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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 23</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

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        <p align="center"><font size="+3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8">Old 
          Crusty Gamers</font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Brian &quot;<a target="_self" href="mailto:scoobybri@home.com">Scoobybri</a>&quot; 
          Svehla</font></b></font></p>
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        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Fast forward to the Christmas 
          of 1980. All of the gifts are open and my brother and I are content 
          with our haul of toys and games. The ecstasy of the gift opening orgy 
          is over but little did we know what was hidden behind the couch. &quot;I 
          think that Santa might have left something back here,&quot; my father 
          said, reaching behind the sofa. And what to my wondering eyes should 
          appear, but an Atari 2600 and <b>Space Invaders</b> to put it in gear. 
          Now this was gaming! Interchangeable cartridges meant that we weren’t 
          limited to two or three games, and what was this…a joystick? What else 
          could this wonder machine do? It would be the first successful home 
          console ever and would help the home video game market to explode over 
          the next three years. With the dawn of Colecovision and Intellevision, 
          the first great console war was waged. We could finally have the games 

          we played in the arcade at home. (More or less, i.e. <b>Pac Man</b> 
          for the 2600.) What could stop this speeding silicon freight train? 
          The year of 1984.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Let me present to you a particular 
          memory from that time period that puts the &quot;Crash-O-84&quot; into 
          perspective. I remember my grandmother taking my brother and I to a 
          local Revco drugstore to pick up some prescriptions, cough medicine, 
          and yes, 99 cent Atari cartridges! It seemed great to us at the time, 
          but it was a sad ending to a great era for video gamers. Arcades were 
          disappearing faster than cans of beer at a Superbowl party and game 
          developing companies were folding by the dozens. So we came upon the 
          dark ages of video game history. All seemed hopeless until…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nintendo! Saviors to console 
          gamers everywhere! My brother and I combined all of our money in January 
          of 1986 to buy the newest and most powerful system at the time, the 
          venerable Nintendo NES. What convinced me that this was the wonderbox 
          of the future was the bundled <b>Super Mario Brothers </b>cart that 
          looked and played almost exactly as the arcade game did. We took it 
          with us wherever we went…slumber parties, cousin’s houses, and even 
          our alcoholic step-uncle’s shack. Everyone loved it and by next Christmas, 
          everyone owned one. Nintendo took their games to the next level, a level 
          that would appeal to the teenagers that had cut their teeth on Atari. 
          With games like <b>Metroid</b> and <b>Zelda</b>, Nintendo not only pushed 
          the envelope graphically, but they showed everyone that there was more 
          to video games than just shooting, racing, and getting a high score. 
          Oh how the music of <b>Zelda</b> takes be back to the days of skateboards, 
          <i>Dirty Dancing</i>, and first girlfriends. But before I get all misty-eyed, 
          let’s move on…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">To the 16-bit war that ensued 
          between Sega and Nintendo. I’ll tell you up-front that this was a low 
          point in my career as a console gamer. Yes, I was wowwed by the huge 
          sprites that these silicon monsters could sling around on a screen. 
          And yes, 2D platformers came of age and sports games were actually becoming 
          realistic. But I had other things like beer and my band consuming all 
          of my time. Just as I was slipping off of the edge of the video game 
          world completely, a little game called <b>Doom</b> snapped me back to 
          attention in early 1994. At this point I defected to the PC camps for 
          a few years as the console industry caught up with the notion of 3D. 
          After investing thousands of dollars to keep pace with the PC gaming/hardware 
          behemoth, I decided to give the consoles a try once again. Boy, was 
          I surprised! Spending less than what it cost for a decent 3D accelerator(at 
          the time), I got one hell of a gaming machine when I bought my Playstation. 
          Two and a half years later, I have gotten 1000% of the cost back in 
          gaming enjoyment.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">We live in a great time for 
          home video gaming, people. There are naysayers that will moan about 
          this and that, but when I play <b>Metal Gear Solid</b>, <b>Zelda</b>, 
          <b>Goldeneye</b>, or <b>Gran Turismo</b>, etc. I know that we have reached 
          a new pinnacle in gameplay and immersion. No longer do we have to pretend 
          that the blocks on the screen are human characters; No longer do the 
          games consist only of achieving a high score. We have realism, we have 
          plot, we have 3D, we have come a long way. And I appreciate this fact 
          every time that I brush the dust off my Atari 2600 and get a sweaty 
          palm playing <b>Kaboom</b>. As only a crusty old gamer can.</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><i>- 
          Brian &quot;Scoobybri&quot; Svehla is an honest-to-god old fogey, at 
          the ripe ol' age of 28.</i></font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT">&nbsp;</p>
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Illustration &copy; 1999 Mike Sanzone. Old Crusty Gamers is &copy; 1999 
      Brian Svehla. All other content is &copy; 1999 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
      productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so don't 
      try it...we'll beat you with our canes, you rascally youngin, you.</font></i></td>
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