So - Where Did It All Begin?!?

As the days of the Xbox 360 draw to a close I recently found myself reminiscing about my days as an online racer. I tend to have many thoughts, plans, ideas and general rubbish bouncing around the empty space between my ears so I decided it was a good time to finally set them free.

As the title of my first ever online blog post asks - what started me along the road that led me to be a 37 year old husband and father of two who spends his free time playing computer games?

I've always been a gamer, I'm almost ashamed to admit I was the proud owner of one of these when I was younger........much, much younger!! Well, when I say I was the owner, I actually mean my parents were the owners - I'm not THAT old.

That's right kids - it's a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128K.

 This awesome machine opened my eyes to such amazing offerings as:-

Now, I'm sure you'll have noticed already that there is a theme to the games I chose. With Kick Off 2 being the exception, all of my other favourites had a vehicle theme. So then - maybe there was something else driving my passion for gaming, something so ingrained in my psyche that it would help form the rest of my life? Well, there is! Unfortunately I, along with my parents, have no idea what triggered it but for as long as I can remember I have had a deep rooted passion for anything with an engine. This mainly manifested itself in a love of cars but has also stretched to motorbikes, trucks, planes........pretty much anything with an engine. in fact when most kids were reading comics I was attending motorshows at The GMEX in Manchester so I could get my hands on things like these:-

While my peers were arguing over which superhero would beat Superman in a fight I was identifying models of Ford Fiesta by the wheel trims - it's taken me years to admit to that and it feels great to have finally announced it in public!! For years I would get my late Grandma to drive to the top of Heaton Lane Car Park in her white Triumph 2000, turn her engine off and coast down the 4 levels to the exit - it was the highlight of a trip to Stockport. I still miss flying down the ramps while sliding around on the red vinyl seats......I'm sure Grandma J is sat up 'there' at the top of the highest ramp waiting for me to arrive for our next trip.

To this day I can  remember the registration number of my parents Triumph Dolomite 1850HL - ARJ 452T. This beautiful machine was the first car that I really thought I had a chance of claiming as my own - I'd driven it as a child on Pendine Sands under the watchful tutelage of my father. She may have been yellow with brown velour seats but in my mind she was as wonderful as any Ferrari - unfortunately some uninsured toe-rag rear ended her at a set of traffic lights and she was written off..........I still to this day keep my eyes open for another one just like her, maybe my childhood dreams of owning ARJ 452T will come true, just she'll have to have a different registration number!

The next memory has to be linked to one of these - a trusty Ford Escort 1.3L. There is very little that was memorable about this car, so much so that I don't even remember the colour or the registration number. However, there is one story linked to the car that will stick with me until I'm buried 6ft under. My parents, brother and myself were travelling on the motorway and some unfortunate driver had managed to annoy my mother, who was driving at the time. Now, this is quite a feat as she is one of the most placid people you are likely to meet. However, said driver had whipped Mum in to such a frenzy that she was now chasing him down lane 3 of the motorway. Everything appeared fairly sensible to us boys in the back, until the point that Dad intervened and asked Mum whether she thought she should slow down..............as she was almost doing 115mph!! Don't worry Mum, I doubt PC Plod will be knocking on your door after reading this - for a start they wouldn't believe the car could do such a speed, to this day I still find it amazing myself.

The next on my list of memorable childhood cars is this awesome machine. Dad's Vauxhall Cavalier 1.8 LXi, why the heck is this memorable I hear you ask? Well, it sticks in my memory for two reasons. Firstly, the registration was E665 PEE (EGGS PEE) which was the basis for much enjoyment within our house as well as with my mates. Secondly, it was fast - for a young boy like me it was very fast! I remember one particular incident as if it was yesterday. Dad had taken me to play football as he did most Sundays. I had, as usual, managed only a mediocre performance and while Dad was trying, in his own unique way, to give me some advice I'd replied with my special mixture of cheek and utter disdain. This riled Dad to the point where he left Woodford Rec at such pace that he left two black lines for a few hundred yards - I'd never witnessed Dad drive with such aggression or felt acceleration quite like it. Although I was happy Dad took his anger out on his front tyres I was also upset that he was unlikely to display the Cavaliers savagery again. I'm happy to say that as time has past I have realised that my father is due far more respect than I ever gave him as a child/teenager - I hope he now realises how much he means to me, how much I respect him as a man.......how much I love him!!

Anyway, enough of my memories - let's get back to the subject at hand, let's get back to my gaming life. Although my Spectrum gaming was thoroughly enjoyable it's lifespan was always going to be short. Thankfully my parents, who never let me go without, agreed to buy the next big thing in computing.

 The computer of choice was an Atari ST - only the 520kb version but that was enough to be 4 times more powerful than the previous Spectrum! This also saw a migration from tapes to floppy discs......remember those? The extra power of the Atari saw a huge step forward in games as well, my eyes didn't know what had hit them. The purchase of this computer also saw me fall in to the addictive clutches of motorsport gaming......all thanks to the genius that is Geoff Crammond. His Formula One Grand Prix series still holds a special place in my heart - if my wife knew he was responsible for my addiction she'd probably hunt him down!

This series captured my imagination and saw me whittle away many an hour sat in my bedroom pretending I was the next Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert or Eddie Irvine. Although F1 took up a lot of my time the Atari ST also introduced me to another time eating game - Championship Manager. This game instantly knew how to rob you of a week of your free time. Not only that but it's constant development and new versions saw years of my life vanish in to thin air. Far too much of my revision time was lost to this game, sorry parents - if you want to blame anyone speak to Oliver & Paul Collyer. Actually, I'm sure you actually bought a few of the games for me so maybe you should blame yourselves as well - only kidding!

As I approached my late teens I was still gaming but without the commitment I had had in the past. I was playing football in the real world at least 4 times a week and the majority of my free time was spent playing, training or recuperating. After my A-Levels, less said the better, it was time for a spell away from home.........which if you speak to my parents was far too short! A spell in halls meant there was no gaming done and there was a chance my addiction could be broken. I must have gone 2 to 3 years without any regular gaming, I spent almost 11 months in Scotland without even using a computer, yes it is possible. Once I had completed my HND and started full time employment I found time was still consumed by football so my limited gaming time was taken up by the Championship/Football Manager series - racing had taken a back seat.

In early 2001 I got together with the young lady who eventually became Mrs Jono - I think she's regretted it ever since. Initially this meant that gaming time was reduced to a few minutes hear and there, I had a new addiction and she could offer me things that a PC could not. As time passed the desire to game appeared to wane but there was always a curiosity regarding the gaming community. As Mel and I grew closer we decided to buy our first house and suddenly I had the time to think about gaming again. Things had moved on since my days of gaming on the Atari ST or PC, now it was all about the consoles......mainly Playstation or Xbox. We had owned a Playstation or two over the years but I'd never really had the time or inclination to get in to them. After some research I decided to get myself an Xbox 360 - I'd read a lot of positive reviews of Project Gotham Racing and Forza Motorsport. With the console and games purchased it took pride of place in our house, although using it had to be carefully negotiated around certain TV programmes. I was quite happy to play single player, offline games......showing the AI players how it was done. However, the installation of the internet at home opened the gateway to a whole new domain - online gaming.......my addiction was about to hit a whole new level!

Thanks for taking the time to read about my journey, I know I tend to wander aimlessly, stumbling from story to story - as such I'm amazed you've got this far. I hope to continue this blog from time to time and I will try to keep on topic - I make no promises though.

Next time I'll be looking back at the start of my online gaming 'career' and charting the journey to the present day - it's been interesting.