Sunday 20 April 2008

My life. Games. The community.

In no way, will I sway this website into a self obsessed or self infatuated, ego-massage biography about myself, but with the lack of news in the scene (Abandonware Gazette - is going to be harder work then I presumed.) I thought perhaps I’d put some oil on the wheels. Before I start, I must apologize for the lack of activity on my side – I must reiterate that this will not be common practise – just had an unexpectedly crazy past week. I’m working on new material as you read this.

As a first pit stop, I’d like to give you some insight into who I am. My name is Vincent, I currently work for a large restaurant chain for the past four years, as a Payroll Supervisor. I will soon leave that life of misery, to pursue Law studies in September. I’m also due to get married next year. Furthermore I’m from the UK, but I’m half Cypriot. And Diskboy is my cousin in real life.

My first computer was a Commodore 64 which I have my many fond memories of, my second computer being an Amiga 500 – which really was a turning point for me, when I truly learned my love & fascination for games. I then went onto own a string of consoles, and my last one being a purchase I made last week, which was overdue – a Nintendo Wii. Although I’ve bought this fancy console, and games with over exaggerated willy-waving graphics – I’ve played it for a mere few hours, and I’ve put it down and got on my PC and have found myself playing Abandonware Games instead, which in retrospect I can’t help feeling that I’ve just wasted a shitload of money.

I joined the scene in June 2000, and in all honesty the games I was determined to find, was Heimdall & Monkey Island. Somewhere along the lines I joined a few forums, made a few websites, met new people, the rest is history. I was 15 then . I’m 23 now. At one point I became more indulged in the ‘community’ that I actually became less interested in the actual games. At the end of the day, I sit back and think “It’s all about the games” but it’s not just that; it’s speaking with the people on the same wave length, that have that ideal aswell.

I’d be really interested to find out about how & why you stumbled across Abandonware.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think my first stumbling into this world was through BHLegend, where I went to download a bunch of games, like Kings Quest, Monkey Island, etc... Ironically, none of those are actually abandonware (as the term has come to be defined as the scene developed...).
I'm not exactly sure what drove me to start up my own site, but I think it was the sense of challenge and doing something to help the community that had a similar interest to me...

I remember writing some kind of long winded description of my life in the scene, but i'm not sure where that is now, nor do i expect anyone would want to actually read it, lol.

Anonymous said...

You know I can't remember when I first stumbled across abandonware. 99-2000? Was probably looking for stuff like old adventures and flight sims.

I can't even remember exactly when I first started writing stuff for my own site. Useless!

Anonymous said...

From what I can remember, I was hunting down an ever elusive copy of Railroad Tycoon 1 in around 2000-2001.

I was still green and young on just about every aspect of the net, but alas I managed to find a copy, and after that something clicked and I decided to dive deeper into the AW world and eventually found the 4ham forum.

Started up a really shite site on Geocities using every free host account I could find...ended up being files spread over near 80 different free hosts :P, then started DG Warez when I closed the first one...4months later I jumped ship from the AW world when I battled a serious illness.

For those times were great and I met many great peoples.

Anonymous said...

I started gaming in the 1970's, both consoles and computer gaming. I still find myself playing some of the old classics and have even started collecting old consoles etc.
Nowadays, I play more WII or PS3 than the classics, but, I still feel there is a place for a community that keeps the old stuff alive. I commend Vincent for starting this site.

Anonymous said...

I have been gaming for 25-30 years, longer than most of you have been alive, so, I am a bit of an expert. That has brought me deep respect and admiration from the different gaming communities of the years. Whether I was "Sarge" running the best wargame website on the net, or whether I was Mongy, creating shit and chaos in the scene, I have enjoyed every minute.
Im afraid the old days are long gone, but, this is a good step to keep it alive, V1nny.

Anonymous said...

Great work.

Anonymous said...

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The name's Dennis, though most people call me 'Freaky'. :P I'm in my "teens" and kinda lost in the world at the moment...however, I've found the hippie "culture" and discovered that it fits me very well...I'm not trying to fit into it, it just kind of fitted onto me.
I have lots of questions, which hopefully some of the older and wiser people on this board will be able to help answer.
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