Poll: So how did you get into gaming?

[MikailCaboose]

I technically started with the SNES, but my family had an old Atari 2600 around that we played before Nintendo came to the scene.

 

[octafish]

I started out in the arcades, because there were no home consoles, except the Atari 2600 and its copy-cats. My neighbours had one and I used to play spyhunter for hours on end. It was better with the wheel in the arcade though.
I've never owned a console, but the Commodore 64 was pretty close to one, only it had a word processor as well, and you could make your own (crappy and simple) games. My brother got a Mega Drive when they were brand spanking new. I played Alex Kidd on it (of course) and Road Rash and the Buck Rodgers RPG, but for me I always came back to the computer.

Edit: I guess we are called Generation X (What's the name of my DJ?) I was born in 1975 and for my childhood gaming was Monopoly and Mousetrap.

 

[Harker067]

Well actually I grew up on dos with games like raptor, duke nukem 2 and math rescue.

 

[markisb]

my dads cousin gave me call of duty 1 when i was 5ish and i never looked back.

 

[Stuntkid]

I got into gaming when I was two years old. My cousin was pestered into taking me to an arcade and I played the original Donkey kong. Of course I suck at it (I was freakin two) but it was a life-changing experience for me. I was born a gamer and I will forever appreciate games until the day I die. Despite my generation I grew up with a NES. It was a gift from my Aunt when I used to live in New York. While everyone my age was playing playstation, I started with NES and went up from there.

Soo... yeah, the first answer.

 

[Nouw]

Since I was little, I gamed on the Computer playing a bit of Starcraft 1 and Maple Story. I loved it and it evolved to my gaming life.

Note that it's in my blood, guess which country I come from?

 

[2fish]

Duck hunt and house of the dead at the arcade. My first system was the N64 until then I played at friends houses or on the computer with Yukon trail and sim city.

 

[TheTaco007]

My first actual video game (That wasn't Galaga) was Halo 2. And then the 360 came out a year later, and I felt like an idiot.

 

[smithy_2045]

Dad's fault.

 

[FretfulGnome]

My parents bought my sister an NES when we were little. She never played it, but I did. I didn't really play it all that much, I think we had a total of 5 games. Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mega Man 6 were enough for me. Then my friend got a Sega Genesis, then I got a PS1 and it just kind of snowballed.

 

[AvsJoe]

I first gamed on my short-lived NES at 3 years old but I didn't become a gamer until I got my first N64. So only a few years really.

 

[crowley333]

Started with Duck Hunt. Now I'm that annoying camper that sniped you twenty times in MW2. I've come so far since those early days...

 

[Dark Knifer]

Started on a cheap 95 with some edutainment games and got my first nintendo 64 for christmas one year. Been a gamer ever since.

 

[phohouse]

I have my brother to thank for introducing me to games and showing me what is a good game. I got started with Sonic Adventure, Shenmue, Goldeneye, and Skies of Arcadia.

 

[thom_cat_]

I said a few years, but there is no option for something more than that, but not your whole life.

 

[M4A1Sopmod]

Several years ago a friend of mine gave me Age Of Empires. I have been a PC gamer ever since then and never regretted it... Well, maybe a little... Ok, alot...

 

[Cazza]

SNES onwards. To young for the NES

Super Mario All Stars

never looked back. Clearly was my hobby.

 

[FalloutJack]

Actually, I can't vote on your poll. You don't have an option that goes as far back as ATARI.

 

[feeback06]

Video games were something that always seem to have been in my life. I remember having an NES at my place, but it went to my Granny's house after I got my SNES. I still have that NES too, although it doesn't work anymore unfortunately.

 

[CheckD3]

13 years ago I had an NES, and I loved it, I wasn't very good, but I played it a lot. When I lost it, I still had my Gameboy and I kinda skated through until the GC, where me and my sis got it for xmas. We both loved it, but as time went by, I ended up using it more than her and now though it's dead, it's mine, I hold it's grave with me on my entertainment wall tower thingy

I didn't get into the culture until about senior year of high school, maybe even freshman year, and I got my first personal new gen system 3 days after christmas. I was mainly a nintendo fanboy, until my friend got me hooked on his xbox games that I'd play when we traded systems, and then learned of Sony and the PS2 around the time the new gens had turned 1 year old. Now I own a PS3, a 360, and I borrow my gf and her bro's Wii, and I'm just starting to get into comp. gaming w/ Steam

I've always been a gamer, I haven't immersed myself in the community until a few years ago, but I'm only 20 now, most 13 year olds are too busy ruining the image of the term "gamer" and those who play video games to care about new titles that don't have a large number on the end and a fancy shmancy franchise name on it in front, screaming over their headphones about how cool they are that they can kill you since they spend every second of their free time playing the same game and never experienceing the true world of gaming. But yeah, wasn't until I hit my late teens that I considered myself in the culture, been a hardcore gamer for years though, got my GC back in Xmas of '00, so about 10 years of hardcore gaming for me