I started gayming quite early in my life. I think I was around four or five years old when I started playing games on the Amiga-system. Amazing amounts of fun for hours and hours. It was here that I started to become what I would be called later in life; the Music-Gaymer. Know that these music-bits are just a small taste. It's way more where those come from.

The reason? I love video games that has happy, cheery music. Also more hardcore, fast and almost dance party-ish. I'll be adding videos of music from some of my favorite games below, so you, the reader, get a good sense of this. I also tend to play video games been labeled "Retro", having been made a few years back instead of the newer ones. I rarely play any games that revolves around shooting (Modern Warefare, CoD etc.). Except the F.E.A.R-games. Those were fun. I'm not really certain why those games are fine, but not the rest, but I reckon it's because of the story, the slight hint of creepiness and that Alma is just badass. Yeah, pretty much.

I first got handed the Amiga. Oh yes, I started very early on. I don't remember the names of the games, but they were simple 2D-games and also some with amazing amounts of graphics, all on diskettes (remember those old bad-boys?)

Then Super Nintendo came. I would play "Super Mario World" over and over again, loving the music and how simple it was. It's funny to look back at how the graphics were, but how awesome the game-play would be.

My cousins got a Sega as a gift of their dad, so I got to play games on that console too. Sonic the Hedgehog was a game I could play for hours on end.

Later, I got a PlayStation 1 for my birthday. It was a god-sent gift. Played Crash Bandicoot, Hercules, Adventures of Lomax, Tekken 1 and 2, Rayman and many, many more. As I didn't that much money when I was a kid, I used to borrow them from friends and others. My face was beaming when I was buying Tekken 2, with the cashier a bit shocked when I was paying for lots and LOTS of coins. If that opportunity wasn't present, I used to watch other kids play them. I just liked playing video games as it led me into another world, another dimension, where I could be myself, feel better about myself and in a way run away from reality. Those of you that have read my bio will know why I found refuge in gayming.

As I worked at a youth-club, I got the chance to borrow games and also most consoles on the market. PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Gamecube, with lots of games to spend my summer-months and vacations from school and Uni with.

Some of my very favorite games of my childhood has got be: Tekken 1-7, Heavy Rain, Spider-Man 1, 2, 3, Adventures of Lomax, Hercules, F.E.A.R 1, 2, 3, Child of Eden, Crash Bandicoot 1, 2, 3, Tenchu - Birth of the Stealth Assassins, Star Gladiator - Final Crusade, Super Mario Sunshine, Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars - Force Unleashed, Legend of Zelda - Ocarina Of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, Kingdom Hearts 2, SSX 1, SSX: Tricky, Prince of Persia - Sands of Time, Warrior Within, Two Thrones, POP 2008 and The Forgotten Sands. And the list just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Each game delivered at a different level, with its music, graphics and story. For me the story is extremely important, where most games inhibit a good story on a emotional, interesting and groundbreaking way. The graphics make it look like a lush art-gallery field-trip, while the music sets the mood of the whole game. For me playing video games is a mental trip, stimulating each sense that you have.

Heavy Rain is one of those games. The story was highly emotional, some scenes being VERY graphic and making the player actually frown and feel the same pain the character is going through. Remember the scene where Ethan had to cut off his finger? And the screaming? Yeah, that's just one of them. The music put the whole mood making it a very dim and gloomy game to play. Highly interesting story with lots of twists and quirks with a good dash of insanity of the characters. The Doctor was a nut-job. Seriously.



The Tekken-franchise is something I hold very dear. I grew up with them as they were developed and published, and the stories of the different characters were fun, informative and also very real. Not to mention the music. Every game had amazing soundtrack with songs that were emotional, harsh and quirky (remember Roger's Stage? Yeah, that one, haha)
My top-favorite characters would definitely be Nina, Anna, Xiaoyu, Alisa, Lili, Zafina, Sergei, Lei, Jin, Jun and Yoshimitsu. That guy had a complete wardrobe-change in every game. Almost a male Lady Gaga, haha.

























