It's all my dad's fault

One of my earliest memories is of my dad taking me to the arcade at Roswell Mall when I was a very young kid. I was probably about five years old, and the arcade was next door to Momma's Pizza, a family-owned pizza joint that was actually kind of similar to Sbarro, in that the pizza sat around and was heated in an oven by the slice when ordered. It was "guy's night out" and we had pizza, but I don't recall if my first pizza was from Momma's or not, however it certainly would've been one of my earliest encounters with the dish. After we finished, my dad took me into the arcade. The entrance which opened onto the interior of the mall was like one large, yawning opening. It was surrounded by a thin border of hand-painted space ships and planets on a dark blue background. I remember it vividly. It was dimly lit inside, and it had the effect on my young mind of being the entrance to a cave. I remember being somewhat apprehensive about going in. It was kind of dark, most of the people inside were older and it was noisy with the sound of explosions echoing from the cabinets of Missile Command and Asteroids. Back in those early arcade days, games were for teenagers and young adults primarily, and that's who populated the place. As my generation grew up and began playing games at home on their Nintendo and Sega consoles, I think that's when people began to think of video games as kids' toys. Not so in circa 1982. My dad held me up by the sides so I could reach the controls for Space Invaders. He put in a quarter. It was my first experience with a video game and honestly I found it interesting but not totally enthralling.  I think I tried my tiny hand at a few other titles then we left for the evening.

photo credit: Old Video Games at the Manitou Arcade via photopin (license)

I'm not sure exactly when because memories that old are foggy by nature, but not too long after that my dad got us an Atari 2600.  It was wood-grained like an eighties station wagon and had several metal toggle switches protruding from the front.  To set optional play parameters, there were smaller switches on the back.  It came with two one-button joysticks and a pair of "paddles", which were one-button controllers with a large knob in the place of the joystick.  The paddles were typically used to control some sort of ball-batting device that moved horizontally, hence their name.  I was hooked.  I began picking up copies of Joystick magazine from the grocery store, which I would read and re-read incessantly.  In those early days, there were not only the usual reviews and strategy tips, but also detailed and frank commentary on the business side of games.  That was a part of the editorial mix that disappeared in the Nintendo Power and EGM days, and has only recently resurfaced.

Fast forward a few years later to circa 1985.  For Christmas, my folks got me my first computer.  My dad had to drive to some obscure computer dealer in Atlanta to acquire it, because most computers not branded "Commodore" were sold business-to-business or for education in those days.  It was an Apple IIc with 128k RAM and a 5 1/4-inch floppy drive.  Crucially, no software.  To my parents' credit, not knowing much about computers, they had researched the purchase well and knew Apple was the brand of choice for education at the time, and they had purchased it with my schooling primarily in mind.  What they didn't know is that the computer required software to really do anything aside from turn on and beep.  However, included in the box was something unheard of today:  disks containing detailed graphical tutorials on how a computer worked and how to start writing BASIC programs... and a bit of LOGO also.  It didn't take long before I was playing The Bard's Tale and Might & Magic on that Apple II, as well as writing a few very simple games of my own.

So that's my story.  Basically, this blog is my dad's fault.  I hope you'll stay along for the ride.  I'm going to be bringing my long experience in the gaming world to bear on things that are often either not addressed, or in my (perhaps not-so-humble) opinion, addressed incorrectly or incompletely in other blogs and gaming news sources.  You won't see me re-post the same information you've seen across every other site, and I'm not going to feel the need to compulsively cover the same things everybody else does.  So if you want something a little different, stick around, and thanks for reading.  Oh, and yes, I still love pizza.