For those who know me, I turned 29 recently. That means that I have been playing computer games for 25 years. Admittedly, I may not have been very good, but I was playing! People like to think that, with age, their skills grow. Their reflexes sharpen, and their tactics become more, errrr..... tactical. You also look back at the games that you played as a kid- BombJack, Donkey Kong, Wonderboy and so on and think how primitive they look compared to today's ultra-realistic, photomapped 3D games. You usually had your joystick and one or two buttons. There was none of this 3D nonsense, and the Playstation was years away. 
I recently took a stroll down memory lane, and played some of my old games. The first up was one of my all time favourites, a game that even now, I view through rose tinted spectacles. Wonderboy. A child aged caveman, who skateboarded and ran through the stages throwing tomahawks at wasps, snakes and snails that came towards you. Your energy (or vitality) slowly eradicated the more you moved, so you needed to keep that topped up with fruit, and in retrospect, it was very, very hard. Back when I was a kid (good lord), I had this on the Amstrad CPC464, and borrowed it for the Sega Master System. I must have been some demon possessed wunderkind, because I remember completing it in the arcade in Skegness, where I went each summer with my family, on only two credits. For you young 'uns, that was twenty pence. When I played it recently, I changed. I became a short tempered, shouty, irritable mess. My jumps just weren't far enough, my energy ran out too quickly (just like in real life) and snails killed me. Fed up, I looked at other games. Pacland in particular. Once again, fond memories of halcyon days gone by, at the seaside. A similar tale. My timing was off and I lost interest very quickly. 
Whilst thinking about how good I was as a kid playing these games, and how bad I am now, brought me to think of the insanely talented boy who, at the age of nine, already shames me on modern games. If you go to youtube, and if you look hard enough, you will find a lad called Ben who is 9 years old. He then proceeds to play "Through The Fire And Flames" on Expert level on Guitar Hero 3. And get 95%. Now, I take nothing from the kid, that is pretty unbelieveable. I can manage the hard setting, at a push, and still not get 95%. So even the games I play as an adult, I still feel inadequate, and for someone who has recently turned 29, is bald and has a bad back, things can't get much worse. There is always the flip side of the coin. I am rather good at Pro Evolution Soccer, and if any of you want to take up that challenge, then feel free to add me on XBox Live :D, My little lad thinks that I rock on Lego Batman and Guitar Hero World Tour, and the good lady thinks I have the voice of an angel on Lips. OK, maybe the aforementioned angel likes to occasionally smoke and drink whiskey, but an angel nonetheless. Oh, and Ben? I can play guitar for real! (Only kidding, but seriously, go and do some homework!) I'm off now to practice my drums on Guitar Hero World Tour, but if you have any requests for a topic, then please add a comment, or send me a private message. See you soon! Carl Lockley
They don't make 'em like they used to....