NIDZUMI+

Flat Fact is a column for Nidzumi that entails the ramblings and rants of one Matt Maharaj. This week, a look at the past…

This month, 9 years ago we were sitting at home playing our first generation Playstation consoles. Knowing that in a few weeks the Playstation 2 (In north America at least, a month away if you were in EU) was coming and that a new era of gaming was about to be born. Some of us were excited, unable to sleep and games journalists were constantly on a hunt for new information, calling PR and trying to find out, from developers, just what the console would offer.

And now looking back, I truly can’t believe how far we have come. I right now am in bed with one laptop on, typing away to you all. My other computer is at my desk with the Matrix playing (I figured something from the late 90s or early 2000’s would bring back memories for this article), My second screen to that computer has 9 different messengers running and my email client, it never turns off.

I truly can’t believe how far we have come, I’m now surrounded by technology

Finally for me, a game is never far, my Nintendo DS is on beside me with a copy of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles connected to wireless while I dungeon crawl with a friend of mine working at the bar below my apartment window.

I find it hard to believe that 9 years ago we were waiting for the Playstation 2, and yet here I am now surrounded by technology, some I would have never dreamed of like the Nintendo DS or some even more mind blowing like the iPhone or iPod Touch.

I don’t think I would have believed if someone told me 9 years ago that the Sega Dreamcast would be the last console Sega made, that Microsoft would enter the console scene or that PC Gaming would require the amount of power it does now.

I also never saw the era of gaming violence that was to come, growing up on Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Heretic… I still wasn’t prepared for Grand Theft Auto III, or its follow-ups and definitely not prepared for games such as the recently released MadWorld, but hey, each to their own!

So next time you are sitting around playing your Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or some other new console or computer game… just take a moment to think just how far we have come and at the same time remember… we have a long way to go yet!