The Console/device that made you a "serious" Gamer

[Roboshi]

Now the title here may be a little misleading or at least may need some caveats. When I say "serious" gamer, I'm more talking about the console that actually made you get to the point where you would actually take an interest in the production of a game rather than simply finding out a new game was out and asking your parents/saving for it. eg. Reading gaming mags on a regular basis, checking the news sites and checking out E3 each year.

We often talk about the Consoles we started with or which console that we've got now, but what console made you the gamer you are today. Obviously this is gonna be more focused on the console side of things as a PC tends to be more fluid in it's years and specs.


For me it was the Gamecube, the console I took with me to University, when I got myself a job that let me buy games on a much more regular basis and that money was therefore a lot more precious to me when making buying choices. It was also the era of gaming I started to notice a resurgence in the second hand gaming scene and taking advantage of that to check out some old classics I'd missed out on.

Even to this day I'll boot up the old Black Cube (as my first purple one was stolen back in the day) and play classics like pikmin and skies of arcadia (a DC port but one with all the dlc the original lost)

 

[Saelune]

Well, SEGA Genesis was when I started to really crack out on games, particularly Sonic 2 and Dune II. But maybe the N64 is more appropriate for what you ask. Was my first console that I personally owned. Also the start of me actually beating games, such as Ocarina of Time, Mystical Ninja, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (No idea how I managed though, that game scared me as a kid, plus the hedgemaze parts...) and Turok 3 (another odd one to actually beat honestly, but I was older by then).

Plus we went to Blockbuster all the time. I have likely played every N64 game ever atleast once.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

PS1, mainly due to being too young to think about this stuff before its release, as I was like 8 when PS1 came out lol. It was mainly final fantasy and tekken back in those days, a dose of casltevania too.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The PS2. So many fond memories of playing Battlefront II and Rogue Trooper with my carpoolmate from school...

 

[FalloutJack]

Had to be the original Playstation. Why? Persona. I love Atlus. They publish alot of games that I solidly take an interest in.

 

[Cap'nPipsqueak]

I've been around longer than video games have, so I'd have to go old skool: the SNES.

That was when shit started getting serious.

 

[MysticSlayer]

My best guess is the Gamecube. I know I played on the SNES, N64, and computer growing up to varying degrees, but I think the Gamecube is where I really started getting into gaming. I did take a brief break, though, so I guess the gaming computer I got in 2008 is what sparked my current love of gaming.

 

[Liljumpman]

Xbox.

I got into the competitive Halo 1 scene as it was dying and was ready for the competitive Halo 2 era that dominated console esports.

I'd played some counterstrike and Quake before that, but I didn't get serious until halo.

 

[Cap'nPipsqueak]

SNES for all intents and purposes restarted the gaming industry.

I mean, of course there was the NES before it, but once they reached the 16-bit era, they finally realised "Hey, we can do some pretty awesome shit here; let's see where we can take it."

 

[infohippie]

For me that would have been my first Amiga back at the beginning of 1989. I followed all the well known names in the industry at the time - Psygnosis, DMA Design, Bitmap Brothers, and some promising young company called Electronic Arts.

SNES for all intents and purposes restarted the gaming industry.

I mean, of course there was the NES before it, but once they reached the 16-bit era, they finally realised "Hey, we can do some pretty awesome shit here; let's see where we can take it."

The CONSOLE industry, maybe. Since I was gaming on computers rather than consoles even back then, I hardly even noticed the great game industry crash. I was already gaming in 16-bit long before the SNES hit the market, and shortly after that began moving to 32-bit.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The PSX.

I owned an NES previously, but between then and the launch of the PSX I wasn't much into gaming. Until I came over to a friends house and he showed me his Playstation with the factory demo disc that had the demo of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee on it. I was hooked from then on.

 

[stroopwafel]

I loved games since I was 5 or so really from early LCD to the garbage pile of Atari 2600 games. Loved the NES era but it wasn't a generation later until A Link to the Past was released in 1992 that I felt tremendous excitement when playing and which instilled a passion for videogames that lasts to this day. Without that magical moment of A Link to the Past etched into my mind I don't think I would love videogames as much today.

So yeah, A Link to the Past on the SNES it is.

 

[Jute88]

Probably N64. Before that I had NES (don't ask me how I skipped the whole SNES period), but I was too young to think WHAT I wanted to play. I just went to a store with my mom, looked through the cartiridges until one of them caught my eye and asked her to buy it.

But when N64 came along, I knew exactly what I wanted. Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Diddy Kong Racing, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Shadows of the Empire, Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64. Ah, sweet memories...

 

[Silvanus]

"Serious gamer" seems a little bit of an oxymoron to me.

 

[sanquin]

Definitely the PC. Specifically, at age...13~14 I believe when I finally got my own internet connection. Before that I was limited to magazines and TV, which I already knew weren't exactly reliable.

 

[Kaymish]

before i built my own PC i was just a disgusting casual and console peasant the mere larval stage of a true gamer but then i decided that since i had to upgrade my PC for school anyway and it was so old it was a total replacement i would put a good GPU in it (my dad would never buy a prebuilt and i caught the habit off him) somehow i got more and more interested in the industry once i had a rig that could play games

 

[Scarim Coral]

My cosair mouse.

Ok let me back up a little bit. Yes I have own some previous console but I don't consider myself to be a "serious" gamer, gamer yes but not serious.

SNES- Technically this was my bro console so I only played games he own and I was young back then to think about the mechanic or the reviews etc. Also I was behind abit since I still owned and played it during the PS1/ N64 era.

Gameboy series- First one was my bro but from colour to Advance I owned but I had a few selection of games.

Gamecube- It both me and my bro own (we pool in our cash). Sure I had good selection of games but I was the only guy whose own one so I got ridicule alot.

Wii- Yeah no, it's a complete joke!

Nintendo DS and 3DS- Same as the Gameboy above.

PC- Several years ago I finally build my own pc cos I won myself a graphic card (well ok second place) so I may aswell build it to make used of it. A custom pc means I can played alot of decent pc games now althought my keyboard and mouse were the generic office sort of devices.
A year ago the right button on my mouse became unresposive due to excessive hold down used in certain games. On shopping a new mouse, I figure I buy a gaming mouse since I assume they were more durable compared to the standard one. That is when I consider myself as a serious gamer when I starting buying devices more canter toward gaming!

EDIT- Ok upon reading the edit op, I guess it would be the Gamecube era in terms of reading game reviews.

 

[Roboshi]

"Serious gamer" seems a little bit of an oxymoron to me.

Hence why I wrote a very simple definition of that term and even put "serious" in quotation marks, but thank you for bringing your thoughts on just the topic title without properly reading it.

 

[Satinavian]

For me it was this beauty http://bashny.net/t/en/266821 of soviet bloc electronics. With that i learned programming (some version of basic and pascal), made my first games and modified existing ones. That was long before i encountered the internet.

 

[09philj]

The Nintendo DS. First console I owned. More specifically, it was when I got Dragon Quest IX that I really had my mind blown.