When i was alot younger i owned a Sega Master System and this would be the start of me gaming, i remember the built in games which i thought was amazing lol, Alex Kid and Sonic the Hedgehog, i used to spend hours on these simple games trying to better my scores and complete them, for such simple games they were quite hard to complete because back then you would only get 3 lives and when you used them all up you would get thrown back to the begining, unlike todays games when you die you re-spawn from the last checkpoint.

It was pretty much the same thing for the SNES and Sega Mega Drive games... except they were a little more advanced visually, i remember being hooked on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 just because they game play was so fast back then and the levels were so unique, my fave level was the Casino levels i used to love bouncing around like a pinball, also Streets of Rage was really entertaining going throught the slums of some run down city beating the crap out of thugs with glass bottles and iron bars, deffinatly a good release. the "special moves" were good too, you`d press A and a police car would come along and shoot missiles at the enemys or even the bosses... lol so simple but so good!

And then a few years later the Playstation was released and luckily for one of my mates John was the second person in the UK to get one, i remember him knocking at my door saying to me "you have got to see this", so sure enough i went round and he put on Ridge Racer and i was like "OMG", welcome to the world of 3d gaming! it was amazing to see, going from simple 2d side scrolling games to something that did look visually stunning! the tracks were all 3d the music was in stereo and it was quite good music too... as we all know there were so many games released for the PS but only a few really stuck with me, C&C tiberium sun which was jus amazing, this was the first time i really played an RTS because i didnt know any one with a PC back then and i was hooked, also the release of Gran Tourismo was a good day for gaming history i think, such detail was used to create the whole game from the game up! every time i played it (which was everyday) i could visualise myself driving a Nissan Skyline or whatever i was driving. Also i cannot forget FF7 this for me and many people was and still is the god of games!!!

Then it was the launch of the PS2 which was HUGE!!! an old friend of mine Jay got one first and i watched him play GT3 Prologue and Tekken Tag and this is when i started to think "WOW where is gaming going to be in years to come?". When i got my PS2 i got GT3 and Grand Theft Auto 3 and i spent Alot of time on both just because i loved car racing and being bad on GTA 3, from PS2 to Xbox and Game Cube i was in heaven, 3 different consoles each with its own unique approche to gaming and for me the Xbox was miles ahead with titles such as PGR and Halo 1 and 2, the visuals were stunning and the storys to these games were as detailed as a film or a book... never before had i felt so involved in a game, this is why i played because it was more than just an escapism it was me playing a film so to speak i was the leed character!

Now here we are in the currant generation wars... Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3... and from what i have seen personaly there are alot of good titles out, Mario Galaxy Mario Kart Wii, Halo 3, Gears of War, PGR4 and front and fore-most Call of Duty Modern Warfare! with all these games i would give them 10 out of 10, but from what i remember from the old days of gaming games are not as hard as what they used to be, yeah the Graphics are insanely good in the currant gen consoles but because of the complexity of new games games developers are consentrating so hard on what looks good that the game play isnt as challenging as what it used to be, now i know in some cases some new games like your Gears of War or your Halo games can be difficult but to me it just does`nt feel the same anymore!

Now i think of what is next and if the next generation consoles are as visually stunning will they lack the original concept of pick up and play? how will these games be presented to us, with the new technological advances in TV`s from SD to HD, will new TV`s be able to project images to us like a 3D film or maybe we will be able to plug ourselves into our systems? Who knows? that could be a long way off... For me at the moment i own a Wii and i am more than happy with it, i have owned an Xbox 360 and i am waiting for the PS3 to go down in price because i think £319 is alot where as i spent £219 on my Wii with games and accesories! The Wii i think is the way to go, the way you interact with the games is unique in comparison to other gen system`s, yes we all know Wii is behind graphicly but gameplay is everything! hense people still playing the old Red Alert 2 and Diablo 2 even Gran Tourismo 4 etc.

We all crave the "wow" factor in gaming and we want to escape the stress`s of reality! That is why we are here gaming and that is why now the gaming industry is bigger than any other media! It is exciting to think what the future holds for us as the consumer!

P.s would`nt it be good if they re-made FF7? lol Happy gaming!