Bacon Talk: Video Games

Dude. It’s time we talk about video games. Seriously. Why haven’t we covered this yet, Haycomet? We’ve had how many Bacon Talks now? Welcome, friends, fans and enemies, to this week’s edition of the award-winning feature we call Bacon Talk. For those of you wondering what we mean by Award-Winning, let me give you a list of the awards this feature has won:

  • SpaceBrew’s Best Features of 2010 presented by SpaceBrew
  • Brandon Spacey’s Favorite Blogs presented monthly
  • Haycomet’s Recommended Reading a very prestigious award
  • Jessica Simpson’s “You Gotta Have Someone Read This To You!” presented by Space

So there are a few of the many awards this feature has won. I mean, we’re not trying to brag or anything. Trust me, friends, the Bacon Talk is not near as good as the Bacon we eat while talking! Ain’t that right, Hay?

*Swallows the mouth full of bacon, and sighs over the savory goodness* That’s right, Space. Few things are better than bacon; but even those things can be made better with bacon… think about it. Okay, onto one of my favorite subjects. Video games have been part of my life since the 80s. I was very young when I started playing Pong. I can’t recall having more than that one game for the Atari console. Did you have an Atari, Space? If not, what was the first console you had? What was the first game you played on that console?

The first console I had was the Intellivision. Not many people I’ve talked to have heard of it, but it was right up there with the ColecoVision and was pretty bad ass on the eight-bit graphics. I had Pitfall and – well, shit. I can’t remember any of the other games. But they were awesome! Oh, I had Donkey Kong, but I couldn’t begin to tell you what the first game was that I played on the console.
I do remember the first arcade I ever played though. It was Pac-Man, and I had no idea what I was doing, or what the point was – I was too young. But I remember it being magical just getting to play an arcade game. Shortly after, I went through my addiction to Pac-Man phase. My parents got me a miniature arcade version of it. I had the sheets, the lunchboxes, the underwear – everything I could get my hands on that had Pac-Man on it. I even moved to a house on Midway. Not really. But don’t we all want a full-size arcade in our gameroom? Heck yes we do. If I could have any one I wanted now, I would have to go with Galaga or Donkey Kong, I think. Which would you choose, Haycomet?

Definitely the Galaga/Ms.Pacman combo. I like Pacman more than his female counterpart, but I don’t think there is a Galaga/Pacman combo in existence. I went to a party one time, where I didn’t know anyone but Byronic and Snikwah. At the time, they both smoked, so they would go outback with all of the other smokers and I would stay inside. I didn’t mind this night though, because there was a full-size Galaga game near the pool table. It didn’t need quarters!! I played that game so many times that night, I couldn’t keep count. It is another blast from my past that brings back great memories, and it so happened to be from the 80s…imagine that. See, I told you I like totally love the 80s!
There is a Nintendo 64 game that brings back another great memory. A friend of mine couldn’t make it to my birthday party when I was in my early teens, and she felt bad, so she threw a party for me at her house. The party consisted of my friend, a guy (a crush of mine) that went to school with us and lived across the street from her, me, an ice cream cake, and Punch-Out!! Now THAT was a great party!
Something embarrassing though, is that when I played a game like that, I would move the controller or my whole body. Even in Mario games, I would flinch and jerk the controller like it would help my character avoid danger. Space, please tell me that you did that too. Also, do you still like maze games, or do you prefer to play another genre now?

Maze games? Where did you get that? From Pac-Man? That’s not really what I’d call a ‘maze game’. But okay. No, my favorite game of all time growing up was a computer game called Dungeon Master. You have to navigate a team of four through a maze of – okay. I see your point. Yeah I guess I do like maze games. But yeah, I played that for years. And now in the last ten years, my favorite games have been Half-Life, Crysis, the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series – all first-person shooter games. Those are my favorite because they bring you into the game with realism and a first-person POV.
The great thing about arcades now is that you can kind of build your own. Go buy the shell – the console – and then you can buy inexpensive chips and mods and reprogram it to be a full suite of games. They’re still the old 80s four- and eight-bit graphics, but you can throw a hundred games on your arcade! Have you seen the Atari joysticks you can buy now? It’s just a joystick with wires that plug right into your television and all the games are on the joystick itself. And there are like 20-25 Atari 2600 games on it. All your old favorites. It’s amazing how small they really were as far as file size. At one point, I had over thirty NES games on my iPhone with an emulator.
So even though my favorite games are heavy in realism, my heart still goes back to these old games I grew up with. Supa Mario reprazent! What about you, Hay? Do you have any game consoles now?

