The first time I encountered a computer was the Space Invaders arcade video game in Rome, Italy, in the winter of 1980 (during my temporary stay in Rome, on the way to the United States).
A young Italian boy offered me a chance to play, and I was immediately hooked! I have never seen anything like it before.
When I moved to the United States, the very first electronic game I recall was some version of Pong. I had fun playing pong on TV but was quickly bored.
However, my father purchased an Atari 2600 video game system for me (when I was 12), as they were becoming quite popular. I recall the excitement of bringing it home from Boscov's (the department store) and playing some games, including Combat. I have many happy memories of playing Asteroids, Missile Command, Breakout, Defender, and Space Invaders. The Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 was terrible compared to the original Arcade version, and I did not purchase it.
There was one game that I purchased - Laser Blast - that I really regretted - because it was so terrible. I recall saving my money from delivering newspapers to buy them - only to be so disappointed. I was much more careful about buying additional video games.
After a few years with Atari, I decided to switch to Intellivision, and we traded in my Atari 2600 for this new Intellivision at Boscov's. I enjoyed it a lot as well, especially the Sea Battle game. It was an enjoyable system with unique controllers, but I also got bored and wanted a real computer. There was one particular game that stood out: B-17 Bomber with voice.
While I lived in Shillington, I spent some time at the local Radio Shack, playing on Tandy's TRS-80. It had two disk drives, and I recall playing computer games like Eliza.
This was also the time when I discovered the Zork series of text adventure games from Infocom. Zork and many subsequent text adventures (interactive fiction) became a passion of mine. I even developed some text-based adventure games (on a later Commodore 64).
I played most (if not all) Infocom text adventures, including:
My friends at the time purchased Colecovision game consoles and played Zaxxon and Donkey Kong.
These games were a lot of fun, and I often wished I'd have a Colecovision, too. These were fun titles to play.
Since I wanted a real computer, I convinced my Dad to purchase the Texas Instruments Ti 99/4A, which had some rudimentary programming and a few games. It had a keyboard and a few games. I learned to program using BASIC and had a tape drive to load programs.
Commodore 64 was announced during this time, and we signed up to purchase it. Although it was extremely costly, at $595, it was much cheaper than Apple II+ or Atari 800 alternatives. I was eager for a real computer (as T.I. 99/4a was very limited), and my Dad purchased it for me.
A young Italian boy offered me a chance to play, and I was immediately hooked! I have never seen anything like it before.
When I moved to the United States, the very first electronic game I recall was some version of Pong. I had fun playing pong on TV but was quickly bored.
However, my father purchased an Atari 2600 video game system for me (when I was 12), as they were becoming quite popular. I recall the excitement of bringing it home from Boscov's (the department store) and playing some games, including Combat. I have many happy memories of playing Asteroids, Missile Command, Breakout, Defender, and Space Invaders. The Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 was terrible compared to the original Arcade version, and I did not purchase it.
There was one game that I purchased - Laser Blast - that I really regretted - because it was so terrible. I recall saving my money from delivering newspapers to buy them - only to be so disappointed. I was much more careful about buying additional video games.
After a few years with Atari, I decided to switch to Intellivision, and we traded in my Atari 2600 for this new Intellivision at Boscov's. I enjoyed it a lot as well, especially the Sea Battle game. It was an enjoyable system with unique controllers, but I also got bored and wanted a real computer. There was one particular game that stood out: B-17 Bomber with voice.
While I lived in Shillington, I spent some time at the local Radio Shack, playing on Tandy's TRS-80. It had two disk drives, and I recall playing computer games like Eliza.
This was also the time when I discovered the Zork series of text adventure games from Infocom. Zork and many subsequent text adventures (interactive fiction) became a passion of mine. I even developed some text-based adventure games (on a later Commodore 64).
