I'm a forty-something person who plays quite a lot of video games. I'm of an age when common consensus dictates that I should be doing something like playing Golf instead; but I don't - even though I'd like to take that particular pastime up (watch this space). I'm also of the age that means I was at a very impressionable age when video games first appeared on the scene.

The impact those early games made on me was huge. I can remember an uncle producing a pong console - it must have been around the mid-to-late 70s. Goodness knows how much it cost. At that time I was aware of the existence of these new "TV games" somehow (no web then!), but this was the first time I saw and played one. The impact was breathtaking. The whole family gaped in amazement as we moved the basic paddles up and down the screen and my father showed a total, if somewhat understandable, lack of comprehension as to how it worked. He couldn't get it out of his head that these images were being produced by a studio somewhere broadcasting 24 hours a day.

I have never lost my love of this entertainment. I now find myself married with 2 kids, a mortgage, 2 aging cars, and a video game habit to feed. I have a good job with a certain amount of responsibility but I'm no high flyer. I suppose I'm above the national average salary so I can spend money on games without too much guilt.

The odd thing is that my life is such that I now don't have a great deal of time to play games but this doesn't dampen my passion for procuring the things, and I now have a stockpile of games - well over 500 titles - many of which have not received the amount of attention they no doubt deserve given the thousands of hours that have gone into their making.

This blog is an attempt to play each and every one of these games, commenting on the game, but also commenting on what else is going in my head at the time - including my thoughts on the stigma of being a middle-aged gamer. Given the number of games I have, the rate at which I buy them and the pedestrian rate at which I will post here means I may never get through them all but I'm going to have a go anyhow.

If you follow this blog, you will see that I don't have a great taste for the modern type of game which sees the market awash with WWII-style shooters and 80's era drive-through shooting fests. My most modern console is a Wii and my collection goes back to the 70s pong consoles and the Atari 2600. I am also a fan of the same room multiplayer experience over the online scene - although I do participate in anonymous online Wii gaming.

I hope that I'll have something of interest to say over the coming months, if not years...