So, how did you get into gaming ??
It was pure chance with me . . .a work colleague told me about this wonderful new machine called the Spectrum in 1983. I was blissfully unaware of any form of gaming back then, but one look at the good ol' speccy had me converted. That led me to the video arcades and from there . . .no stopping me. To this day I'm still mesmerised by the sights and sounds of the video arcade - specifically The Trocadero in London which is the only decent one I know these days . . . :!:

Slightly different for me... first real experience of gaming was on a BBC B at primary school. Couple of years later I got my first Commodore 64 - which is still working to this day.

I got an Acetronic videogame system (like an Atari 2600) as a Christmas present when I was about 11. Then another Christmas, I got an Amstrad CPC464, which got me into programming. At that point I was fortunate enough to meet a guy who worked for a software distribution centre who was able to get games for virtually nothing, so I was able to amass a sizable collection). A neighbour owned a C64, so I was given pretty much unlimited access to that (he also owned a Vic20, Vectrex and Phillips VideoPac) - so I had a pretty good childhood, surrounded by computers and games. I then moved onto an Amiga and finally pc. In between I acquired nearly all available consoles and handhelds officially available in the UK. I did own a speccy briefly, but sold it on. Not sure why now.

It all started off for me with one of those intellivision tv games things (you know...blip....blop) then it was a C16, Spectrum, BBC, C64 and so on and so on....first game I ever played that stuck with me was Repton!

I've got an Intellivision in the loft. Nice machine (at the time), but the pads (discs) are awful. Loved Burger Time, Lock & Chase and many others :)

Yep . . .the Intellivision was great at the time. I only became aware of the machine a while after I got my Speccy - sometime in 1984 when I first started to visit arcades. I couldn't believe that this machine actually ran the arcade games (what looked to me) almost perfectly. We had this really big, old building that housed a console shop in Sunderland and I used to spend my lunchtimes in there gawping at the arcade conversions. Happy days indeed . . . :D

For me it started when my parents gave me a vectrex AND an zx spectrum for xmas...wich i traded for a C64 abot a year later.. I miss all three of those, tho the C64 feels closest to me heart somehow :D

Oh yeah . . .I've got fond memories of both the Speccy and C64, although I must admit those memories were eclipsed a few years later by the greatness of the Amiga. Vectrex is one of the few retro consoles I never owned . . .and, damn, but they're expensive now . . . :(

yeah i know.. i been looking on ebay to buy one but they are so costly.. but one day.. :D

My fondest desire is to get back a Turbo Duo. I've got a fair few PCE CD games (mostly shooters) that all work fine in Magic Engine - which is a brilliant emu . . .but it just don't seem the same as playing 'em on the native console. Trouble is . . .it'll probably cost me double what i got for mine when I stupidly sold it. Wot an arse :!: :!: :!:

Games are not the same in an emu.. You cant get that true gaming experience without the native console