out you could run an S-Video connection to a GameCube for Resident Evil 4. Best $10 spent on a "peripheral".


Lows - tYose years when games were only released in certain months because it was thought that gamers didn't play games through the whole year. Thank god for MS's Summer of Arcade. That being said...

- I played Bomberman online one summer probably 4-5 years back for about two months straight. SO much wasted time!

- Trying to get into Western RPGs. They just don't do it for me. I've tried more times than I'd care to count.
 
Highs? Probably most of the 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit days, particularly the latter days of the 32-bit era. I had gotten caught up in "2D's better, old Square is waaay better than new Square!", but despite that there was still a lot of stuff I enjoyed, and there was a thrill to following more obscure games at the time whether or not I actually ever played them.

Lows: The beginning of the 32-bit era. Actually, the start of most generations is kind of weak, but I seem to recall a good chunk of 1996 being an absolute low for quality. Or maybe it's just that EGM's visual design then was sort of terrible and the fact I choose the Saturn over the PS1 at Christmas (for the time being) and Blockbuster shafted Saturn users on rental selection. I also think only one interesting SNES game came out in that period, Super Mario RPG, though it helped we had Chrono Trigger the year before. And this (along with other generation starts) is usually on reflection, at the time I rarely minded too much.

Well, the way handhelds are seemingly going could make this THE low for me. There's a lot of trends I don't like, but handhelds have been where I've managed to still get a lot of games I liked while stuff I really cared about declined on consoles, but if iOS/Android actually do kill off handhelds outside of Japan, to the point where those games fail to come here anyway, then that'd be my main support pretty much collapsing.
 
Highs are any time I get totally hooked on a game, or find myself totally immersed in a game's atmosphere.

Lows include selling off now-way-more-valuable things to pay off phone bills or fund trips. Also, any time I need to turn to a guide or FAQ and the solution was totally obvious.
 
Highs: The 16-Bit, 32-Bit eras ...1991-2001 fell in love with gaming an amazing time


Lows: Enjoyed the last days of arcades in the US in 2000/2001, played the crap out of my friends Dreamcast, Got a PS2 at launch had a blast for 2 years
Won a Halo tournament in 02' had fun playing early xbox1 games....Fall 2002 I entered the 10th grade and just...lost ALL interest in video games for 5 years 2002-2007

2011-2012...losing interest again....most games just seem terrible to me now and the games I do like most people seem to hate...NG3....I used to be "the hardcore"
now I can't relate with what modern gamers seem to want...online gaming is silly to me and in my mid 20s I feel like an old man who couldn't change with the times
 
Highs:
So many games to mention so I"ll just mention the consoles those games were playable on. Sega Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast. Nintendo 64. Currently enjoying most of my sega childhood on Steam!

Lows:
This generation and everything it stands for. Pay to play online, ridiculous DLC prices, and stupid business practices all around.
 
My high and low point came in a single day. Wii launch day. Picked up my system at 7am, having been excited about getting it for months. Played it until lunchtime, had a great time with Wii Sports and started Zelda, then went to visit my Mum in hospital. (she was sick, but I thought she was going to be OK..) Doctor took me aside and told me she was in the final stages of Cancer and there was nothing they could do.

She died the following week. Gaming took a back seat for a long while.
 
entrement said:
When I mean highs and lows, I'm taking about your engagement in the hobby.
Click to expand...

High: from about 1998 through 2000. I worked at a game store, read all the magazines, played a ton of games, went to E3.

Low: Right after through about 2005. I was in college and just didn't play a lot of games. I had a PS2 and Xbox but only really played them on breaks.

Now I don't have a ton of time for games, so it's getting low again.
 
High: late last gen to maybe a year or two ago.

Low: before 2004/5 and now.

fwiw, I prefer low, unless I'm misinterpreting the question. I prefer where I'm at now, and where I was. The more games I play, the less engaged I am, if that makes sense.
 
Highs: Early to mid 2000s was the absolute best. I had a modded PS2 and a gaming PC. Seemingly every week there was something new and awesome that had to be played. Amazing time.

Lows: 2006 to 2008. I largely checked out for these years. Every now and then I'd play something, but there wasn't really anything to keep my interest. My personal life was a mess on top of that, which didn't help.
 
Really great to see that some posters highs are getting back into PC gaming.
Even though I am only a console gamer now, I would love to get back into PC gaming.
 
Hi: Final Fantasy XI; Getting my Black Belt after 5 years of playing (of which 4 were actively trying). Several other Hi's in that, but none stand out as much.

Low: Final Fantasy XI; So much stress with my then Girlfriend over spending so much time with the game.
 
I am a very nostalgic person so for me the highs are being a kid and getting/playing the original NES, Gameboy, SNES and Genesis. Times were easy back then. School, fun and lots of time to play games without much responsibility.

The Playstaton era was another high followed by the PS2. I was in college when the PS2 came out. The Dreamcast was another system I look back upon of the time spent and the fun I had with it. I was also in college when the X Box came out and i remember my brother and I getting it on launch day. He went to a K Mart and they only got one. Only 2 people there when they opened to get it. My brother won the coin toss to buy it and our friend wasn't upset as he really didn't want it that much.

I also remember the launch of the Gameboy Advance. My brother and I went to Wal Mart and bought it at launch as well as 2 Zelda games. Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Talk about fun times spent trading play time on those games. Golden Sun was another series that we loved.

My game buying picked up once I graduated college and had my first job. I still lived at home and was buying a huge amount of games for every system.

Now for the lows. It would be in about 2005 when I finally wanted to get a girlfriend. I still played games but once I got one my time shifted to spending time with her and very little games. Once we broke up I got heavy back into games. I got the X Box 360 shortly after and loved playing that to ease my feeling of being lonely. Six months later I met another girl, who I am now married to, and still play games as much as I can so I am back in the highs again....sort of. I can't binge spend on games like I once did and play time is down but it's the trade off for marriage and responsibility.

The final chapter coming is in August when our first child is due. Bye bye games..........
 
daviyoung said:
I got back into PC gaming last year after an 8 year hiatus of Wii, PS3 and 360. I'm living the high life now. So many games, so many frames per second, so many graphical options. Life is good.
Click to expand...

My high is probably right now, what daviyoung wrote is pretty much my situation. After not even owning a PC for the last few years getting into PC gaming has been quite awesome. The ammount of (GREAT) free to play games, all the smaller (but awesome) games you can find everywhere, steam, modding. This is definitely the most fun i've had with gaming since i can remember. Also, Diablo

My low, i wouldn't say i have one. I've been gradually increasing my gaming "love" since the beggining and it hasn't dropped yet. My first console was a PS1, i played some SNES stuff at friends houses but wasn't much into gaming then.
 
High: 2001-2006. Middle and High School years pretty much. Like a good nerd I played games every chance I got and had a subscription to gaming magazines long after it was actually useful.

Low: Probably last year. Its slowly going down since 07, but it really hit rock bottom last year. This console gen really stunk, I'm finally gonna admit. I've been drifting towards the PC and DS, so things are a lot better now.
 
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