I wouldn’t really say that I do, because I rarely use them, but Byronic and Comet Jr. have a GameCube, Xbox, and a Wii. Byronic wants an Xbox 360, but I don’t see the point. We get a console, it gets used quite often at first, then rarely, and then it’s forgotten. I just think they are too expensive to get any of the newer consoles right now. Besides the full consoles, they each have a hand-held console: a Nintendo DS Lite and a PSP. Sometimes I will play the Wii because I can actually work up a sweat; it’s a great work-out. At this time in my life, however, I would personally just rather read a book. Sounds lame to some, but I enjoy it.
My daughter loves to play the Wii and DS Lite; she plays on the consoles more than my husband and I. I have to limit her time, because some days, especially during summer break, she could play all day. Space, do think video games are good for children, heck, are they good for adults? Let me hear some pros and cons.

Well I’m not much of a pro at any of them. I don’t think I’m a con either though. Wait. Maybe I’m not sure what you’re asking there. But yes, I do think video games are good for kids. They can challenge their minds, help them learn to solve problems and puzzles and navigate through mazes (which are my favorite type of games, by the way), and learn how to deal with complex situations, like which guys to shoot and which ones are good guys. We actually had a lengthy discussion about games last night because my son snuck some Teen-rated games in and thought he was mister cool. That’s one thing I like about today’s games though: ESRB ratings. Tell us what’s in them. And some of his games said stuff like ‘graphic violence’ and ‘suggestive language’… Really? I don’t think our games growing up even had language at all. And Legend of Zelda actually printed words on the screen when it needed to talk to you!
Anyway, I think games are good for kids to an extent – and that’s games of any kind. Board games included. But there do need to be limitations. I don’t let my kids play for more than an hour a day during the summer. So in – whoa, hey! Look at the time! We’re about out of time here, Haycomet! So let’s go bottom line here: what’s the best game you’ve ever played?

I’m going to stick with Galaga for favorite video game. There was a Kermit the Frog card game I loved to play, but that’s a whole other Bacon Talk topic… “Obscure games that Haycomet played whilst living in Dela-where.” So have a great weekend everyone! Here’s to full cups and 1-ups!

Amen to that, sista. I’ll stick with Dungeon Master as my favorite ever, just because of the months and years I spent playing it – even though it’s antiquated. Maybe we’ll host a SpaceBrew Gaming Party some night where we bring out all the old consoles and just play Super Mario Bros and Pong all night. Have a great weekend, everyone.

This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. SahSah

    I cannot remember the name of the game we had for Atari – Asteroids? and what was the trying to get the dude across the street game? eh – Pac Man ruled. But the game I can actually play well – Spyro. Made it to the very last level but could not score the final ice hockey goal against the abominable snowman – Dagnabit!

  2. SahSah

    and ooooooo – I like my custom comment box! Thanks Space!!

  3. Space

    SahSah said:
    What was the trying to get the dude across the street game?

    FROGGER. Hell yes. Good call. I hate that game. :suicide:

  4. SahSah

    yeah – can’t remember that I ever actually got the frog across the street… so yeah, Hate that game

  5. Snap

    I am with HayComet – Galaga it is! My parents have a galaga/galixian console. Grew up playing its awesomeness. So right on!

  6. Izzy

    Hands down, Super Contra. Metal Gear Solid And Resident Evil 2 were a close 2nd and 3rd.

  7. SahSah

    Space – clearly remembering a Pac Man lunch tray. We tried to get a picture of you winning the game and it wouldn’t show up so we attached the lunch tray to the TV. wonder where that picture is???

  8. Jeremy

    I don’t believe you won all those awards guys. :haw: Space Invaders and Missile Command were my favorite atari games.
    I like your bacon talking but can you take requests for a topic? How about sports like Nascar and Football? I’m suprised you haven’t covered the boobs topic either yet Space.

  9. Space

    No clue, Sah. See, we didn’t have Pac-Man because they didn’t make it for the Intellivision. But I do remember hanging the tv tray up on the tv because it fit perfectly. I miss that tv tray.
    Jeremy, I think I could cover your Nascar for you in about a half a sentence. Not much to talk about there, friend. Don’t know if Haycomet has even heard of it. Football, on the other hand…

  10. Catina

    My first consol was a colecovision and we had donkeykong and qbert. God I loved those games. I think I have had every kind of consol since except for the dreamcast and the playstation two. Pitfall and frogger were favs too as well as tetris, mario and dr Mario. My fav will always be legend of Zelda. My oldest son is a gaming fiend and he says it’s too hard. I love that I can kick his ass at it.

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