Childhood Games
The early 2000's were a magical and humbling time to grow up in regards to video games.
Our family was never really well-off at any point, and we didn't have a lot of disposable income to spend on amnenities, but at some point during my very early childhood I got an original Playstation. The original Playstation was already nearly 10 years old by the time I got one, but this thing was still such a good time.
Games like Spyro the Dragon, Medal of Honor, and the Legacy of Kain series were titles I spent an unimaginable amount of time playing during this time of my life. This was really the era where storylines in games were starting to grow into something serious. Metal Gear Solid still feels like a playable movie despite being over 20 years old at this point. The Legacy of Kain series got actual professional voice actors to voice it's characters. Even as a kid I knew how lucky I was to grow up with these titles, considering my parents grew up in the era of Donkey Kong and Mario.
Naturally following the original Playstation, the next console I recieved as a kid was the Playstation 2.
Not to sound like an actual boomer, but I think younger folks nowadays understate just how huge of a leap the Playstation 2 was from the original Playstation. Imagine how the Playstation was the turning point from 2D games to 3D, the Playstation 2 was an equally impressive upgrade visually for 3D games.
Games I enjoyed of this era were classics like God of War, Twisted Metal, and the SOCOM series. The Playstation 2 took everything the original Playstation did and did it better.
I don't have my original Playstation and Playstation 2 anymore. At some point later in my childhood they were probably packed in a box somewhere and forgotten about or lost, we moved around the country a lot when I was a kid. I still have various PS2 cables and Playstation game cases tucked away in drawers around my room, and when I'm looking for something I'll come across them and remember how fun the games were.
This era of my early childhood was great because of these games and I hope kids today get to experience the same thing I did.
Gaming later in life
My childhood gaming experience was entirely around the Playstation franchise. I even had a PSP that we got for free (my grandad worked at a car scrapping company and had found one with a bunch of games one day in a car.) We wouldn't get a home computer until I was a teenager, and my experience with the internet up to this point was pretty much zero.
I got an Xbox 360 at some point in my early teens, and this continued to build upon the huge amount of fun I had in playing video games. Eventually I had managed to convince my parents to let me get an Xbox Live subscription, and this was my first real experience with online gaming.
Being able to hop on at any time and find a group of friends to play with even when we couldn't physically go to each other's houses was great and I still have a group of Xbox Live friends that have stuck together nearly 10 years later. Despite Xbox Live's reputation as a toxic hellhole, it was a good time for me.
Coming to the present day, I mostly play on PC now. Whether it be playing something with my group of friends who have been playing with me for the past 10 years or enjoying some time on my own in Minecraft, I still hold onto the feeling I had when I was a kid. Maybe games aren't as fun as they were when I was 10 years old anymore, but I can still find a place to relax in them and get away from this messed up world we live in.