My Playstation 2 is on The Fritz. It will play a game for a couple of minutes, then the power button flashes a couple times, mocking me. And then I can’t even get it to turn on anymore. It’s been a good machine. I’m not upset. I’m not going to berate Sony for making a crap product, because frankly, I’ve put that console through hell. Since the day I bought it, I could not even begin to guess how many hours I’ve used the thing, due in no small part to several fine series; Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Metal Gear Solid, The Getaway, Prince of Persia, and, of course Grand Theft Auto.

I really enjoy playing video games. It actually relieves stress for me. I laugh when I think back to my childhood; begging for a new system that just came out – the Atari 2600. What I got was a Colecovision, the slightly backwoods, uncool cousin to the Big Dog at the time, the Atari. Later, it was the Nintendo. And then, an episode that would nearly tear my family apart, the Fight for The Gameboy.

I was told I could only have a Gameboy if I sold my Nintendo and all my games (which I did, in a fit of what I can only imagine was childhood stupidity). I was only allowed to have one game system at a time. Any more than that, I was told, and I would just waste away in front of the television, never setting foot outdoors again.

“Besides,” my Father boomed. “In a few more years, you won’t even want to play video games any more. You’ll be too interested in girls to worry about games.”

That was more or less true. I did get interested in girls during Middle School. However, “Girls”, as it turned out, were not the least bit interested in me. Super Nintendo was interested in me. It was always there for me, and never once called me embarrassing names in front of popular kids at the lunch table. Super Nintendo never made fun of my looks. I was never shy about asking Super Nintendo to dance. Super Nintendo was, in a way, much better than girls. It never made you feel inadequate, and it was always in the mood to play around.

Now, here I sit. Bordering 30 years of age, due to be married in a few weeks time, and writing about those video games that, according to my Father, I should have no interest in at my age.

Maybe I’ll put a Playstation 2 on the wedding registry.