The Gaming Teacher

For half of February and most of March, I spent a lot of my time, when at home, monitoring one of my pets who developed a serious condition. Being holed up in the living room with my buddy lead to a fair bit of gaming on my PlayStation 4. That, in turn, lead me to think about my gaming history and my move from primarily gaming on a PC to the PS4.

My gaming history didn’t start with consoles. As a kid, I really only played video games while at my cousins’ house. They had consoles and even a PC with a few games. In my own home, the computers were primarily for my parents—writing and work. My siblings and I finally got our hands on a Game Boy, followed by a few more, and then two laptops. I managed to snag one of those laptops and was soon loading up Nancy Drew games, Roller Coaster Tycoon, and Star Wars: Dark Forces. Yeah, those were the days.

My dad bringing home those laptops essentially sealed my fate as a PC gamer for years. I still prefer a gaming PC to any console. Years ago I bought a basic gaming PC, tore it apart, and tinkered. When I had visions of streaming, I upgraded to a nicer machine from iBUYPOWER, which has served my needs nicely for four years. During that time, I also picked up a GameCube, Wii, and PlayStation 3 for cheap and owned a Nintendo DS. So I’ve always had some exposure to consoles and handhelds, but the PC was my bread and butter.

In 2013, I was in grad school for my masters and decided to buy a console for my new, slightly dilapidated apartment. I envisioned it going nicely with my $200 TV I got on sale. Hey, it’s a decent TV.

The decision to buy a console came from a lot of thought. I liked the idea of kicking back on the futon after a three hour class, and this time of my life was moving more and more to the fruition of my gaming and education interests. But I was also hesitant. What if I didn’t like the PS4? Would it be worth it?

I was still in my prime as an avid PC gamer but was becoming more aware of titles releasing that were exclusive to consoles. Boo. I opted to go with the PS4 for several reasons. I figured that many of the games for the Xbox One would be available on PC anyway, I have always hated Xbox controllers, and from prior experiences, I was somewhat familiar with several PlayStation consoles.

I went with it and bought a shiny new PS4. And promptly purchased The Last of Us. Since then, I have spent a lot of time with my PS4. In fact, most of the games I’ve written about here were played on the PS4.

Consoles are too convenient not to have at least one. 😉 You don’t have to worry about compatibility, some pretty good sales come along, certain exclusives are worth the purchase, and they can be easier to transport to a friend’s house. All in all, the PlayStation 4 has served me well for a few years now. I’ve enjoyed the selection of games, and it’s been nice to lean back on the couch instead of sitting at a desk. So yeah…I need to go back and hold my PC for awhile.