Computer Gaming - Driving, flying and shooting things
For some reason, computer gaming is regarded as a 'lesser pursuit'. You know the deal - books are good for you, telly is bad. Films are okay, unless they're science fiction. Personally, I'd rather my kids were exploring Morrowind than watching episodes of Home and Away or worse, Big Brother.
Did you know that consumers spend more money on computer gaming each year than on movies, DVDs and video rentals combined? And that spending on gaming is about to overtake the global spend on music? At time of writing, the computer games industry is worth about US$30 billion dollars annually.
Stuff the financials - the truth is that gaming is a blast. My favourites are flight simulators, driving simulators (Rally & Formula One) and FPS (first person shooters) - preferably combined with role-playing elements. Games like Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City are immoral and violent (steal cars, boats and motorcycles, engage in hair-raising pursuits and commit all kinds of criminal acts while listening to retro 80's music or witty talkback radio knock-offs.) In case you never progressed past Pacman, here's a sample screenshot or two to whet your appetite.
Leaving the Watkins Glen pits in an Eagle F1 car of 1967
Looking upriver towards the city of Balmora (Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind)
Outside Balmora, steel sword drawn and ready (Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind)
Part of Balmora, viewed from the eastern watchtower (Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind)
Hal Spacejock the Wise (Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion)
Hal Spacejock with his rusty sidekick (Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion)
Town Square at sunset (Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion)
Archery practice (Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion)
Not bad - a tight group (Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion)
Deer me (Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion)
The canals - Half Life II
The canals - Half Life II
The canals - Half Life II
Dune buggy Mad Max III style - Half Life II
Drive & fire at the same time - Half Life II
An ambush and a puzzle - Half Life II
Roadblock - Half Life II
Shooting at truck tyres - Half Life II
Limping home in a damaged B17 (B17 - the mighty Eighth)
Manning a machine gun in an allied bunker (Battlefield 1942)
Firing heavy artillery (Battlefield 1942)
Firing AT heavy artillery (Battlefield 1942)
Burning around Melbourne in a Jaguar F1 car (F1 Racing Challenge '99-'01)
Hatching a devious plot. (Freelancer)
A russian exile's daughter in The Last Express.
Window, meet stolen car (GTA Vice City)
Leaping tall buildings on a Harley Davidson (GTA Vice City)
Burnouts in an Audi TT (Need For Speed Underground II)