I played most (if not all) Infocom text adventures, including:
- The original Zork Trilogy (Marc Blank & Dave Lebling):
- The Enchanter Trilogy:
- Enchanter (1983, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling)
- Sorcerer (1984, Steve Meretzky)
- Spellbreaker (1985, Dave Lebling)
These games were a lot of fun, and I often wished I'd have a Colecovision, too. These were fun titles to play.
Since I wanted a real computer, I convinced my Dad to purchase the Texas Instruments Ti 99/4A, which had some rudimentary programming and a few games. It had a keyboard and a few games. I learned to program using BASIC and had a tape drive to load programs.
Commodore 64 was announced during this time, and we signed up to purchase it. Although it was extremely costly, at $595, it was much cheaper than Apple II+ or Atari 800 alternatives. I was eager for a real computer (as T.I. 99/4a was very limited), and my Dad purchased it for me.
In addition to the main Commodore 64 computer, my Dad purchased a {color monitor (40x25) and a tape drive. The tape drive was used for loading and saving files. Being extremely slow, I eventually replaced the tape drive with a Commodore 1541 external floppy drive (which used 5 1/4" single-sided floppies to store files).
Eventually, I also purchased a 300-baud modem (to be able to connect to B.B.S. (bulletin board systems - as this was before the Internet). With the Commodore, I could write my English papers and print them on a dot-matrix printer. I used Paper Clip Word Processing software.
In addition to playing many games, I learned a lot more BASIC programming on the Commodore 64. This was also when I started to create my own games, hoping to get them published in a magazine. Eventually, by some stroke of luck, one of my games - Supertank! - was accepted and published by Compute's Gazette in 1984.
COMPUTE!'s Gazette 1984/11 (Issue #17), COMPUTE!'s Third Book of Commodore 64
I don't recall the exact amount of royalties I received - but it was in the neighborhood of $1300. It was a lot of money for a teenager like me. During this time, I dabbled a bit with 6502 Assembler. I quickly discovered that programs in assembly language (especially games) ran significantly faster than ones written in Basic (an interpreted language). However, my assembler-based games were not portable across different platforms, so none of my other games were selected for publication. (Compute preferred games that could be ported to Apple II and Atari 8-bit platforms)
Since most of my friends had the Atari series of 8-bit computers (and they did not experience reliability problems with their disk drives), I decided to sell my Commodore 64 and switch to the Atari 8-bit platform (The Apple II was too expensive).
I spent some of my game royalties on an Atari 800XL computer with an Indus G.T. floppy drive.
On the Atari 800XL, I played some of my all-time favorite games, including M.U.L.E. and Lord British/Richard Garriott Ultima's: II, III, and IV. I also fondly remember playing Electronic Arts' Seven Cities of Gold, Archon, and many others.
Ultima IV - Quest for the Avatar was particularly memorable as all my friends played it for a long time. It was, by far, the BEST game during my teenage years.
The adventure genre has always been a favorite of mine. During 11th grade, I took my first computer science class with Professor Quigley at Governor Mifflin High School. I learned programming in Pascal on Apple IIe computers in the computer lab. This was my first formal programming instruction (as all of my previous experience creating games in BASIC and 6502 Assembler was from hacking and reading other people's programs).
I really liked the conciseness of Pascal. Unlike Basic, Pascal was a compiled language, and programs ran quickly after compilation. There was no Pascal compiler for the Commodore 64 (or Atari 800XL), so I did not continue with Pascal beyond 11th grade.
The one game that I recall playing after hours on Apple IIe was Castle Wolfenstein. It was one of the first games that featured voice effects.
After being admitted to Lehigh University, I sold my Atari 800XL - since Lehigh recommended an I.B.M. P.C. (and various P.C. clones) for university classes. I returned the P.C. clone, which had problems with its 80x25 character display. I used Lehigh's I.B.M. A.T.s in the Lehigh Computer Center to write term papers and develop software programs. However, the P.C. technology at the time was decades behind Atari, and dealing with MS-DOS and horrible video and sound cards was a bit disappointing.
