I was playing with the new Playstation 2 that my wife and I bought a week or so ago. I have never been much of a game player, but I got hooked on this Wallace and Gromit game, which turned out to be a lot of fun. The only problem is, it doesn't satisfy our desire to find something that two people can play at the same time. But then again, we have only turned on the PS2 twice since we bought it.

So, I got to thinking, there's got to be some good computer games out there - something simple and fun to play that didn't require a separate game console. Being that I am not a serious gamer, I'd probably be happy with Pong (in fact, I have an original Pong game, but it doesn't show video anymore). But I thought I would poke around to see if I could find some of my old favorites ported over to the PC, like Gorf and Asteroids.

Sure enough, I hit paydirt! I found MAME - a Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (I believe that is what it translates to). There are still copyright issues with possessing the game ROMs, but you know I had to try some of them out. At least I think I can legally have Gorf, because I bought the game cartridge for my Commodore 64 years ago (I think that is the *only* game I have ever bought, or even really played at home, before). But this thing was the real deal, just as I remember it. Now I want to build a control panel with a joystick and buttons just like the real arcade game.

But I also found Asteroids and fired that up. That game is still so fun! It is so basic and primitive and simple (but maybe not easy) as far as games go, but it is so much fun to play - and it is just as I remember it! It is so cool to play these old games again. I won't feel too guilty if I hang on to the Asteroids ROM file, since I spent so much money in the arcades as a kid playing this game, I should probably own an entire console. They got their money!

Anyway, I don't have much time to be playing games, but now I know I have a couple of old standbys that I can fall back on when the mood strikes. I do need a little R&R now and then. It seems like I never do anything fun on the computer. Well, now I can!