Well, do you?

In the NES/SNES/Genesis era, yeah. Now, not so much. I don't have the resources to get all the newest systems and games, so I pretty much stick to a few series like sports games or Mortal Kombat.

Absolutely not. I don't know what it is, but during no period of my life was I even close to being a gamer. The most games I've ever had for a system was maybe 10 for the SNES, most of which were sports and wrestling games.

 

I've just never seen anything worthwhile in investing hundreds of hours in playing video games. Every now and again, I'll find a game that really piques my interest (once again, wrestling or sports), but even then, I always get the sense that I could've been doing something a bit more productive.

Back in the NES/Genesis era, there was only so much you could do graphically, so the developers had to focus on making their games fun and/or challenging. Now it's all about how pretty you can make a game look. Not that there's no good games out, but the grand majority have the same problem of looking beautiful but playing like shit.

 

Give me Ninja Gaiden, Rush N' Attack, the Super Mario series, Contra, and Blades of Steel over 99% of what's offered on the new systems.

There are other things to waste my funds on other than video games. I just don't feel like spending $50 on new video games that is nothing more than pretty graphics. And I'm not hardcore enough to go out and buy every single game ever released or go chasing after whatever is "rare" or importing japanese games.

0ld sch00l gamer here...

 

I still consider myself a console gamer, but I don't consider myself a computer gamer anymore... The reason for that latter distinction is that I'm not into Massive Multiplayer Role-Playing Games like Ultima Online or First-Person Shooters like Half-Life 2.

 

 

My main interests are classic game systems (basically Sega Genesis and before) and arcade games.

 

 

 

While I own most of the main systems now, I tend to buy them for 1-2 killer applications at the least then pick up games that are either cheap or look fun.

 

Example- I bought my Nintendo DS because I'm an Advance Wars freak and wanted Advance Wars DS.

 

Since then I've only bought a few games, and they tended to be stuff like Space Invaders Revolution and the Monopoly-Boggle-Yahtzee-Battleship pack. (Monopoly and Yahtzee pwnz j00r ballz)

Give me Ninja Gaiden, Rush N' Attack, the Super Mario series, Contra, and Blades of Steel over 99% of what's offered on the new systems.

You just made my dick hard.

 

And no, I haven't taken games seriously since at least '94. I just grew out of them somehow and focused my energies elsewhere, like, real life.

In my experiences, nowhere in the myriad of geek interests do the stereotypes ring more true than the ones attached to gamers. You can't help what you like, but once past a certain age, those who are more than casual gamers really fit the bill of any assumption made about them in general.

 

I've dabbled in comics, video games, sports cards, toys, and other things that aren't perceived as cool, but the hardcore gamers are the only people that I've actually had trouble understanding. It's like calm the fuck down about the beta version of the unreleased game you just played and start using terms that normal people are familiar with.

If it's raining or cold out and I'm chilling with a bunch of my boys, we play the "Madden Drinking Game", as opposed to beer pong or BBQ. That's basically the only time I ever play video games now, and only one of us even owns a platform, so it isn't even that often.

 

In elementary school I would play SNES, but I wasn't crazy into it. The only game I remember really playing just about the all the way through, and for a while after was Goldeneye, loved that multi-player. I tried games like GTA, but I got bored pretty fast. Nothing on any of the more modern systems has compelled me to actually go out and spend any money or invest any of my time.

Considering I can list 200 RPGs or more that I've played and most I've beaten (that's not all the games I've played either) that I'd consider myself a hardcore gamer.

 

However, I'm very picky about the games nowadays. Sadly, they keep trying to go fancy over substance and its making me hafta choose my games very wisely. So while I'm not playing as many games as I once was, I still play games.

 

...ok, that really doesn't answer the question now does it?

Until about 3 years ago I would've. I've really dropped off in hours played and games I'm interested in. The last game that I ran out and bought on release day was Kingdom Hearts.

 

I'm not sure what the problem has been. Games overall have declined a lot since then. I can't tell you the last time a game had me really excited. Maybe Final Fantasy Origins which is pathetic given that it's a remake. As others have said games seem to be all about graphics now with gameplay being an afterthought.

 

I also think my tastes have changed and I haven't discovered my new genre of game. RPGs have been my staple for over 12 years now and it's all been there done that now. I think if I could find more sports GM games that I could become a serious gamer again.

I tried to "go pro" at Counterstrike, so I guess I can't really say no to the question. Although nowadays, I'm a bigger fan of "time sinks" like World of Warcraft or Diablo 2.

 

Growing up, I had an NES then an SNES. My brother and I didn't get a Genesis and we didn't move on to the "next gen." for quite awhile after the Super Nintendo. Eventually, my brother got a PSX for the RPG's and I got an N64 for Goldeneye, Mario Kart and THQ/AKI wrestling titles.

 

After all of that, I quit playing games for awhile. Then a LAN center opened up locally. I started out with Soldier of Fortune and moved on to Unreal Tournament and Counterstrike. The CS shit, eventually fell through. Everyone else moved on to Ultima: On-Line and I just played Diablo 2 until I got bored with that. Then, I kinda "fell off" and didn't care about games for awhile.

 

In the last few years, I've kind of gotten back into it. I like the GTA series. I still play a lot of fighting games when I can. When I can afford it, I'm a big fan of World of Warcraft.

 

So, yeah, I guess I'd consider myself a gamer.

Yeah I guess so, I play and buy a ton of games. I think gaming has improved a great deal since the 16 bit days and they're only getting better. I'm most interested and serious about Tekken, Soulcalibur and Street Fighter III. I usually go to the arcade to play 3 or more times a week.