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What was the first game you ever played?

This is probably the most frequently asked question I get on Twitter. Yet when I answer, I’m often met with blank faces, as I am actually old enough to have experienced a system that many haven’t…The ZX Spectrum.

This beast had 16 kB of RAM, an image resolution of 256×192, and sound was output through a beeper on the machine itself which was capable of producing one channel with 10 octaves. I don’t know how you have survived this long without one either!

On rainy days when me and my brother did nothing but argue, my Mum would load up Derby Day and once we had waited the 45 minutes for it to load, we would be occupied for hours betting on horse races.  Yes…you read that right…this is a betting game. I don’t know why I’m not addicted to gambling now, or why we even found it so fun to while away hours randomly splashing cash and hurting our eyeballs watching little horses blip along the screen but we did.

My aunt got this running on a emulator on Boxing Day last year and I still love this game and I’ve no idea why, maybe because it’s something different to anything else I do, or perhaps it’s the wit of the race organiser and the competitive element. It doesn’t stand the test of time like a Mario or Sonic game may, but I still play Derby Day to this day. I couldn’t find any footage on YouTube to share, so I may have to figure out a way of uploading some myself, in the meantime…

What was the first computer game you ever played? Share your experiences in the comments section for us all to enjoy

Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think 2012 was a particularly good year for gaming, but that’s probably because 2011 was so great for my favourite genres, and I simply had the luxury of more time to immerse myself in the world of gaming. So let’s take a look at what this year has in store for us all shall we? I’ve refrained from posting release dates, purely because they change so often, most of these games are due out from March-Sept, but I make no promises!

Sim City (Sim)

I think this is going to be equal amounts of challenging and awesome at the same time, it’s been a few years in development though, so I’m expecting good things.

Tomb Raider (Action)

This game appeals to me more than the others did in the franchise, as it just seems a darker and edgier adventure/survival experience.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 (Action)

Which reminds me, I really need to finish the first one. (If you haven’t either, it’s on the Playstation store, go play it)

Lilly Looking Through (Adventure)

A point and click adventure where the lead character is a girl? In a beautiful setting? SOLD.

Metro Last Light (FPS)

Apparently this is still due for release despite THQ’s money worries, from the trailers, it looks to be more than your usual FPS experience.

Elder Scrolls Online (MMO)

I still can’t beleive this is actually “a thing” and sure, I’d rather they were working more on Fallout online, but as long as I can cast spells, I’m a happy Khajit.

Nuclear Union (RPG)

I shall be honest and admit this is only on my watchlist due to the fact it looks very much like Fallout 3.

Grid 2 (Racer)

Because Codemasters make the best racers.

Marvel Heroes (MMO)

I love DC Universe Online, so have high hopes for the Marvel equivalent, I find MMOs only really sustain my interest if my friends get involved too though.

What games are you most excited to play this year?

2012 was definitely the year in which I embraced my PC Gamer side, so much so, that the only magazine that I currently subscribe to, is PC Gamer magazine itself! Here’s a rundown of my journey so far.

The Card.

What made me embrace this new world you ask? The birthday present from my boyfriend…A shiny new Gigabyte GTX 560 OC Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card, to give it it’s full name. It was just over £110 in June but I’m pretty sure that price has gone down as they usually do as we speed into the future of gaming.  It runs everything I need it to at max settings (Skyrim, Boderlands 2 etc) and has PhysX capabilties, which I may talk in more depth about in another post, should you lot demand a more technical overview of the card, let me know.

The Controller.

To accompany this, he also suprised me with an official Xbox 360 controller for Windows (I know he’s a pretty good egg isn’t he!) which I strongly advise anyone looking to move from console into PC gaming to invest in. Playing at extrememly high resolutions using a familiar medium of a gamepad feels like you own the next gen console already. (As most of you know I am a console gamer first and foremost,  so you won’t get elitist snobbery here, there’s nothing wrong with gamepads for PC Gaming if you ask me.)

The Games.

Dirt Showdown.

This was a recent addition to my Steam library, so I can’t say too much yet, except it looks gorgeous, the soundtrack is excellent, as I would expect with a Dirt game, and this one seems to have a little more variety with regards to gameplay modes than Dirt 3, it’s also progressively more challenging and doesn’t have the awful difficulty spikes that Dirt 3 did. A great racer, but if you already own a Dirt game, I’d advise you to search this out cheap, as great as it is, it is more of the same, it’s just that I love that same enough to invest my cash in more of it!

Guildwars 2.

This is one of the best games I’ve played this year, I shall be reviewing this in full for you all, but in short, buy it.

World of Warcraft.

Late to the party here I know, and it may be that I’ve played so many other MMOs, but there’s nothing new here, and nothing that makes me want to play this over other games…don’t get me wrong it’s an enjoyable experience and I especially enjoy the Mists of Pandaria expansion, but it isn’t amazing, and that’s why I feel the subscription price is a little steep.

Diablo III

Diablo III can be reviewed in one word: Addictive. I was pleasantly surprised in this title, the story is great, the characters and skillsets are very different, but my one gripe is the click to hit gameplay mechanic…so…much…clicking. Fun and addictive none the less, and a game I will return back to for years to come. You can read more about Guildwars 2 and Diablo III in my previews HERE .

Alice: Madness Returns.

Read my preview of Alice HERE .

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes.

Anything “point and click adventurey” is a winner in my book, so are most things set in London. This is very different from most of the games on the market today, and this is a good thing, if you want something pacey, that gets you thinking, then look no further than Sherlock.

Age of Empires III.

My cats favourite game, so no more needs to be said here. Seriously addictive, and one of the few games that still has a LAN gaming mode!

Sim City 4 Deluxe.

This game is 10 years old, and I must confess is my first forray into the series, it’s addictive, mega challenging and the soundtrack beats games that came out this year. There’s a lot I still have to learn here, including how not to go bankrupt, but I love what I have played so far, and that speaks volumes, as Sim games aren’t usually my thing. (A girl who doesn’t enjoy The Sims games…weird right?!)

Dishonored.

I’ll review this in a future post, but will quote my own tweet here “Dishonored is excellent, if you haven’t already, I strongly suggest you treat yourself! Good story, challenging game, beautiful art style.” This is my current gaming obsession, and will be for quite some time.

So that’s the story of my PC Gaming adventures in 2012. 2013 will see me master Guildwars 2 and Dishonored hopefully, what games will you be playing next year? Those of you with Steam can find me under the name “kezla83″