Hi there everybody. I'm a long-time listener who's finally decided to take the plunge into the forums.

I've been gaming since I was about 5 years old. I still remember the day my Father came home with a massive Atari ST box in his arms like it was yesterday. Now before the Amiga fanboys come riding in on horseback (I can hear your hooves guys) I want to point out that the choice of Atari ST was down to it's MIDI port – perfect for DIY musicians, which my father very much was.

After about an hour of setup and manual reading, my dad powered up the machine and I was greeted by the beautiful 'little green desktop'. I was gobsmacked – I was only 5 years old and hadn't even had the privilege of playing Pong yet! This was like nothing I'd ever seen! Then he popped in the disk (thats right disk with a K) for Blood Money (an absolute classic, from psygnosis if I remember correctly). It was your standard side-scrolling shooter that you might've found in an arcade or the corner of the local chippy – but my mind was well and truly blown. Me and my dad must've spent hours on that, passing the joystick between eachother.

Luckily, this was an era when most areas had access to somebody locally who could provide them with Public Domain games. So quite soon we were able to play things like 'Attack of the Mutant Camels' and 'Llamatron' – that were just amazing psychedelic dreamscapes that you bounced your laser-firing camel around. An environment that my six year old mind just revelled in. And I can say with absolute conviction, If you've never played a Jeff Minter game – you most definitely should!

The next big game for me was GODS by The Bitmap Brothers – which, by the way if the podcasters are reading I would love the theme tune as the 'Soundtrack to my Gaming Life"- That is 'Into The Wonderful' by Nation 12, not the comparably poor Mega Drive theme tune. You played as a massive, beefy Hercules, who has to fight his way through dungeons sprawling with monsters. At the end of each level, there was a massive boss fight where you had to dispatch a huge screen-filling God (sound familiar GoW fans?). My main memory was of course the awesome intro music, but also the Bitmap Brothers always had a really appealing graphical style which continued through the entire 16bit era with Magic Pockets, Chaos Engine and Xenon 1+2. Oh and don't forget Speedball.

The last of the most important games of my gaming past would have to be a toss-up between 'Another World' (aka Outer World and Out Of This World) and Sensible Soccer (the one with ruud gullit on the front). Another World is another game that I spent possibly weeks playing with my dad. I was pretty rubbish, I'd get killed by those slugs. But I didn't care, I could just watch the amazing graphics while my dad actually played the game. Sensible soccer was definitely MY game. I spent plenty of hot summer days indoors playing that bad boy. It was just the most fun you could have with a joystick. You could even make your own teams – the 7 year old me came up with 'Poo United' which were just lots of different names for poo. Don't judge me, I enjoyed myself!!!

I know I'm skipping over big titles like Street Fighter 2 and Super Mario Bros, but to be honest I didn't even get a NES until around 94. Til then the Atari ST was my only love – and they say you always remember your first love. Since her, there may have been the PS1 and FF7 and Tomb Raider, then the N64 along with Goldeneye and ISS 98. And then the past two glorious generations. But do you know what? Id have her back tomorrow if only I knew how to replace a failing Floppy Drive.

Anyway, thanks to Uncle Fister and Mantis Mat for the piss-my-pants funny podcast. It has kept me well and truly amused for the past god knows how long. And long may it continue!!

And also thanks to the community, who all seemed like decent enough geezers for me to stop lurking and just join the f*** in!

I spose ill see ya around the forums,

Juxtaposer

Can't afford paper on a roll, then

Post edited 16:36 – Jun 29th 2011 by Juxtaposer

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Adamski UK said:

So what console are you rolling with now? You'll have to stick your gamertag/PSN name up so we can all see what you've been playing.

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At the start of the current gen, I was a 360 guy. Lapping up all the awesome nectar-ry next-gen goodness. Gears of War was a particular favourite. There was no greater satisfaction than when you lined up the crosshairs, squeeze, and heard the locusts' heads crack open like a juicy melon. Sadly that 360 went the way of the dodo (rrod) not long after it had passed it's warranty.

 

That sense of loss and disappointment soon turned to opportunity, as only a month or so later Uncharted 2 was released. That and LBPs release were enough for me to decide that I would make the switch to the dark side. It was also quite nice to return to the Dual Shock, like meeting an old friend for the first time in half a decade – the first ten minutes or so are always going to be awkward, but soon you're having a rocking time and you don't remember what you did without him around! Uncharted 2 turned out to be as awesome as it looked. LBP not so much (for me anyway, the good lady absolutely couldnt get enough Sack Boy action!) But my favourite experience with a PS3 game was without a doubt Yakuza 3. It may have been quite heavily stripped-back for the western audience but there was still so much to do and enjoy in that world that you could just spend an entire weekend immersed in it (which I very nearly did).

I did dabble in PC gaming here and there, but my Macbook Pro was not made for graphics work – and was full of music production software so I didn't want to install too much 'unneccessary' software. So my main PC game would be the Football Manager series. Absolutely addictive. Just a shame you can't find an entire team of players whose names are different names for poo.  And believe me, I tried! If only for nostalgia's sake.

Anyway, to cut my increasingly long story short. A couple of months back I sold the bulky PS3 to my bro, which went towards a nice new slim model. Not long after I decided to get hold of a new slim 360. Quieter than the original, runs cooler and has internal wi-fi? Hells yes! And finally, only last week I finally got a Mac capable of running the latest games (through Steam on Windows).

So the games I'm currently playing the most are (in order); Witcher 2, Halo Reach, Crysis (the original cos I missed it first time), Forza & Dirt 3 (360), FIFA 11(PS3), Football Manager 11 (PC/Steam), Left 4 Dead 2 (PC/Steam).

Yakuza 4 is currently in my pile of shame. I just couldn't get going like I did with number 3. I got to the third playable character (the police officer) and got a little bored. Anyone got any tips to help me enjoy this game? I really want to!

 

Edit: Oh and my Gamertag and PSN ID are both 'BumpNork'.  I've been asked why I chose that name in the past and I still don't really know…

Post edited 00:13 – Jul 1st 2011 by Juxtaposer

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Not only can you read about it, but you can experience the awesomeness of the intro music to GODS right here and now over at Youtube. And when you think these noises were coming out of the tiny 8-bit Yamaha 4-voice sound generator in my ST. I was left open-mouthed wondering how this genius (who I later discovered to be John Foxx of Nation 12) could make such astonishing music with such basic hardware.

And if you're at all interested, all of the Bitmap Brothers and Sensible Software soundtracks are definitely still worth a listen to this day. Cannon Fodder's 'War (Has Never Been So Much Fun)' pretty much sums up just how seriously games developers used to take themselves and their art. i.e Not at all.

Post edited 08:08 – Jul 1st 2011 by Juxtaposer

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 Woooahh, no I had NOT heard this!! Downloading immediately. I bet this'll be a good listen.

Did you manage to get him to commit to a next-gen cannon fodder or sensible soccer/golf? :P

Man, there were some excellent little British game studios around back then. But maybe that's just nostalgia talking. There was something about those little studios of five or six guys beavering away to make pure gaming gold that was just special. That goes for Jeff Minter as well. What that guy did with the resources he had at his disposal were beyond unbelievable. Just play a single round of Llamatron now. Go on I dare you – that joystick will not leave your sweaty palms until all the 'grunts' and 'beasties' have been dispatched. It's like pringles, once you pop you just can't stop. For those without an Atari ST or Amiga though, Minter has gone and made a clone for iOS – called Minotron (Youtube footage can be found here).