As a youth I had tons of free time. I also loved to read. In high school I'd come home and often read a whole book in the afternoon and evening. My father had been collecting Science Fiction for twenty years. There were boxes and boxes up in the attic. Heaven!
I also loved to play strategy games. Avalon Hill had a whole set of World War II games that I'd play for hours. France 1940 was one of my favorites. It reproduced the exciting three week of the German invasion of France.
As an adult, before marriage, I still had lots of free time. As personal computers entered the home I spent many happy hours playing. In the early part of our marriage I was reluctant to give up my habit. I've reined it way back, but I still play Civilization IV and Master of Orion II now and then.
So you may understand that I'm drooling about a newly released game: Spore. Here is part of one review:
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The hype leading up to Spore was excessive. But then, so is the scope of the game; following the growth of a species from the cellular level to galactic domination was an ambitious goal, to say the least. Bringing evolution into the realm of entertainment was something Will Wright hoped and gambled he could do after the success of the Sim franchise. But rather than evolution, Spore became more about creation — creation that allows a single-player game to include the community, as well. It ties the various parts of the game together to make Spore very entertaining as a whole.
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The review goes on. There are many cool features in Spore. It looks like a lot of fun. But, I won't be getting it, at least not now.
One of the problems with growing up is putting away childish things. I miss the dozens of hours each week, but being married and raising a family are way, way more important.
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Technorati tags: games, childhood, adulthood
1 comment:
I know exactly what you mean, I also used to spend a lot of time reading, playing computer games etc. However when I entered college we had so much obligatory reading to do that it no longer seemed fun to read, which was a big loss for me. Nowadays I run my own translation agency and have even less time for games, although I have to admit I bought a Xbox recently, because I am fascinated by the Kinect control system that lets you use your own body as the controller. I tried Sporetoo, and liked especially the early stages of the game where the evolution takes place. However I did not have time (again) to explore the game well enough to give a final verdict.
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