Hi my name's Oliver as you may have guessed, inspired by Mandy's excellent blog i'm gonna share with you my life of gaming and the little bits in between..
I must of been 4 years old? when i first experienced gaming, i clearly remember Wrestlemania 3 being on the TV, i was at my friends house Wayne and it was his birthday.
His mum and dad had seperated but his dad was there and during the afternoon walked in with a NES and a bunch of games. Wayne was excited and i was jealous lolz.
For the next 2 years i was round his everyday playing Urban Champion, Mario, Turtles (which i was crazy about at the time) and a few others.
We got seperated in 1990 when my parents decided to move. It wasn't until christmas 1991 i believe until i owned my own. I got Isolated Warrior packaged with it and i got Terminator 2 as well, i loved my NES and it weren't long until i owned that damn Turtles games and god the frustration it caused me, i'm still haunted by that underwater section to this day.
The following year i was invited to Wayne's birthday where upon walking in i found him playing Super Mario World on his new Snes his Dad bought him, his Dad was a rich sod and i hated it lol. A little after this i ended up getting a Megadrive 2 with Aladdin and Sonic 2, i had a Snes at one point but i was always more of a Sega fan playing the likes of Mortal Kombat, Earthworm Jim...
This in '95 led me to buy a Sega Saturn for a mindblowing £400 at the time (thanks Mum) i remember playing Bugs was it? Daytona and Tomb Raider before the likes of Tekken and Ridge Racer tempted me over to the new Playstation. Such a great console for its time i played all the games from Dino Crisis to Resident Evil, MGS and GT.
I bought an N64 at launch with Mario 64 and Wave Race and what an awesome console that was bringing the likes of Banjo-Kazooie and my beloved Goldeneye.
In '96 i started Secondary school but i was bullied quite hard to the point i fell into a deep depression and started suffering anxiety attacks, it got so bad i started skipping school, my teachers didn't believe what was going on or didnt want to admit to it as it would affect the schools reputation either way, i was beaten up regularly, spat on and ridiculed.
I found a friend in a guy called Jason who worked in a game store, i went there everyday skipping school he had no idea i was the age i was but he treated me like a human being and let me play Goldeneye when it launched in the store, i competeted with people who came into the store and i held my own lol. Skipping school eventually caught up with me when my parents were threatened court action which prompted my step-dad to attack me one day when i wouldnt go in. Social services got involved and that was when i found out he was my step dad and that my real father was out there somewhere, little did i know what he was like. My Mum knew but they forced me to be introduced to him, i thought he was great at the time he threw me a great 11th bday party and showed me off to all his friends till he got bored with me and this is when he changed.
I never knew this at the time but he had previous jail time and convictions for exposing himself to strangers and minors. I was sexually abused for a couple of years and never spoke to anyone about it, i felt dirty and ashamed.
I got my first PC build when Half-Life was released in '98 and damn did that game blow me away even more so the Hammer editor where i made a fair few multiplayer maps.
My PC was my refuge, my escape from all the things that went on. He stopped doing what he did around '99.
I bought a Dreamcast at launch which i thought was great played the likes of Sonic Adventure, Sega Rally and the very awesome Shenmue. I got a job in 2000 working at Gamestation and that Christmas PS2 launched but i didn't preorder and they weren't available anywhere lucky for me then that someone cancelled their order and it was payday, i got Timesplitters and Tekken Tag with it, i met my soulmate that year in a girl named Sarah but we parted in 2001 due to her having a mis-carriage and not being able to cope.Later times i played all the GTAs and such before moving on to an Xbox and in 2005 a 360. Played some great games like Halo which i bought it for after being robbed of a PC launch (thanks Microsoft) I stopped playing my PC in late 2005 as gaming on that platform kind of dried up for a few years.
I got heavy into 360 and especially the Achievements on Live until recently, i own a PS3 too which i enjoy. Currently own a 3DS, 360, PS3 and my older consoles the Dreamcast, Saturn, Snes, Megadrive and NES.
Been getting back into PC gaming recently thanks to Steam and been playing more PS3 due to getting bored of 360 and it's Kinect obssession and lack of exclusives. I've recently met back up with Sarah and we both have strong feelings for each other but she has 3 kids now. Life is a whacky thing eh?