14 Video Games That Changed My Life

I was at a friend's house when the phone rang. It was mom. She got a Nintendo. I rushed back to find Super Mario Bros. on the living room TV

Video games had arrived in our home.

A few years later, we got a PC — the IBM PS/2 I hacked to pieces in a bid to get more complex games running on its aging Intel 286 processor. Amid an explosion of diverse PC titles, Nintendo's blockbuster franchises and a little thing called the Internet, I was awash in entertainment like no generation before.

The art of world building enthralled me, and with every software generation, the worlds got richer and more beautiful. Games were the biggest media influence on my creative life, and my pursuit of them taught me many technical skills I use today. Read more...