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Games machine-wise, I still have the same BBC Micro I got as a birthday pressie this week 23 years ago.
It is still in extremely regular use and immaculate condition; it has been the catalyst for one retro gaming site I assistant-edit – http://www.beebgames.com – as well as a few paid magazine articles; and was exhibited at both of the UK’s Expo fairs in 2004 and 2005 alongside Mrs Column’s Acorn Electron, a BBC Master acquired in the interim and a rather less vintage Sega Game Gear.
I have little truck with paying a three-figure sum for a console which just plays £40+ games rather more enchanted with their own graphical trickery than expansive gameplay and longevity. The Wii doesn’t rate particularly in the VFM stakes as far as I’m concerned.
Mind, I’m just ancient and incongruous, so what do I know?
Sigh, off home to get the old data cassettes out of the drawer again and fire up a few old friends. Who needs more than 32k, anyway!
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
LOL, a few memories coming back to you, KT?
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
They were the good ol’ days GC when I was king of the games machines and my godchildren were all in awe – of course that was when they were around 5 – now they just shake their heads in collective sorrow at my ineptness.
The funniest thing about doing those Expo shows is that we brought about 100 of the best or most interesting BBC titles with us, including several never officially released back in the day and only recently Public Domained; however, the game well over half of the attendees wanted to have a look at wasn’t Elite, and it wasn’t Exile, and it wasn’t even Repton.
It was the little educational game Grannys Garden.
There was something very odd – but strangely gratifying – about seeing a room full of 30-somethinng men and women regressing back to 1984 on the spot, as that wicked cyan-coloured witch suddenly sprang up on screen and scared the 8-bit cr*p out of them all over again.
Most of them still can’t solve the conundrum with the four dragons and the bags of chips even now.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Jeremy, get some pics of your Amega up mate, or whatever it is called.
My Amiga?!?!? Pah, how very very dare you!!!
Here’s some of the swag (BBC Model B on the left, Acorn Electron Plus 3 (I think) on the right);
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Great stuff Jeremy, great pics
Did you ever have the Spectrum. Back when I was a teenager, you were either in the C64 gang or the Spectrum gang – I was in the Spectrum gang.
I still play all the Spectrum games via an emulator on my Laptop – Grand National is my favourite, it has all the original horse names from about the 1984 National – Greasepaint and co
I’m sure you are aware Jeremy, but did you know that you can get almost every game that was ever produced for these machines on your laptop, by downloading a relevant emulator and then just download any game you chose?
Still, I think your the traditional type who prefers to play them on the machines they were designed to be played on
Thanks for the memories Jeremy, I’m sure I will think of some great Speccy games during the day and come back
Mike
Too true Mike and what makes me laugh is just how small the actual ROMs are.
A few years back I had a single CD that managed to contain MAME (arcade) emulator plus pretty much every acrade game ever made pre c. 1990.
Anyhow, for those who haven’t re-lived their gaming youth – http://www.emulator-zone.com
Lee
My Wii arrived yesterday and it is terrific. Brought it home for my (v. much non-comp game playing) parents to try and we have all been up till 10.30pm playing various games – a definite hit!
I am so so glad I bought it and think it will provide hours of entertainment now that the tv is so rubbish!
Worth the money…Lekha,
I’m pleased you are enjoying your Wii. What games have you bought for it as we are considering getting one when they become readily available again.
We’re sporty so anything in that line would be interesting.
I’ve managed to score 20 on a quite a few occasions, although I need my strong events to come up, like ‘returning balls’ or ‘hitting home runs’. Basically any mention of ‘target practice’ and I end up in 3 figures!
Best score at the golf is -6. Must have been a fluke though, as I got that on about my third full 9 and haven’t got better than -3 or -4 since!Cheers Friggo, just what I wanted – some competition that is
.I’m crap at the ‘home runs’ one and prefer any of the bowling ones and the tennis (returning).
I will go to work on the golf tomorrow
. I just need the wind in the right direction to reach those par 5’s in two .Mike
Well I’ve just went and had a go just now, for the first time in a while.- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.