Games
I have been doing some research and have been trying to remember all of the video games that I have signifiant memories of playing or watching other people play. This page contains the list of games.
Before 1996
When I was in Grade 4, my family moved to a different house, which was a significant memory. The computer was in completely different room and location in the new house, and so in some cases I can determine the time when something occurred by remembering the room and house I was in. I was in Grade 4 for the 1995 to 1996 school year, and so any memories I have in the old house would likely have been during 1995 or earlier. I was born in 1986, and so these memories would have occurred when I was 9 years old or younger.
Here are the games I remember playing:
QuickBASIC Games
Our computer ran MS-DOS, which came with QuickBASIC preinstalled, and came with two games written in BASIC called Nibbles and Gorillas. I remember playing these games and trying to understand the source code.
Microsoft Encarta 95
Encarta was an electronic encyclopedia that Microsoft released. We had Encarta 95, which had a built-in maze game. I remember spending a lot of time playing the maze game.
Even though the software was called Encarta 95, I am pretty sure we actually ran it on Windows 3.1, as I do not think we upgraded the computer to Windows 95 until our family changed houses.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
I remember that we had Microsoft Flight Simulator. I recall that I tried the game and did not end up playing it for very long, because it seemed like it took a really long time to fly anywhere and not very much would happen on the way. As a result, I did not play it very much. I did think it was cool that it seemed like a realistic simulation of flying a real airplane, however.
Super Mario Bros
Our family had a Nintendo, which came with Super Mario Bros, which I played. I do not think I finished the game, though I have played the first few levels very often.
Duck Hunt
The Nintendo also came with Duck Hunt, which included the NES Zapper. This was a fun novelty, though I did not end up playing the game very often.
The Legend of Zelda
I remember that we had Zelda for the Nintendo, which came in a gold cartridge. This was a good game. Unfortunately, I remember that we lost the game when it was accidentally returned to the rental store inside the box of another game that we had rented, and we never got it back. I remember feeling sad about this at the time when we realized that it had happened.
Elementary and Junior High
I have a bunch of memories of playing various video games from Grade 4 until I was about to start high school. For some of them, it is possible that I actually played them for the first time before Grade 4, however I am not completely certain, and so I put them in this section just in case, because I am pretty sure I did play them after Grade 4.
Here are the games that I remember playing, roughly in the order that I played them:
SimCity
I remember playing SimCity. I had a relative who had this game as well, and I think I might have seen it at their house first before we had it at our house. I remember that I used to have a city called "Shane's Super SimCity City".
Lemmings
We had Lemmings, as well as the Oh No! More Lemmings expansion.
The Incredible Machine
This was an excellent game and probably one of my favourite games of all time. I enjoyed assembling the machines from the various random parts and I remember creating my own levels. We had the The Incredible Machine as well as The Incredible Machine 2. I played these games a lot.
SkyRoads
SkyRoads was a game that I originally remember playing at the house of a relative. It was a good game, and I am pretty sure I installed it on my computer as well.
The Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack
The Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack was a collection of smaller games released by Microsoft. Of these games, the one that I played the most often was Chip's Challenge, which I played a lot. I also remember playing Pipe Dream, Rodent's Revenge, SkiFree, JezzBall, and TetraVex, which were all good games.
Commander Keen 4
We had a Gravis GamePad for our computer which came with Commander Keen 4. I played this game quite a bit. Version 4 was the only version we had, so most of my memories are from playing that version.
Jetpack
Jetpack was a fun game that I enjoyed. I used to create some of my own levels in this game as well.
Wing Commander
I had one of the Wing Commander games, though I cannot remember which one. I might have to play them again to jog my memory and determine which version it was. This was a fun game.
Grand Theft Auto
I played the original Grand Theft Auto a fair bit.
Team Fortress Classic
Team Fortress Classic was a mod for Half-Life and was an online multiplayer game that you could only play with other people. I do not think I actually played the single-player Half-Life game myself at the time, however I did play Team Fortress Classic a lot. This might be the game that I have played online more than any other game.
Unreal Tournament
I remember that I had Unreal Tournament, which was another online multiplayer game. I played this as well, however not as much as Team Fortress Classic.
SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000 was the sequel to the original SimCity game. I very much enjoyed this game and I played SimCity 2000 much more often than I had played the original SimCity.
Streets of SimCity
Streets of SimCity was a game that we had, though I barely played it. I remember that I thought it would be cool to drive around cities that I had made in SimCity 2000. I tried this and it worked, though I felt cities would look much different in Streets of SimCity than in SimCity 2000, which made it less enjoyable. The city would have the correct road layout, however the buildings seemed like they were completely different.
