Might have been that one.

I think my mother got that for me and my brother one christmass. Wish I still had it, it would be worth a fortune.

Gaming in the 80s and 90s to me was both exciting and irritating:

- Exciting because new genres, technologies etc. kept coming out. E.g. I recall my amazement when seeing some games on Commodore Amiga, or on PC games like Doom, Ultima Underworld, Descent etc.

- Irritating because you'd feel your beloved gaming system (or PC) was obsolete fast as better systems or components kept coming out. Boohoo, Amiga 500 was no more the (technical) king of the hill with the arrival of Sega Megadrive, SNES, Acorn Archimedes etc.

It seems to me like both of these have kinda slowed down. When was the last time you saw a game that blew you away, either due to technical reasons, or because it formed a completely new genre? One such big thing could be these virtual glasses though, it could be just as big change as games moving from 2D to 3D etc. Other than that, I am not expecting gaming breakthroughs, it is evolutionary, not revolutionary.

One interesting aspect of modern gaming though is the mobile gaming (with tablets and smartphones). Suddenly kids are playing games with 2D graphics that don't look that great necessarily. I've always thought kids must hate the graphics in decades old games, complaining how fake and simple they look compared to latest console games, but maybe these mobile games make them seem more natural?

I had that one :)

Novelty toy, a Pong machine at a school mate's house. Arcades were important, swallowed so many coin, playing these games was entering a new world of sorts. Then home computers arrived, video game mags the only source of info, one grainy screenshot made you hunger for an uncertain release where you wondered which shop in your area might actually have that available then. Trading games with friends, the copy scene. Early consoles, the box artwork promised excitement of a level the graphics and mechanics of the game'd never match. LaserDisc arcade machines blowing our minds. Getting our game reset at an arcade because we had mastered it and were on too long for it to be deemed profitable. LCD handhelds, prized possessions. A long-gone age.

Can't speak for 80s or 90s pc gaming, but for console gaming it was downright glorious. Games that came out worked right out the box, imagine that :) Also, it seemed during this era creativity was encouraged and the worlds' devs made were truly unique not just in art style but in gameplay mechanics. I mean just look at all the different styles of gameplay from; One, Ninja Shadow of Darkness, Fear Effect, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy 7... I could on forever. I remember my aunt showing up at my house with a used Playstation from FuncoLand and a Playstation Underground CD, and with that CD came the birth of a crack-pipe like addiction i've never experienced in the form of Metal Gear Solid and Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver... suffice to say i'm still suffering from those initial effects. And lastly, game demo's came as Cd's and they would pack the crap out of them with a ton of stuff. To compare gaming from then from what it has turned into, at least from the console perspective, it is unrecognizable imo.