I purchased an Atari 520ST, which I used to play computer games and learn to program. I tried using a "C Language" compiler, but it was so slow that it was practically unusable. Eventually, I got tired of the Atari and sold it. Some of my friends acquired the excellent Apple Macintosh computer at the time, but its small monochrome screen and single floppy drive seemed like significant drawbacks.
After graduating from Lehigh University with a B.S.E.E., I went to Georgia Tech for my graduate degree. I encountered Unix-based machines, including the Apple IIe, Macintoshes, and I.B.M. P.C. clones.
Despite having poor graphics (compared to Atari 520/1040ST) and horrible sound, P.C. clones were winning in the marketplace (probably due to Lotus 1-2-3 Spreadsheets and WordPerfect word processors). These were the killer applications of the day. Even when co-oped for I.B.M. Kingston, I learned to use Lotus 1-2-3 to make measurements and drive test & measurement gear.
When I graduated with an M.S.E.E. from Georgia Tech in the summer of 1991, I was offered a Silicon development job at Compaq Computer ( a new P.C. Clone maker) in Houston, Texas. Surprisingly, my first computer for developing circuits and running Concept and Verilog simulations was a Sun Workstation.
I could borrow a Compaq Portable to take home for work or recreation (which I often did). It was heavy (and not what I would call an easily portable P.C.). Since Compaq computers were so expensive, I bought and built various P.C. clones while employed there.
This is the first time I built an Intel 386-based P.C. clone. Two games were absolutely etched into my memory: Ultima Underworld (the first 3-D adventure game) and the Wing Commander series. These were some of the best games from 1992 to 1993. Ultima Underworld was far superior to Doom, yet Doom seemed to be more popular.
After leaving Compaq Computer in 1994 for Tektronix, Inc. in Portland, Oregon, I didn't spend as much time on P.C. games. I was too busy windsurfing, biking, hiking, and snowboarding. This was one of the best times of my life for outdoor adventures!
Though I had a fantastic time in Portland, my career was going nowhere. In 1996, I accepted a Silicon Development job at Intel in Folsom, California, where I worked on developing the latest P.C. chipsets. During this time, I built a few PCs myself. I recall a few noteworthy games, including Grim Fandango, Half-Life, Starcraft, Falcon 4.0, Unreal, and my all-time favorite, Total Annihilation.
My favorites from the past 20 years include:
- Battlefield 1942
- Company of Heroes
- L.A. Noire
- Call of Duty
- Civilization VI
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Total Annihilation
- Wing Commander
- Ultima
Video Game Consoles / Set-Top Boxes Ownership
- 1980: Pong
- 1980: Atari 2600
- 1981: Intellivision
- 2001: Xbox - $299.00 (Costco)
- 2009: Nintendo Wii - $194.99 (Costco)
- 2009: Nintendo DSi - $169.99 (Amazon)
- 2010: Nintendo DSi XL - $189.99 (Amazon)
- 2012: Xbox 360 - $299
- 2013: Roku 3 - $94.99 (Costco)
- 2014: Sony PlayStation 4 - $399.00 (Amazon)
- 2015: Nvidia Shield - $112.50 (Amazon)
- 2020: Amazon FireTV 4K Stick - $49.99 (Amazon)
Computer Ownership
- 1982: Texas Instruments T.I. 99/4A, tape deck for loading programs
