Some time ago I wrote a post about my gaming history. Video games have been a big part of my life and have brought me hours of enjoyment over many years. This week a few uncanny occurrences caused me to rethink what gaming means to me today. So what happened,  you ask. Well…

Firstly, I came out of a post natal depression funk (the reasons I haven’t posed here for some months) and realised the thing I wanted to do most was play games. I’d been advised to ‘remember what I liked doing’ and ‘do it’ again. Depression has a way of sapping all your desire to do anything aside for feel tired and shitty, but somehow I scrapped together enough gusto to go out and buy a game I’d heard a lot about – Journey.

Secondly, I got a response back from a reputable game development company in Mexico (my most favourite place), after I’d offered my creative writing services. They were keen to have me collaborate on a game they were currently developing in Spanish with an aim to translate and localise for English speaking countries. Holy Guacamole!

Finally, a film producer friend contacted me and revealed he was making a documentary about women in games (players, developers, designers etc). After some discussion he suggested that I be the ‘backbone’ of the story – using my gaming history, career choice and recent dabbling in games writing as the core content. Exciting!

So, here I am again, reflecting on the role of gaming in my life. I thought I’d try and list the games I remember playing, despite knowing many have been lost to the foggy mire of my terrible memory. Anyway, here goes (in no particular order and not listing versions):

PC	Arcade	Console
Firepower	TMNT	Mario Brothers
Packman	Golden Axe	Snack Rattle n Roll
Tetris	Mortal Kombat	Yoshi’s Island
F-18 Interceptor	Tekken	Donkey Kong
Indiana Jones	Ghouls n Ghosts	Loaded / Reloaded
Bubble Bobble	Time Crisis	Need for Speed
Super Frog	Buck Hunter	Oddworld
Kings Quest	Duck Hunt	Crash Bandicoot
Quest for Glory	Galaga	Silent Hill
Space Quest	1943	Assassin’s Creed
Heroes’ Quest	X-men	GT
Giana Sisters	Point Blank	Halo
Road Rash	Tekken	Star Wars
Kick Off	Street Fighter	Splinter Cell
Marble Madness	Space Invaders	Call of Cthulhu
Heimdall		Destroy All Humans
Moonstone		GTA
Lemmings		Call of Duty
Legend of Kyrandia		Red Dead Redemption
Elder Scrolls		The Matrix
Curse of Enchantica		God Of War
Prince of Persia		Heavy Rain
Double Dragon		Borderlands
Altered Beast		Starsky and Hutch
Myst		Portal
Square Heroes		Journey
		Diablo
		Time Splitters

I know there are plenty more I have just forgotten about but still it was fun recalling those who have stuck with me. I highlighted some my favourites in each category. As you can see, my preferred platform is console but I’m planning on hitting the PC again since there is just so much awesomeness on Steam (I’m thinking Limbo next).

I hope this post has stirred up your gaming memories 🙂 Let me know if you think I’ve missed any epics.