And the songs keep getting better as each new game comes out. Consider getting the OST's!

I remember playing the Spider-Man -games on the Nintendo Gamecube and PS3. Soaring through NYC was something that me and a friend would love to do. We would joke about swinging by Soho last night and being right on top of the Empire State Building looking over the city, then letting us fall straight down, feeling the controller tremble and shake as we got closet to the ground, only to swing right back up and out into the streets. It was all silly, but for us kids, it was a joyful event.

Child of Eden. What can I say about this glorious game? Some said it was difficult, annoying as hell, just a way to promote their official group that makes the music for the game etc., yet I found it impeccable. Loved the graphics, the music and how the story was so simple, yet addictive. And surprisingly emotional. The different levels (Archives) and the use of synesthesia made it incredibly enjoyable and had me wanting to know more about the artists and who the people behind "Genki Rockets" were. I really loved how everything was connected.







The Tenchu-franchise I wasn't very familiar with until the second game. Looking back, the graphics were pretty much normal, but  actually going back and seeing it again, I'm amazed at how in just two decades everything has changed within the engines and cores in game-design. It was box-y, cluttered, voices muffled, but the story was strong, the music leaving a serene and sometimes haunting effect on the player. Music does really set the mood.




The Zelda-franchise is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. My first encounter was with "Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time". This game had me entranced for several years after, really feeling the story and the music comforting. It was like a real-life fairy-tale, yet still on the screen. Kinda hard to describe, but it really earned itself a place on my "Shelf of Fame". With the later editions, some were fun, some freaked me out (I'm looking at you, Majora's Mask. That game... was not fun being young, haha. Way too emotional and WAY too much focus on sadness, being depressive and melancholia) and some served back the reason why I loved this franchise. A clear example of this was "Skyward Sword". It was long, incredible, the music transformed and going further into the Zelda family-history. There was never one location I didn't feel like was too much, too exaggerated or not needed. They really nailed it with this one.


Prince of Persia is yet another game that is very dear to me. Not very surprising being Persian myself, but that the creators were able to capture the Persian Dynasty's essence of tales, music and folklore. My grandmother gave me the Prince of Persia 3D game, though I never played it. It was when "Sands of Time" came out that I really got hooked, and I really loved how they incorporated the language also, giving written sentences in Farsi on the walls to let those that can read it the chance to know what would to happen if a switch, a door or a handle would be triggered.
During the later games, certain Old Persian religious artifacts were present like the statues of Ormazd, also with the 2008-one that showed the story of Ormazd and Ahriman, fighting for good and evil, the circle of life and The Tree of Life.


"Journey" was claimed to be the most emotional game of 2012. And I'm agreeing. That game inhibited every thing I saw lacked in this world. Kindness, silence, appreciation, calm and someone giving you a helping hand. I can't count how many times I've played this and how many people I have met on my through the desert and up the mountain. Some even wanted to add each-other as friends on PSN, chatting whenever we had the time. What really got me was the stories I would read online about people encountering people that helped them reach certain levels in the game, sticking by them till the very end, only to later find out that they didn't speak English. How a game could bring people closer, where laws, norms, sexuality, gender or country, wouldn't matter. It was simply you and another person in the game, helping each-other, guiding each-other, comforting each-other.
The music by Austin Wintory is beyond spectacular, and I was so lucky to have gotten in touch with him to thank him for the musical contribution he did.



Gaming will always be a part of my life, though not the most important one. There is much more to life than just gaming, yet playing games brings a certain zest to my life. Video games are like art to me. Their soundtracks like gold to my ears. It's like the game "Okami"; a world on an open canvas with a brush in your hand, enabling you to create anything your heart desires. Gaming isn't just a hobby of mine. It's a lifestyle. And a lifestyle I will proudly treasure for the rest of my life.

Tags: gaymer, gayming
Current Mood: accomplished
Currently Listening To: Trails and Ways - Tereza