- 1983: Commodore 64 - $595.00
- 1984: Commodore 1541 floppy drive, monitor, modem
- 1984: Atari 800XL, Indus floppy drive
- 1985: Atari 130XE
- 1986: Atari 520ST
- 1986: I.B.M. P.C. Clone (8086) - purchased and returned
- 1991: I.B.M. PC Clone (i386)
- 1992: I.B.M. PC Clone (i486)
- 2003: Radeon 9700Pro Graphics, Creative Labs Audigy 2 SoundCard
- 2005: DIY: AMD Athlon64 X2 3800, EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
- 2006: Apple iMac Desktop with 20" Display MA589LL/A (2.16 GHz Intel Core2, 1GB RAM, 250G Hard Drive)- - $1499 (Amazon)
- 2007: D.I.Y.: Intel Core 2 Duo
- 2008: D.I.Y.: Intel Core 2 Quad
- 2009: Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card
- 2011: D.I.Y.: Intel Core 2600K, Asus P8Z68 Motherboard, Zotac GTX570 Graphics
- 2013: Apple iMac Desktop with 27' Display (3.4 GHz Intel i5, 8GB RAM) - $2067 (Apple Los Gatos)
- 2014: Apple Macbook Pro Retina (Apple MBP/DC I5/2.4G/8 G.B./256GB-FL/13" RETINA)
- 2014: D.I.Y.: Intel Core 4790K, Asus Z97-PRO LGA 1150, MSI GTX 980 TI Graphics
- 2015: Synology DS1815+ Networked Attached Storage
- 2016: Dell Inspiron 15 CI7-6700HQ - $879 (Fry's Electronics) for Alex (gaming laptop)
- 2018: Microsoft Surface Pro 6, 8GB RAM, 128 GB S.S.D. - $799 (Costco)
- 2021: Apple MacBook Pro 13 M1 (512GB S.S.D.) - $1249 (Costco) for Inna (trading in 2014 Macbook Pro)
iPod / Phone / iPad / Watch / Kindle Ownership
- 2005: Apple iPod 60 G.B. - $426.55 (Amazon)
- 2006: Apple iPod 80 G.B. - $339.99 (Costco)
- 2009: Amazon Kindle 2 - $359.00 (Amazon)
- 2010: Amazon Kindle 3G - $189 (Amazon)
- 2010: Apple iPhone 4S - $199 (AT&T Online)
- 2010: Apple iPad - $729.99 (Best Buy)
- 2011: Apple iPod Nano 16 G.B. - $139.00 (Amazon)
- 2012: Amazon Kindle PaperWhite - $119 (Amazon)
- 2012: Apple iPad Mini 16GB Wifi - $429.99 (Apple Los Gatos)
- 2012: Apple iPod Classic 160GB - $229.00 (Amazon)
- 2012: Apple iPad 3
- 2012: Apple iPod Nano Green 8 G.B. - $114.00 (Amazon)
- 2012: Apple iPod Touch 8 G.B. 4th Gen - $199.00 (Toys'R'Us)
- 2012: Apple iPod Touch 16 G.B. - $179.00 (Fry's)
- 2014: Apple iPhone 5S - $149 (Best Buy)
- 2014: Apple iPad Air 16 G.B. WiFi - $449.99 (Best Buy)
- 2014: Apple iPod Classic 160GB - $229.96 (B&H Photo Video)
- 2014: Amazon Kindle PaperWhite - $99.00 (Amazon)
- 2015: Apple iPhone 6S
- 2015: Apple iPhone 6S Plus Rose Gold - $399.00 (AT&T)
- 2015: Apple iPad Air 2 64 G.B. - $549.00 (B&H Photo Video)
- 2016: Apple iPhone 7 Silver 32GB - $649.00 (Apple Los Gatos)
- 2017: Apple iPhone 8 Plus 64 G.B. - $799.00 (AT&T Retail Store)
- 2017: Apple Watch Nike Series 3 42mm - $359.00 (B&H Photo Video)
- 2018: Amazon Echo Speaker - $99.00 (Amazon)
- 2019: Amazon Kindle PaperWhite (10th Gen) - $99.99 (Amazon)
- 2019: Apple iPhone 11 64 G.B. (Apple) - $699 (trading in my iPhone 7 for $200)
- 2020: Apple Airpods - $129 (Amazon)
- 2020: Amazon Kindle PaperWhite (10th Gen) - $84.99 (Amazon)
- 2020: Apple Watch Series S.E. (5th Gen) - $309 (Apple.com)
- 2021: Apple Watch Series 6 (6th Gen) - $349 (Costco.com) for Inna
- 2021: Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max - $1099 (Apple.com) for Inna
- 2022: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max - $1099 for Boris
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