Hello Towelites,
I come bearing news. News of upcoming news concerning upcoming new stuff. But first, lets take a step back and talk about something old.
I’m fast-forwarding through my generation pong memories to the age of 18. It’s 1997, and I’ve finally come back to the States from Greece. My whole life there, as much as I loved it, I always felt a tug from the U.S of A… it was where I was born, and it called out to me to return. So, as soon as I finished high school, I jumped on a plane, went straight to Buffalo, NY, to attend the University of Buffalo (my sister was going to med school there, so it seemed like a good place to “settle” back into the States).
Side note: this is where I later met my friend Chaz, and much later found myself writing on this great site called Don’t Forget A Towel for him!
Oh, I actually need to mention something first. From the few Generation Pong stories you may have already read of mine, you already know the importance of video games in my life. Something not mentioned yet, though I promise to do so, are my love for Final Fantasy games. I remember the very first ones I played, from NES, to Game Boy, to my mind being blown away by FF6 (FF3 in the US). I was a kid that grew up (and loved) D&D Roll playing games – and to me, Final Fantasy was the video game version of that.
Ok, so… back to the States. I stayed with my sister the first couple months, until I settled in. I had lost my residency, so I was only taking a couple classes at the time. Needless to say, I felt awkward, which made meeting anyone difficult, which made me more awkward. I had left my entire life, friends and family in a whole other country. This wasn’t like most people, leaving for college, a number of hours away. This was a 13 hour flight by plane. 7 hours time difference.
Second semester, I move into the dorms. Among all the students, I felt even more alone. The differences in lifestyle from how I grew up in Greece were hitting hard, and I just couldn’t “fit in”. And…wow… I just realized this right now, but I hadn’t played any video games in months (having left my PAL version electronics in Greece) – maybe subconsciously, this was also affecting me.
So there I was, sitting in the room, wondering how my life will turn out, the TV playing commercials, that the most amazing thing my eyes had ever seen started playing. It was the commercial for Final Fantasy 7.
Now, if you know what I am referring to, then you know what I mean. The graphics, the demo scenes… everything. This game took what was amazing, and turned into epic. It was a dream come true. My eyes couldn’t believe a game like that could be coming out. And it was coming out for this system called the Sony Playstation.
My story for Final Fantasy 7 will be in it’s on Generation Pong article at some point. The important part was the excitement this commercial brought about… a reminder… “hey… member video games? well, we’ve kicked it up a notch!”.
Until then, I was a Nintendo fan. Still am. But this game changed everything. I wanted it. Needed it. Before I could even afford a Playstation, I went and bought the game. I felt like, if I owned the game, then I would have to buy the console (or else be stupid for having just bought the game). And in fact, after a couple weeks looking at the box art and flipping through the booklet multiple times, I finally got my first credit card, and put my first debt on it (and oh, what a downfall that credit card was, but whatever).
This story continues on how the Playstation became my “significant other” of personal items. No matter what apartment I moved to, no matter what furniture changed, the Playstation was always part of my life. And when the PS2 came out, it not only was immediately added to my entertainment center, but it was my official goodbye to VHS. The DVD world was now my world, and my movie collection officially began.
And then came the Playstation 3. Hello Blu-rays, high definition, and some of the most AMAZING games I have ever played. This console is one of the best consoles ever made. I literally use it for everything, from playing music, to Netflix, to movies, to games… everything.
My love for the Playstation had become a joke amongst my friends. I dated a girl names Sonya, whom I called Sony. When we broke up, my friends joked how my “Sony Playstation” became my “X box”… get it? Well, I obviously love my Sony Playstation more than any of my other consoles, so here I am, years later, sitting right next to my girl Sonya, typing this out. 🙂
So, why have I talked your ears of concerning my love for Playstation? Because, Sony released the below video as a teaser for an anouncment they will be making this Wednesday, February 20th! This times out pretty good with their Destination Playstation event that starts up about a week later, in which Sony reveals their big plans on upcoming games. And with Playstation having always been such a remarkable console in the past, now comes the anticipation of what this next one will bring. How will Sony take on the next Xbox, or the Wii U.
Am I excited? Damn straight I am. Are you excited? Damn straight you better be!
~mozeus
