I grew up on games like Kings Quest and Maniac Mansion, I followed the genre faithfully until the last Kings Quest (Mask of Eternity), which was a total bastardisation to the series, even then it outsold Grim Fandango, Lucas Arts stopped making point and click adventure games and shifted their focus onto beating a dead horse with the star wars license. Although now, the genre seems to be making a comeback, although that's a different issue entirely.
So, I set my focus on a new genre. Admittedly I already played DOOM, Quake, Duke Nukem and Blood. But, I never played online, I soon remedied that situation. My first online game was in Quake 1. (yes, I got my ass handed to me) Fast, frantic, intense and visually amazing (at the time) I was hooked, I enjoyed getting my ass handed to me because it's REAL people, I loved the fact i was playing people all over the globe, maybe I was playing a German or a somebody from France, of course it was a special occasion when I got one kill (almost all from the launchers splash damage) I played it 'till it's demise. Unreal Tournament, Tribes and Quake II killed the community. Although Quake 1 left it's mark on our industry and I was glad to have been part of it.
After Quake 3, Counter Strike was THE game. Countless clans and league matches, 6 years I played it. Nothing surpassed it. Battlefield couldn't do it, Wolf ET couldn't do it, UT 2004 couldn't do it, Joint Operations couldn't do it, Operation Flashpoint couldn't do it, SOF2 couldn't do it, Call of Duty: UO couldn't do it, Serious Sam couldn't do it and I couldn't even go back to Quake 3.
Now, we have Team Fortress 2. For the first time in 6 years I have considered quitting Counter-Strike (if that dosen't speak volumes for TF2, I don't know what does), crazy, fast and damn hilarious it's my most played game currently. Subtle things like quicker respawn times for the winners to prevent stalemate, to taking out nades for balance. It's a great experience all round, it's a masterpiece of epic proportions and It'll stay popular for a VERY long time.
Oh, and to follow up on my previous blog, here's a great adventure game (Kings Quest 2 VGA remake). Yeah, it's free too 