SimTower
I played SimTower quite a bit. I think I liked the idea of living in a high-rise at the time, which might have been one of the reasons I found it appealing.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Red Alert was an excellent game and another game that is one of my favourites of all time. I remember playing this game for long periods. I have a specific memory of playing the game so much that at one point, I remember waking up in my bed the next day after playing it before I fell asleep and thinking that I could still hear the sound effects from the game. I would pretty much always play the game against the computer rather than playing against real players online. I liked building large bases and winning the game against the computer very slowly. I think I enjoyed building the bases for a similar reason that I enjoyed playing SimCity.
When Red Alert 2 came out, I bought that game as well and I enjoyed it for similar reasons. I do not think I played it as much as the original, however.
StarCraft
StarCraft was a good game, and I enjoyed it for similar reasons that I enjoyed Red Alert. I would generally always play StarCraft in multiplayer mode against a computer player, rather than against a human player, similar to how I played Red Alert. I personally enjoyed Red Alert slightly more than StarCraft, however it was good to have more than one option.
GoldenEye 007
Our family had a Nintendo 64, and one of the games that I often played on the Nintendo 64 was GoldenEye. I remember that I would play the same levels multiple times and would still enjoy them. I remember finding it amusing that I could shoot things like chairs with regular guns and they would explode. I also have a bunch of memories of playing the multiplayer mode with other people. I played the single-player mode of this game all the way through.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Ocarina of Time was another game we had for the Nintendo 64. I played this game all the way through.
Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force
Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force was a game I had for PC. I am a fan of Star Trek and so I enjoyed playing a game set in the Star Trek universe. I played this game all the way through.
Games Relatives Had
In addition to these games, there were some other games that relatives had which I remember watching them play, however I did not play them much myself. These games included:
- Test Drive 3
- Hugo's House of Horrors
- Space Quest
- Rogue
- EarthBound
- Super Mario World
- Super Mario 64
- Half-Life
High School
In high school, I mostly stopped playing video games for a while. School started to require more of my time, and I also started socializing with people in person more often rather than over the Internet. In addition, I started to become much more interested in programming, and in particular working on my operating system.
University (and a few years after)
Once I was in university, I started to become interested in video games again, though I did not play extensively. I had more time for video games as a consequence of the fact that I was alternating between doing 4-month academic terms and 4-month work terms for the engineering program that I was doing. During the work terms, my evenings and weekends were free as I did not have any schoolwork to do.
I first decided to buy a Wii, and then after that I bought an Xbox 360. However, I ended up mostly only playing games on the Xbox 360. My friends used to come over to my apartment after work every Thursday and we used to drink beer and play local multiplayer games on my Xbox 360 in split-screen mode using multiple controllers. I also had some single-player games that I played. My girlfriend at the time would often watch me play, which made the games more enjoyable as it meant that I had someone to discuss the game with while I was playing.
Fable II
I remember playing Fable II on Xbox 360 a lot in the first apartment that I lived in after I moved out of my parent's house. This was a different apartment than the one my friends would come visit on Thursdays and so it was an earlier memory. I remember spending a lot of time chopping wood to make money in the game.
Rock Band
I have a lot of memories of playing the Rock Band series of games while I was in university. I would often play Rock Band, or Guitar Hero, which was a similar game, at the homes of other people, as many people seemed to own it and it was good for playing at parties. I ended up buying Rock Band 2 as well as The Beatles: Rock Band for myself. I am not sure why I was motivated to get the version with songs by the Beatles, as that is not really one of my favourite bands. Maybe there some reason that I thought that the songs would be fun to play, or maybe it was because there were not many options to choose from and the Beatles were one of the better available options. If there had been a Pink Floyd version, I definitely would have gotten that. I remember that I had the drums in my apartment, which was my favourite instrument that you could use with Rock Band, and I enjoyed practicing with them. I often played this game while drinking beer at parties.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
I played Modern Warfare for the Xbox 360, both the single player mode and the multiplayer mode. This is one of the multiplayer games that I would play with my friends when they came over to my apartment on Thursdays. I rarely played the multiplayer mode online.
Call of Duty: World at War
World at War was another Call of Duty game that I played a lot, both the single player mode and the multiplayer mode. I also played this on the Xbox 360. This game included the special zombie co-op multiplayer mode, which I would very often play with my friends when they came over to my apartment on Thursdays. I have a lot of memories of playing the zombie mode with friends while drinking beer. I rarely played the multiplayer mode online with this game, either.
BioShock
BioShock was a really good game, and is another game that might be one of my favourites of all time, along with the sequels. I enjoyed the storyline of the game. I played it on the Xbox 360.
BioShock 2
After playing BioShock, it made sense to try BioShock 2. It was just as good as the original BioShock. I also played it on the Xbox 360.
