My early years of computing

 The early 1980's (1980 - 1984)

Computer games have fascinated me ever since i first played 'Space Invaders' and 'PacMan' on my neighbours Vic20, i had played 'Video games' before that and been fascinated with those too, at sea side arcades, or the machines that could be found in chip shops, sports halls, social clubs - pubs etc... But as much as i loved them i knew that i wouldn't be getting one of my own to take home and play in my bedroom any time soon. While the small hand-held games back then like 'Donkey Kong',  'Invaders'..etc....were also very fun to play and addictive, the fact that with a computer you could play many different games that were very varied, well that to me made them far superior. 

I remember spending my free time  after school, and during the long summer holidays, shut away with my mates in a dark bedroom, curtains closed so as to be able to see the tv screen properly,  huddled around a 'Commodore 64' { or C64 as its also known.} playing the latest game that had been bought with saved pocket money.  Hardly any of the children at my school had computers back then, in fact i can only remember two of my friends having them at the time (circa 1982).  My neighbour owned a brand new C64 having bought it to replace their  'Vic20' (also made by Commodore), and another lad from my school had a 'Sinclair ZX Spectrum'. 

The ZX Spectrum was a small computer with rubber keys, and to me it looked like a calculator. Both the C64 and the ZX Spectrum came out around 1982, seeing as i grew up playing on my neighbours Vic20 and C64, and the C64 was far more powerful than the ZXSpexctrum and Vic20{ The Vic20 had 5K of RAM, the C64 had 64k of RAM and the ZX initially had 16k although a 48k version and upgrade was later released},  and the games were better that was what i had my heart set on, there were several new spectrum and Commodore computers, as well as several others that hit the market before i finally owned my own computer, but it was still a C64 that i wanted.

A change of circumstance. 

 In 1984 my parents split and i  moved to a different school, by this time more children had computers at home and there were also other computers on the market,  several people i knew had Amstrad computers ,  Acorn Electron was another popular choice and then there was the BBC. The BBC had become the computer of choice for schools all over the UK. While they were popular for education i personally only had two friends who had them at home, there were some very good games for the BBC, 'Citadel' and 'Elite' to name my two favourite ones. Commodore was still my favourite make of  computer, and had released the C16 which had  {16k Ram} and the Commodore Plus4 {64k RAM }which was designed to be used for other purposes as well as gaming, neither of these models had the same success as the C64. The Plus4 was was the first computer that i could call my own, i spent hours playing games on it, of which there wasn't that many, but being compatible with the C16 which did have quite a few titles, i had plenty to play. 

It was during this time that i took my first venture into programming, writing small programs using Commodore's version of BASIC. The programs were little more than drawing primitives to the screen and playing sounds, but i was fascinated with it. Just over a year later i got the computer i had always wanted, a Commodore 64. The C64 went on to become one of, if not the best selling computers of the time and was still in production right up until circa 1995, despite the fact that Commodore had announced its discontinuation(several times) and released several superior models (the Commodore 128k, Commodore Amiga ) people still loved and wanted the good old C64.

The later half of the 1980's. 

There were other computers that came out after the C64 and ZX Spectrum, that were much more powerful machines. The Atari ST, the Acorn Archimedes, and the Commodore Amiga ranges, all of which which were better, but had a considerably higher price tag (with the exception of the Amiga 1200, which was around £400 upon release). By the time i had left primary education and was just starting secondary school, the prices had come down and there was the odd few kids from my school that had them.  There were around 12 different models of Commodore Amiga with prices ranging from £399 up to £4000, all but 3 were over over £1000.

   The end of an era...

 Out with the old and in with the new.

By the time i was in secondary education and being taught I.T with IBM PC's  there were various consoles that had been and gone and the PC gaming world was just beginning, but i still had my trusty C64 in a box, in my bedroom, on a shelf, in my closet and i still played it every now and then. Its long gone now though, but i will always remember the 'magic' of the C64 and all the fun i had playing the many games on it......

.......I don't however miss the fact that games came on cassette tapes, and waiting for them to load...well, that was an experience to say the least. 

If you grew up around the same time as me, i hope i have stirred some fond memories for you, of the days when games were always inventive and  certainly unique.

MonstersGame.

http://world4.monstersgame.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=47175987