The first time I ever witnessed truly competitive gaming, I was ten years old, standing on my tiptoes to see over a crowd of teenagers at the local arcade. Two guys were hunched over the Street Fighter II cabinet, quarters lined up along the bottom of the screen (the universal sign for “I got next”). The crowd around them was electric, reacting to every special move with shouts and groans. One player—a high schooler everyone…
I can still feel the controller slipping in my sweaty palms. It’s 1996, I’m in my friend Dave’s basement, and…
The first time a game made me feel genuinely guilty was in Fallout 3. I’d stumbled across this settlement called…
I remember the exact moment I fell in love with adventure games. It was Christmas 1990, and after weeks of…
The Nintendo 64 changed my life on September 29, 1996. I know the exact date because I’d circled it on…
I remember the exact moment I first held a Wii Remote. It was November 2006, and after camping outside my…
I can pinpoint the exact moment achievements changed gaming for me. It was 2005, and I’d just unpacked my brand…
My parents didn’t get it. Neither did most of my teachers. “You’re wasting your time with those games,” they’d say,…
It was the summer of ’95, and I was supposed to be doing something productive with my life. My first…
I remember exactly where I was when I first created my Skyrim character. It was November 11, 2011—yep, 11/11/11, because…