Half-Life 2
Even though I did not actually play the single player Half-Life game very much when I was younger, I knew that it was a good game. At some point, I bought The Orange Box for Xbox 360, which included Half-Life 2. It was another game that might be one of my favourites of all time.
Portal
Portal was a game that came in The Orange Box alongside Half-Life 2, and turned out to be an excellent game. It had an interesting storyline and a unique gameplay mechanic with the portal gun. I enjoyed this game a lot.
Portal 2
Portal 2 was the sequel to the original Portal, and was a standalone game rather than being included in The Orange Box. Since I enjoyed the first game, I bought Portal 2 as well, also for Xbox 360. This game added a local co-op multiplayer mode. I very much prefer co-op multiplayer games rather than multiplayer games where the human players are competing against each other. This is the best co-op multiplayer game that I know of. I played it with my girlfriend at the time.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I bought Deus Ex: Human Revolution, thinking that it might be a good first person shooter game. I currently own both the PC version and the Xbox 360 version, and I cannot remember which version was the one I bought first. I like the storyline, unfortunately I have tried the game a few times and have not gotten very far before losing interest. I might still try to play it again someday.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
I bought Wolfenstein: The New Order for PC, thinking that it might be another good first person shooter game. I enjoyed this game, though I have not finished it, as I have lost interest each time before finishing the game. I have played through the first few levels multiple times.
After Moving to Toronto
After I moved to Toronto, I had more time for video games, as I did not have any friends in the city besides my girlfriend who had moved to Toronto with me. All of the video games that I played were either co-op games that I played with my girlfriend, or single-player games that I played while she watched.
Super Mario Galaxy
I listed Super Mario Galaxy first, as I am not sure whether we played this game before moving to Toronto or after. It was a good game. For this game, my girlfriend and I played it in the co-op multiplayer mode which allowed for one player to control Mario and a second player to control a second Star Pointer to gather Star Bits. My girlfriend controlled Mario and I controlled the second Star Pointer.
BioShock Infinite
After playing BioShock and BioShock 2, it made sense to try BioShock Infinite. I played this game on PC rather than Xbox 360, however I still used an Xbox 360 controller and played it on my television, so it was very similar experience to playing it on the Xbox 360. It was an excellent game.
The Talos Principle
The Talos Principle is another game I played on PC. I liked the philosophical feel of the game and I really enjoyed it. I actually think this might be one of my favourite games of all time, though I am not sure if it is as well known as my other favourite games of all time, like Half-Life 2 or BioShock, which I am sure many people agree with.
The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable was a good game. I enjoyed it. I liked that the storyline was mysterious and that your character was in a strange office-like environment.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light has a good co-op multiplayer mode. The co-op multiplayer mode was the main reason I wanted to play the game, as I was interested in finding other games with a good co-op multiplayer mode after having played the co-op multiplayer mode in Portal 2.
Alien: Isolation
I tried to play Alien: Isolation, however I was not able to play it for very long. It is nerve wracking. It is supposed to be a scary game, which is something I can enjoy, however I found it a bit too anxiety-inducing to play as I did not enjoy being chased by the alien.
Trapped in My Apartment
After being isolated in my apartment due to the events that I describe on my page about the topic, I found myself laid off from my job and with a lot of time to spend alone in my apartment, with no girlfriend. I therefore decided to try more video games to fill the time.
During this time, I went on Ebay and bought multiple Xbox 360s, as well as lots of Xbox 360 games. I felt that the Xbox 360 was a good console because it was the most recent Xbox console that did not have built-in WiFi, aside from the wireless controllers, which I felt made it so that I would not have to be as concerned about the console being hacked remotely over the wireless connection. Due to this, I actually now have a huge stack of Xbox 360 games that I have not played at all. I have decided not to list them here until I have played them.
Half-Life
After playing the single-player mode of Half-Life 2 all the way through and enjoying it, I decided to go back and play the original Half-Life, which I had not played much when I was younger even though I had played the Team Fortress Classic mod for the game. This was worth doing, as it was a good game.
The Forest
I bought The Forest for PC. This game is kind of creepy and scary. I enjoyed this aspect of the game. The isolation in the game reminded me of my isolation in real life, which I found strangely satisfying. It was an interesting experience. I did not finish the storyline aspect of the game however I did spend a lot of time building protective bases to survive inside.
Darkwood
Darkwood was another game I bought for PC, and was another creepy and scary game. I mostly enjoyed it, though I did not get very far.
Fallout 3
Many years after its release, I finally played Fallout 3. I had some conversations with ChatGPT about the game while I played it. This is a good game, and I am glad that I finally played it. I have not yet finished it, and it is currently the game that I am likely to play if I were to play a video game right now. By chance, it turned out that Amazon made a television show based on the game not long after I started playing it. The television show is really good and I highly recommend it.