sunny © Lilly Schwartz 2011

At the moment I’m still relaxing after finishing my MSc dissertation. I still have no clear enough plans and I’m living into the day. I read books, take pictures, watch movies and explore Berlin together with Ezequiel. Yesterday I even took out my PSP again after not having touched it for months. There are a few games that I haven’t finished and some that I haven’t even started although I bought them a long time ago.

Back in the day I used to be all into computer games. With “back in the day” I mean times when your hero consisted of a few pixels and not this graphical overkill that they give you nowadays. The games back then had innovative concepts, real stories and some were funny and weird at the same time. I sometimes still take those games for a spin on an emulator and see whether I still have the skills for Commander Keen 4 or the first ever Prince of Persia. The latter my dad also played obsessively.

It’s interesting to me that nowadays I still mostly play little games that have this same style with short levels and flat characters like the monster you have to feed in Cut the Rope. It makes me feel more at home. Whenever I take out my PSP I also feel myself drawn to games with quirky characters like Daxter or Little Big Planet. Both these games have little arcade style games in between that don’t necessarily go closely with the story. God of War which is highly rated on many gaming sites left me cold somehow. I played it for a bit, but then I got bored and never finished it. And I was never much for ego shooters either unless I played them with my friends.

It’s strange that I never really lost touch with these old games, although they indeed were just a bunch of pixels in comparison to what kids can have nowadays. I still thoroughly enjoy playing Commander Keen and the other old jump’n’run favourites although I have played quite sophisticated games in the meantime. Is it just nostalgia or did these games really have more to offer than the eye-candy of games nowadays that kids will probably laugh about in a few years time? Is there something universal about how kids engage with their toys and games that makes them somehow forever cherished? For me it was Commander Keen 4 and Jill of the Jungle. For other people it was Pong and other old arcade games. And for the younger generations it will be Tomb Raider or even now Daxter or Little Big Planet. So, what’s your game of choice?